I cannot ignore the fact that the whole nation is in mourning. I view the current mawkishness with even more bemused detachment than I did the dead Diana phenomenon. If only we saw such outpourings of grief for the British soldiers – let alone their opponents and hundreds of thousands of civilians – who have died in recent evil motivated wars. I am sorry when anyone dies prematurely, even Saddam Hussein. I tried hard not to rejoice when Suni Abacha died.
Death is a sad thing, especially for family. But someone has to stand against the excess. I am not afraid to say that there is something really gone wrong with the national psyche when a person deficient in intelligence, talent and even looks can rise to such national prominence for no apparent reason, except for an apparent desire to celebrate something aspiring to mediocrity. I am talking of course of Employment Secretary Tony McNulty and the shock this morning of the death of his political career.
The scarcely articulate McNulty was cashing in on his parents’ house as his parliamentary “Second home”, even though his constituency home was already in London and he spent only 20 nights a year in the parental home. He has claimed some £60,000. He is now insulting our intelligence by appearing all over the TV channels as a campaigner against the system he himself abused. Not one journalist has so far dared ask him the obvious questions about his hypocrisy.
What a sleazy shower of little crooks. I don’t care how sad Gordon Brown is, I shan’t shed a tear for McNulty’s political demise. He will linger a bit, of course, perhaps to the next election, because being a crook is a pre-qualification for membership of Brown’s cabinet.
A post worthy of Private Eye! Fabulous.
I think Craig’s posts are considerably above the standard of Private Eye. Here is the template for the standard Eye story:
Wonderful to see [name] campaigning so bravely against the wicked corruption of [name of wicked corrupt thing]. [name] has always distinguished himself as a critic of such wicked corrupt things. But look who [name] gets his money from! It’s [name of some group or company] which is wholly owned by – er* – [name of wicked corrupt thing]!
* I call these items ‘er’ stories – perhaps the Eye should trademark the word.
McNumpty is far from being “scarcely articulate”. His frequent hectoring media appearances give the impression that he hankers after tbe mantle of the unlamented “Dr” Reid as chief government rottweiler. So his stumble from grace is all the more welcome.
However, it has not stopped him from following our shameless PM in leading the mawkish national lamentations for Max Clifford’s protege Ms Goody. If you honestly want to know why such non-stories as her death – and that of Natasha Richardson – are featured as lead items on TV and MSM news, it is surely in the bread-and-circuses tradition of distracting the public’s attention away from the real scandals such as the economy and the ‘war on terror’.
anticant
He may talk a lot, but that doesn’t make him articulate! I think it is a bit unfair to compare Natasha Richardson – member of a brilliant and important acting family – to Jade Goody.
Oh, and I should say I was dleiberately writing in the style of Private Eye (as the headline gives away, I hope).
Exactly my thoughts, too. Goody did what she could for her children – no bad thing I guess, and an honourable end – but the staggering amount of time and space devoted to this ‘tragedy’ in the media is utterly out of proportion. This is news management.
In the meantime yet another Cabinet Minister declares his actions in ripping of the taxpayer for personal gain as being ‘within the rules’. You see, these people have no innate sense of duty or morality – they just work within ‘the rules’. They are scum.
Death is always tragic: it is as tragic for humble nonentities such as ourselves as it is for “celebrities”.
And comparisons are always invidious. I regret to say that I had never heard of Natasha Richardson until her accident and demise, though I once met her brilliant mother Vanessa and her grandmother, Rachel Kempson.
But distinguished actress though she was, I still don’t think that she merited pride of place on the TV channels any more than Jade Goody did [the latter seemingly heading for a posthumous DBE if our potty prime minister could conjure one up.]
Unlike the Americans, Craig, I do do irony and I recognised the wit in your post. But I stick to my point that the hype and distortion of values which prevails in the MSM nowadays is not the result of stupidity or incompetence, but stems from a deliberate proprietorial policy of dumbing down and burying serious news as much as possible.
If that were not so, your highly important allegations about governmental complicity in rendition and torture would be front page news. As they should be.
I was actually one of the ones who travelled into London and experience the peace and serenity and emotion and Love when Princess Diana died.
9/11 was worse
What is going on since is completely obscene
18 months after the event I discovered the truth of 9/11 purely by analysing the evidence. I was trained as a scientist.
I was totally shocked. It was as if someone had kicked me in the balls – but more so emotionally. I realised My Culture had done this and I couldn’t blame it on an enemy foreign culture that was evil. I suddenly realised that the EVIL came from Within My Culture.
So I marched down Whitehall with over 1 Million other People Pleading and Praying That Our Country Did Not Go To War with Iraq.
I Salute You Craig Murray
Your Courage and Integrity is an Example To The World
Thank You
Tony
Can someone explain this?
http://www.petitiononline.com/BlairWar/petition.html
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?BlairWar
The last time I looked there were Several Thousand Signatures From People All Over The World
And Now There are only 35
I have no idea about who the people are who organised this
But it appears that they had a massive effect
How were they silenced
Was it Skeletons in Cupboards
Or Kidnap?
Delete it or The Person You Love is Dead – shortly followed by you?
Is that how the Mafia operates?
Tony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu2HEfQSwn4
“Death is a sad thing, especially for family. But someone has to stand against the excess”…
http://tinyurl.com/cylfoh
Opmoc – no conspiracy. I believe the petition was re-started (not sure of the actual reason) and it is now here with over 2,000 signatures. Where are the 2 million who marched against the Iraq war?
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?BWCF
We are nearly as bad as America now…
Craig, that’s a bit of a “lookist” comment. Goody was no Marilyn Monroe but then you don’t look much like Clark Gable either. I agree that the mawkish outpouring of bilge over this person’s death is horrible to witness and it doesn’t end here – we still have the funeral, the books, the articles, the film, the docu-dramas to come. Stephen Fry has even called her our Lady Di from the wrong side of the tracks. The fact that we honour these worthless celebrities instead of scientists and engineers is incomprehensible to me.
Eddie
I tend to be a bit “Lookist”. But I simply mean that great beauty is an understandable – and in my view not illegitimate in its way – form of celebrity. But I think we basically agree on the case.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Ms Goody is another feather in Max Clifford’s cap, but her insatiable thirst for publicity even as she was dying has raised awareness of cervical cancer and she deserves credit for that.
Sorry for inadvertently repeating myself! The maxim certainly applies to McNumpty – the schadenfreude of seeing him flustered and miserable as he lamely defends his expenses fiddle is a delightful contrast to his usual bullying arrogance.
anticant
“” Nine-Mile McNulty “” would make a nice chant for any demonstrators wanting to shame this scumbag ?
McNumpty is an odious droid blowharding hectoring NuLabour twat.
He’s the intemperate headmasterly arrogant buffoon cheescake for our times.
We don’t deserve him,possibly.
Because of this alone he’s permanently exasperated with us,his errant schoolchild charges.
Give him a lollipop or two eh?
Twat.