Gove Spectates...

 

Michael Gove has been announced as the next editor of the 'Spectator.'  This is no surprise.  The only surprise is that the new owner, one Sir Paul Marshall, has not yet taken over the 'Daily Telegraph' and made Gove editor of that.  Marshall paid, so they say, £100 million for this magazine, that runs at a loss of £2.5 million!  This does not appear as a sensible buy.  Marshall is however, a man of the far right.  He already owns a magazine, 'Unheard,' and has substantial contribution to the TV company 'GBNews.'  All take a far-right approach, and 'GBNews' is often not far from lunacy.  Marshall is supposed to have around £650 million to spare, he made his money as a Hedge Fund manager,' and has given away to various charities some £145 million at least.  He also has a strong hand in 'Ark Schools,' a leading provider of academies.  He has a strong belief in education.

Many find his extreme right-wing views contrary to the Christianity he preaches.  A Christianity he really does believe in, unlike many who use the term in politics or media.  This causes him many enemies within the media who are always waiting to pounce.  Marshall 'liked' some tweets on Twitter which supported removing migrants forcibly, and claiming that when Islam reaches 15/20% of the population trouble will erupt.  He denied these represented hi views. 

His Christian faith is real, he belongs to Holy Trinity Brompton, a well known right wing church from which many well to do people have become followers.  I had a run in some years ago with the curate at the church opposite me regarding his enthusiastic bell-ringing on Sundays.  We did not get on well.  The church has a reputation for arrogance.  They were also slow to condemn the LLF gay lobby pushed by the Bishops recently.  Evangelical they may be, however, I would keep my distance as they and Marshall do not operate they way I consider correct.  Christians ought to be centre left, not right wing, to easily money become more important than people.

So, how will Gove, who has known Marshall for many years, run the magazine?  It will certainly not become socialist, it will cover many usual aspects, and Mr Gove will himself bring his own personality and opinions into play.  We will soon understand what they are.

'The Daily Telegraph,' Great Niece, MEMHAS and the Moon

I must say, beginning the day by reading the Letters in the 'Telegraph' are a good way to start.  The gift of a free digital edition from afar has been excellent.  OK, the news slant is just as daft as the 'Daily Mail,' however, the writing is writing and not exaggerated fear, or pages of celebrities and their divorces.  I even managed to spend 18 minutes failing to finish the wee crossword!  'The Telegraph' has always been the Conservative Party paper, since Boris rose to influence however, it has gone very much downmarket, losing masses of readers and failing to find new ones.  The paper does not satisfy old Conservatives, many of whom it must be said are dying off, and the new breed of Tory prefers the slanted half truths and downright lies of the 'Daily Mail' and the 'Sun,' which is all some can handle.   

The owners, the Barclay Brothers, have lost control, with Lloyds Bank taking over and seeking someone to buy the paper.  One Barclay brother has died, the other is in a many years long dispute with a former wife, the family all seeking the money taking sides, and he is one step from jail, though his age has so far kept him out.  One line of the family has made an offer to buy back the paper, another offer comes from a rich American, one who backed Boris and may wish him as editor!  Imagine!  A third offer from another unworthy neo-Nazi has also been made.  Good luck with your selection Lloyds Bank.  I wonder if they will delay this until after the election, the government always has an input here.

Another interesting sideline here is 'Private Eye.'  They usually have a story or two about the office infighting to record, something the paper itself appears not to print.  Always interesting how the media never publish their own faults, crimes and criminals.  I wonder why?

Anyway, after a couple of the usual anti-ULEZ scribbles, a man from Tunbridge Wells among those attacking the charge, two others mentioned the ease of getting on a train at Croydon and reaching central London, avoiding mileage, waiting, queues, and costs.  Maybe some in Tunbridge Wells did not realise trains run there?

Yesterdays post, one of my many great nieces spouting about 'Linear A,' and 'Linear B,' with all the knowledge of someone who cannot pronounce the big words, was meant to actually appear here, on this post.  My tech knowledge is great, I can make a mess of anything technical, from a pencil up!  While her video all appears Greek to me it does reflect her interest, qualifications, and desire to promote archaeology to the world.   I prefer when she offers local Scots stories mind, she is good at that.

Needing a passport picture for a new 'Railcard,' the other one died out with almost no use thanks to Covid, I sauntered around the town looking for a machine.  Naturally, these no longer take cash, naturally the seat is too high and will not adjust, naturally the instructions are shouted at 'Tannoy' decibel level, and naturally I got it wrong, twice.  Eventually, after much pushing of buttons, much scanning a poor screen to see if anything was working, and paying £9 by card, I got my pictures.  Two it gave are classed as 'Not Conform' to passport standards.  The four others are, but who is that in the picture?  The last time I saw that face it was on the Essex Police Twitter feed!  I bet he has 'Love' and 'Hate' tattooed across his knuckles.  He could at least have had a shave!  Scruff!

I returned via the various cafe's.  One was busy, another closed, Thursday is a quiet day here, and 'MemHas' the Turkish café was then my eating place today.  And jolly good it was too!

A wide menu, friendly, helpful staff, and very busy even for a Thursday.  The staff never stopped, many customers were obviously regulars and welcomed back, and the prices equal to similar places.  For me I had what they called an 'American.'  This featured two hash browns, two bacon, Two eggs, and three large slim pancakes with a couple of bits of fruit and maple syrup.  I did enjoy this!  In America the same thing would no doubt be several times larger, but this was enough for me and well worth the £9:45 it cost.  Again, if I cooked for myself the cost would turn out about the same, this way is better.

MEMHAS, a family run shop, originate in Istanbul according to the picture on the wall.  They have established themselves here over six years and I expect them to continue for a long time yet.  This is one place I would recommend, and excellent café.    

Another 'Blue Moon.'  This one, like the last 'Blue Moon,' was not Blue, just a kind of yellowish here, possibly caused by street lights flickering in that direction.  By that I do not mean there were street lights on the moon, what I meant was... anyway, it looked normal colour to me.  They say two full moons in a month means it becomes a 'Blue Moon,' but surely two full moons in a month means the moon is running around faster or the earth has stopped moving?  Could it be aliens responsible for this?  You may not think so, but somewhere in the USA somebody is claiming that to be the case, then shooting everyone in sight.  It's what they do...

Louise Raynor
 

A Change at the Top.

There has been rejoicing all round on Twitter lately at the welcome news that Paul Dacre is to be moved aside from his position as editor of the 'Daily Mail' and take up another role in the 'Mail's' newspaper kingdom.  I thought the rejoicing was summed up in one tweet that ran "You may not have liked Paul Dacre, you may not have agreed with his editorial choices or the direction he took at the Mail, but you absolutely have to admit he was a ****." Sadly the rudeness is crude but that was the word Dacre used on his staff daily at the DM.  
For 26 years this man has encouraged hate, hate of blacks, Pakistani's, Asians, the BBC, immigrants and the EU, this in spite of receiving vast subsidies for his grouse farm in the highlands, and of course anyone he hated.  He encouraged xenophobia and an insular 'Little England' mentality while blaming Europe and especially the French the Germans and appeared to enjoy bullying anyone who came into the public eye.
Of course it is true he was a great editor, his paper outsells all others and has a worldwide reach via 'Mail Online,' a success built on knowing what the reader wished to read and supplying them with a great deal of repeated 'evidence' to confirm their opinions.  Facts he never included!  Half truths and downright lies are the thing for Paul, thought, care and a search for truth did not bother him.  
Harassing celebs or politicians, the private individual or the great, it was all one to Paul.  Sell dirt and be rich was his motto and dirt he offered in depth, dirt on the rich and famous, unless his friends, dirt on opposition MP's, dirt on celebs.  The same celebs who spend much of their time half naked posing in his paper, he has always known how important naked women are in selling papers, sex filled the pages especially online.  
All media have followed him, the right wing press tried to keep up with him and failed, the 'Express' and the 'Telegraph' losing numbers hand over fist and heading down market all the time.  Dacre knew what he could get away with by spouting right wing lies and bigotry, he knew what the people wanted and knew they would fall for it.  He walks away to an overseer role, the new man, the 'Mail on Sunday' editor hated him and will not allow Paul to push him around.  It may even be the DM will improve, but I doubt it, what sells stays.  
Paul Dacre walks away and Theresa may announces he has left the cabinet, though that however might be a false tweet I saw.  The judgement we must all face lies ahead of us, at 70 years of age Paul is running out of time to consider his ways, I hope he does so soon.

Sweltering!

I was forced to walk, at noon, in the 82% heat today on my way to St P's.  That's 27% to you foreign folks out there and it is not something we are used to.  It was remarked when I arrived, tired and weary, that only 'Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.'  "You," they said in unison, "Are not English!" Much hilarity ensued!  
Three days running this heat has hit us and in the south we will get a bit more tomorrow.  Up north it is wet of course, but that is what they are there for, to catch the weather falling over the Atlantic!  
I confess I prefer this heat to the usual rain though an ideal temp of somewhere in the 70's would be more workable.  Even typing is hard when great drops of sweat keep landing on the keyboard. 
I'm sure I saw a Duck Billed Platypus walking past as I made my way home.

 
Last night the folks who endured the fire in the tower saw the beginning of the end of the 24 hour news coverage of their story.  This was because a right wing nutjob took it upon himself to copy the Islamist type attacks and late last night drive his white van into a crowd of Muslims leaving a mosque where they had been attending Ramadan prayers.  He crashed into a group who were busy aiding an aged chap who had collapsed.  The driver hit them and killed one and seriously injured several others. While trying to escape he was caught by the crowd and rescued from them by the Imam from the mosque and handed over to the police.  
Today Theresa May desperately trying to look human rushed to the mosque muttering about ending 'right wing extremism.'  I am left wondering if she would include the 'Daily Express' in her 'right wing extremist' list, or the 'Daily Mail' and naturally Rupert Murdoch's 'Sun?'  All these as well as the 'Telegraph' another extreme right wing paper that has gone downhill to make money have blamed Muslims and immigrants in general for every wrong and for many years, this is now the result.
Genuine questions regarding immigrants exist, genuine questions regarding some mosques and their imams need investigating, the media, and these papers in general have not done this!  Instead they play in the fears of the 'white working class' in general and the population altogether with half truths and deliberate distortions, that is how they make their money.  By such usage Rupert Murdoch and others have a control over the country they ought not to have in a democracy.  I am unaware of any cash Murdoch might invest in the Tory Party but his influence is clear, Michael Gove, removed by Theresa the minute she got the job has been returned as 'Environment Secretary,' a job he is singularly unfit for with his opinions totally at variance with environemntal reality. 
The media can be useful, the newspapers can inform, educate, build up, however what sells is sensation so news is replaced by sex stories and 'shock horror' tales, individuals are attacked or sentimentalised with no concern for the reality, they are used and abused with no control over the media possible, this is because the Conservative Party need the papers to get votes!
There are more right wing nutjobs out there, almost as many as there are Islamist nutjobs, extreme propaganda from either side must be opposed by truth, we do not have the media able or willing to do this.

 

Open Minded Comments

The day started early and lingered on a long time.  I became immersed in the papers.  One of the great leaps forward provided by the internet has been the free availability of the half truths and downright lies offered by the UK media. On top of the slanted items on view comes the readership, both those who succumb to the propaganda and those who oppose.  To give an impression that a great many of those who add their comment at the foot of these stories, and stories must be the word, are small minded, blind, self seeking cretins might be a wee bit wide of the mark, or maybe might not!  Which is worse I wonder, the distorted news item or the distorted reader, it's a difficult one.
The brazen manner in which the media offers tales based simply on what the reader wishes to read, yes 'Daily Mail,' I mean you, is simply staggering.  The desire of folks to read and accept what is published staggers also adding more than a hint of worry about just who is sitting next to you on the bus!  A direct opposite news priority wise is of course the 'Guardian.'  While the 'Daily Mail,' appeals to those of the lower middle class and those working class Tory voters aspiring to be 'middle class,' the Guardian's appeal is to the liberal middle class. That is those educated, or indoctrinated might be a better word, by their class fellows and proudly boast of their ability to think, yet manage to come out with the same opinions!  These opinions are on the whole totally opposed to those underlying the 'Daily Mail.'  
Each paper on offer aims only at its readership an attitude leading to a desperate lowering of standards such as they were in the hope of keeping the paper afloat.  UK papers have lost half their sales in the past ten years and some now ask for money from those of us reading their online versions.  'The Times,' one of Murdoch's papers, now offers his opinions at a cost, his already dumbed down 'Sun,' now also asks for a contribution.  Neither get any shekels from me.
The advantage of online versions is the ability to increase advertising that reaches the soul of the reader, so far none has reached this soul as far as I can see.  The disadvantage is employees are required to moderate the online comments offered by those seeking fame, attention, a soapbox and being able to anonymously project these to the world via a keyboard.  
What are you looking at me for?
Cost cutting has hit 'journalism' hard.  Proper journalists as well as tabloid ones have lost their jobs and we find their meaningless drivel now presented by 'Workies.'  That is those offered a full time 'interns' job with no pay.  These are willingly accepted by young trainees desperate to break into the business, a year later heard offering the famous cry, "Do you want fries with that?"  One job workies do is moderating comments.  No doubt some are good at this, no doubt someone with appropriate training is able to weed out the libelous stuff before it goes out to the world.  One thing is clear, any comment that criticises the paper itself is almost always removed!  Don't ask how I know, just believe me.  The Guardian allows all sorts of perversions to be aired yet will not allow a degree of sarcasm or disagreement, either removing the offending post, moderating the offenders next posts, or banning them altogether for a while. Don't ask how I know this either.  Many of my some peoples 'Daily Mail' posts do not appear, even when they claim not to be moderating.  I think I have upset one of the workies.  It would not be too difficult to work out which one I suspect if I ever saw them alive.  The 'Glasgow Herald,' that famous Rangers supporting paper, is all for a free press but reluctant to allow questions about one time Rangers boss David Murray.  My posts rarely go up there either. 
Those who comment fit certain boxes.  In the 'Daily Telegraph,' now dumbed down into an upper middle class 'daily Mail, these chaps, and it is mostly 'chaps,' are concerned only with the Conservative Party's main concern, money!  Almost everything comes down to the economy.  So unlike the 'Daily Mail' where almost everything come down to, er the pound in your pocket. Both have many commentators happy to follow the agreed line, even if it is absurd, thus revealing a great deal about the attitudes of the average Englishman, and they are mostly English.  The anti-Europe UKIP Party will gain many votes from this crowd, especially in the 'Daily Mail,' while the 'Guardian' sees that party as racist and against all immigrants, gays and blacks.  Neither see what is actually written by the other, neither wish to, the papers and the comments are merely to support personal opinion not offer facts to enlighten.
On several occasions I have quietly posted obvious facts on papers, the abuse received is worse than that offered by women I have worked with!  I am talking about clear obvious facts, not the 'wind ups' I sometimes accidentally offer for consideration.  On occasion I am amazed at the closed mind seen on the comments sections, I am so pleased my mind is always open to others ideas, as long as they are not ones I disagree with.......
I expect all comments to be open minded, thoughtful and generous, other wise they get banned!            


  .

The Letterman Quiz

The Daily Telegraph have produced a 21 question British (Pah! They mean English) Quiz.  I got three wrong, 18/21, and I am quite smug about this.  'Dave' may have got about five right I reckon.  How many can you get right?

  Telegraph Quiz.


.