Guido is beginning to wonder whether Huffington Post UK editor Carla Buzasi is smoking crack:
https://twitter.com/benfenton/status/477009519420379136
Really Carla, really?
Shall we have a look at what HuffPo have been up to recently. For starters, the word bikini brings up 24,700 on a search of the site. Recent additions include:
Beach Babes: 150 Hot Celebrity Bikini Bodies (PICTURES)
Abbey Clancy Shows Off Her Figure In Barely-There Bikini (PICS)
And Guido’s personal favourite:
The caveat must be ‘successful’ – not a word often associated with Arianna’s London vanity project.
Editor in Chief of Huffington Post UK Carla Buzasi is not impressed with Time magazine for putting a photo of a scantily-clad Beyonce on their front page:
Did Beyonce really have to be in her underwear on the cover of Time? @HuffPoLifestyle's @Brogan_Driscoll blogs http://t.co/zcXOUoAjp5
— Carla Buzasi (@CarlaBuzasi) April 25, 2014
Meanwhile, on the front page of Carla’s HuffPo UK today, which campaigns against Page 3 remember, viewers are treated to a story headlined “Waiting for a bus? Why not have sex? (NSFW picture)“. Accompanied by a photo of two people actually having sex, which Guido is not republishing since this is a family blog.
Other headlines on HuffPost UK this week include:
“Kelly Brook Strips Down To Leopard Print Underwear For Sexy Instagram Bum Selfie (PICS)“- “Kelly Brook Gives Major Cleavage In Boob-tastic Bikini Photos For New Look (PICS)“
- “PICS: Stars Who Have Got Naked on Screen“
- “Game of Thrones Star Natalie Poses Topless (PIC)“
- “WATCH: Rihanna Shows Us Her Tan Lines In Naked Photoshoot“
- “‘Nymphomaniac’ Latest Film With Sex Scenes That Might Or Might Not Be Real – You Decide…“
For some reason Carla isn’t tweeting out any of these stories…
In a change from side-boob and upskirt shots, Mehdi Hasan is frothing about ‘corporate welfare’ (geddit) over at the Huffington Post. He’s attacking the media for being complicit with large companies and banks:
“They are aided by their friends, allies and outriders in the right-wing media echo chamber, who have never had to endure the indignity of turning to payday lenders or food banks in order to survive.”
Which is odd given that Mehdi is aiding his corporate paymasters by censoring comments about the tax status of the Huffington Post’s parent company directly below his rant. Guido has been trying to leave the following comment all day:
“AOL turned over £56,801,000 last year yet manage to pay only £9,000 in corporation tax. How so? Could it be because HuffPo is losing money or that its UK owner, AOL Limited, repatriates profits to escape paying its dues in the UK to the Luxembourg-registered AOL Europe Société à responsabilité limitée. If Mehdi cared about the millions in corporate profits being exported by multinational corporations he wouldn’t work for one of the worst exemplars”
Sadly that inconvenient truth does not fit Mehdi’s agenda.
Tabloids have standards, nipples are in, pink bits are not, full frontal is a no no and the only tabloid that ever does upskirt shots is the top-shelf Sunday Sport. The occasional Duchess of Cambridge skirts in gusts of wind shots apart…
The traffic surpassing success of the Mail online is forcing rivals to emulate its bikinis and starlets formula. Guido is amused to see that the Huffington Post, which prudishly campaigns against Page 3 has today gone with some z-list girl-on-girl action including hand upskirt shots unsuitable for a family blog. Classy…
“The fascination with bodies, celebrity or otherwise, isn’t exactly something new, of course, and shows no sign of abating. But here’s a thought: why don’t we just stop?” Those were the noble words of HuffPost UK editor Carla Buzasi last year. Someone should tell whoever is running their picture desk today:
https://twitter.com/HuffPostUKPics/status/357065696682852353
https://twitter.com/HuffPostUKPics/status/357093359120158720
No doubt they’ll be writing about the evils of Page 3 this afternoon…
Just one problem with Ed’s Google-bashing this afternoon:
Google shouldn't be going to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying its taxes. My article for @HuffPostUK http://t.co/HOb9EjZnYE
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 21, 2013
Guido readers will know that HuffPoUK is owned by AOL Limited, whose parent company is the Luxembourg-registered AOL Europe Sarl.
In 2010 AOL UK Limited, HuffPo’s esteemed owners, had a revenue of £78 million. Despite that they paid just £122,000 in corporation tax, cleverly moving £30 million out of the reach of the UK tax authorities by “repatriating” a dividend payment to a tax avoidance special purpose vehicle (SPV) AOL Europe Sarl, registered in the tax haven of Luxembourg. This meant, despite returning 38% of revenue to shareholders, they had an effective tax rate of less than 1%. Guido looks forward to Ed’s article attacking AOL and HuffPo for “going to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying taxes”. His spokesman insists that “all companies need to be responsible.”
