The Mirror’s Political Editor job is prized for aspirational, resourceful and, most importantly, pro-Labour hacks. As revealed by Guido, John Stevens’ two-year stint has come to and end with his transfer into government – which leaves the title in need of a new scoop-getter. Runners and riders currently within the Mirror family are highlighted in red…
While plans are being formed the current expectation among sources is that Lizzie will act as pol ed through conference season while a proper appointment process is set up and carried out. An internal hire is widely expected given the Mirror’s notoriously low pay…
According to Labour sources a new SpAd is about to enter Downing Street – John Stevens, the current Mirror political editor, is leaving the Lobby to spin for the government. Stevens is going to work for Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Labour heavyweight Pat McFadden…
No stranger to a scoop, Stevens will have to fend off his Lobby colleagues from inside government. From memory the last Mirror political editor to make the jump to Downing Street was Bad Al Campbell, the jury is out on how well that went. Guido has approached Stevens for comment…
UPDATE: Move confirmed.
The Mirror reported today that 40 councils are on the “brink of bankruptcy”, with a “black hole” of £1 billion in council budgets. Naturally it blamed Tory cuts. Seven councils have already declared bankruptcy, though the majority of those are Labour led councils. The same goes for those which are on the edge…
Out of the 40 councils The Mirror named, 18 are Labour run. Nine are run by the Tories, 5 LibDem, and of the 7 with no overall control, none are Tory led. Still, No 10’s £500 million emergency bailout announced last week will not be enough to stop a string of councils going bust under Section 114 notices, and allowing these councils to run themselves into the ground to then splurge more taxpayer money on them isn’t exactly the solution. The bar must be raised across all party-led councils…
Read the full list of councils on the brink below:
On Monday Kevin Maguire tweeted a picture of an empty fruit and veg aisle at Sainsbury’s, writing ”Don’t want to alarm anybody but the panic buying’s started in my local Sainsbury’s.” Which could only have the opposite result to his stated intention.
The Kingston branch of Sainsbury’s near our Kev’s house in leafy Richmond Park does not have any shortages – as can be seen from the picture taken by a co-conspirator the following day on Tuesday. Maybe deliveries were held up, though Britain produces 60% of its own food and most of our vegetables, particularly potatoes. Certainly the potatoes should have been full. They could have sold out or been cleared out for fresh produce.
The narrative some in the media are trying to promote of Brexit Britain suffering shortages is contradicted by many people working in supply chain logistics. Whether Maguire posted the photo in good faith, he appears not have done any basic journalism like asking the staff why it was empty. Guido gets the impression that Maguire was being disingenuous…
Hat-tip: David Atherton
Yesterday the Mirror claimed Boris Johnson had a “death plan” to kill school children by forcing them back to school in June. It goes without saying there is no such plan and all the medical research suggests children are thankfully almost immune from this terrible virus. Last month they claimed that 50,000 people were set to die on Easter Sunday. The actual number who sadly died on Easter Sunday was in the hundreds. Not tens of thousands. There is tabloid sensationalism and there is absolutely disgraceful scaremongering.
There is a lot of hand wringing punditry about fake news being spread on social media by the likes of David Icke. Here’s two examples of fake news being spread by the traditional dead tree press…
