The press is piling pressure on Reeves over the LinkedIn CV fiddling Guido exposed last week. Who else to come to Reeves’ rescue than… The Guardian…
The Guardian is in full spin mode over the story. They say Downing Street has defended Reeves “as someone who’s been ‘straight with the public’ in response to claims she embellished her CV.” That is quite the interpretation of the actual quote from the PM’s spokesman, which is diversionary and unrelated to the CV claims:
“This is someone who on coming into office looked under the bonnet and exposed a £22 billion black hole in the public finances, and has been straight with the public about what is necessary to balance the books and restore financial stability in the face of that.”
In reality Downing Street refused to say if Reeves had broken the ministerial code or not and referred hacks to the Treasury’s line from last Friday. Hilariously the Guardian then goes on to wax lyrical over Reeves’ qualifications: “To get a job at the Bank of England as a graduate requires considerable ability, and Reeves has said she turned down a job offer from Goldman Sachs around the same time. Before the general election Mark Carney, a former Bank of England governor, said Reeves was the right person to be next chancellor.” If you’re explaining, you’re losing…
Hilariously the Guardian also claims “Mervyn King, Carney’s predecessor, has also spoken positively about working with Reeves at the Bank when he was in charge.” Its own article proves that to be false – it was Reeves said she had a good time at the bank: “I remember your telling me one day that the reason you enjoyed working at the Bank of England was the opportunity to work with other very bright young people.” Smacking of desperation here…
The paper also claims that “there is no evidence that Reeves has gained any career advantage by people thinking she was working as an economist at HBOS when she was there in a different role.” It’s not like she’s ever mentioned the economist thing before…
The Guardian tells its hundreds of readers, who will no doubt be dismayed, that it is quitting X:
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.
Our reporters will also be able to carry on using the site for news-gathering purposes, just as they use other social networks in which we do not officially engage.
Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but, at this point, X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work. Our journalism is available and open to all on our website and we would prefer people to come to theguardian.com and support our work there.”
De Botton making waves already. The paper finishes with a flourish: “We can do this because our business model does not rely on viral content tailored to the whims of the social media giants’ algorithms.” Translation: We’re not popular anyway…
Guardian editor Katharine Viner has been busy since Trump stormed into the White House. She penned a swift begging article yesterday asking the Guardian’s hundreds of readers to sustain its “well-funded independent journalism”…
In an email to all staff, Viner stresses that “a Trump win could reverberate for a million years.” She says she knows “the result has been very upsetting for many colleagues” and urges UK staff to “contact your American colleagues to offer your support” because “they will be most directly affected by the result.” The Guardian has always been one massive shoulder for panicked progressives to cry on…
Viner goes further and generously offers: “If you want to talk about it, your manager and members of the leadership team are all available, as the People team. There is also free access to free support services, which I’ve outlined at the end of this email.” UK staff can use a 24/7 online GP, mental health support and “virtual wellbeing tools.” Americans have not one but two Employee Assistance Programmes to help. Apparently staff in Australia can get access to “confidential, impartial professional counselling and support to all employees.” For those currently sobbing into their Vegemite sandwhiches…
Something tells Guido all the counselling in the world won’t cure them of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Read Viner’s full email to staff below:
Continue reading “Guardian Offers Free Counselling to Staff After Trump Win”
After the news broke that Guardian Media Group is in talks to sell The Observer to ‘slow news’ outlet Tortoise Media, GMG staff are up in arms, and now have agreed they may strike over the sale. Not surprising they don’t want to join another sinking ship when Tortoise’s traffic dropped by a whopping 41% from July to August alone and boasts a £4.6 million annual operating loss…
Yesterday, 400 staff attended a meeting to voice their grievances over the change of hands, complaining of the utter “betrayal“. Staff harked back to the (clearly failed) “Not For Sale” marketing campaign last year to protect their “independence”, fearing that their readers who donate to their left-wing content will feel let down. Meanwhile, GMG’s CEO is still trying to push the narrative to that this is an “exciting strategic opportunity” for the staff. With GMG operating a £21 million loss, it’s definitely an opportunity to offload at least…
Green Deputy Leader Rachel Millward said:
“The reality is that it’s Zack Polanski who brought the nation, Andy Burnham. And if we hadn’t had the success of the Green Party in this last year since Zack’s been leading, which has been unprecedented, phenomenal success and a growth from about 60,000 members to 230,000, if we hadn’t had that much pressure on Labour, then we’d probably still be in the Starmer regime, which was pretty much ushering in a Reform government with its lurch to the right. So actually, what we’re seeing now is that we’ve set the political agenda and the government is picking that up.”