Even if James Murdoch is talking his own book
it is manifestly true, as he says, that “the expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision, which are so important for our democracy. Dumping free, state-sponsored news on the market makes it incredibly difficult for journalism to flourish on the internet. Yet it is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it.”
The BBC destroys the ability of competitors to make a profit. We would have a more vibrant culture if the BBC wasn’t destroying the hopes of start-ups unable to compete with a rival that has almost unlimited funds and no need to make a profit. The BBC simply should not be in a whole range of areas, why did it need to nationalise the successful Lonely Planet publisher? Why is it competing to crush the Virgin and Capital radio stations?
The Tories don’t really have a plan to deal with the cultural monolith that is the BBC. A permanent freeze on the licence fee would be a start.
In what is a bit of surprise (in that it didn’t leak) the Speccie will have a new editor starting next week. 36 year-old Fraser is taking over on Monday. He is no Cameroon and will push for sound economic policies from the next government.
Matthew leaves the Speccie in fine fettle, it has a circulation at an all time high of 75,000 and the website sometimes has even more traffic than this blog. In June Guido reported a rumour that “Matthew d’Ancona is thinking of moving on from the Speccie”…
UPDATE : “After more than three and a half delightful and rewarding years as Editor, exciting opportunities are arising and I have decided to move on…” No news yet as to where d’Ancona is going next, but he confirms he will still be writing his Telegraph columns. Which suggests Dacre’s job is safe…
Seen that story everywhere about the Mayor of Baltimore condemning Chris Grayling for his referencing of The Wire?
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's fake website
Alex Hilton (also known as Recess Monkey) set up a fake MayorofBaltimore.org site. The fake press release was riddled with clues – the British spelling, the jokey references and of course the copyright notice at the bottom (R Monkee Esq).
The Guardian, Indy and the Labour blogosphere lapped it up without checking their sources. Doh!
UPDATE : Chris Grayling tells Guido “it made me laugh”.
When Guido was on his summer holidays in France, Damian McBride gave an interview to the BBC’s Radio 5 Live and to the Guardian to try and draw a line under his Smeargate demise.
If you listen to the first minute and a half of that BBC interview he says at one point:
[bbc-news video=8158737 width=420 height=100]
“… When I read back the emails I had errr written and I did that when Derek ahhh Draper called me and said that he thought his emails had been hacked into and errr we had a discussion about this, I thought and and he thought that the main issue was some emails that I had sent, err, about racism in the comments in the Guido Fawkes website.”
Now you may recall that Iain Dale and Guido both sent in Freedom of Information requests about the smear campaign directed at us from within Downing Street. Obviously Guido was aware of the existence of the emails (having said as much on Andrew Neil’s Daily Politics). The emails basically instructed Draper on how to frame and phrase the smear.
Damian has now publicly confirmed that he sent them (in February, when Draper started smearing Dale and Guido as racists). So why did the Cabinet Office produce some of the emails regarding Dale, but not the ones regarding Guido? Guido only got emails sent by Draper, not the emails sent by McBride. Guido has re-submitted an FoI to the Cabinet Office asking again for the emails Damian has now publicly confirmed he sent.
When Enoch Powell died Tony Blair led the tributes:
“He was one of the great figures of 20th-century British politics, gifted with a brilliant mind.”
February 9, 1998
Now what was it Mandelson was saying?
Via Mark Reckons
UPDATE : Here is what Hannan wrote for the Telegraph in 2007 on the subject of how “any reference to Enoch Powell provokes huge controversy“
For what it’s worth, I think Enoch Powell was wrong on immigration. The civil unrest that he forecast, and that many feared in 1968, didn’t materialise. Britain assimilated a large population with an ease that few countries have matched. Being an immigrant myself, I have particular cause to be grateful for Britain’s understated cosmopolitanism.
