Why Rupert Murdoch considers it worth his while to pay David Aaronovitch a large six figure sum for such puerile antics as tweeting that I am insane, is a conjecture I find difficult to resolve. Today this exchange occurred on twitter:
David Aaronovitch: This suggestion that if elected Corbyn could be quickly ousted is utter bollocks. Democracy allows Labour to commit Hara Kiri.
Mark Doran: @DAaronovitch I hope everyone is watching how these servants of the micro-elite try to paint “attracting popular support” as “committing suicide.”
Mark Doran: @DAaronovitch Craig finds the elite-serving contortions every bit as funny as I do
David Aaronovitch: @MarkJDoran I tend to find Craig Murray unpersuasive on the grounds of him being unhinged. I can see why you like him, though.
Mark Doran: Says the man who managed to find Bush and Blair credible. I can see why you liked them, though.
It is remarkably ironic that on being referred to an article which argues that views outside a very narrow neoliberal establishment narrative are marginalised and ridiculed by the media, the Murdoch hack’s response is that the author is unhinged. Aaronovitch could not have more neatly proved my point.
But something else struck me about the twitter record. Aaronovitch’ twitter account claims to have 78,000 followers. Yet of the 78,000 people who allegedly received his tweet about my insanity, only 1 retweeted and 2 favourited. That is an astonishingly low proportion – 1 in 26,000 reacted. To give context, Mark Doran has only 582 followers and yet had more retweets and favourites for his riposte. 1 in 146 to be precise, a 200 times greater response rate.
Please keep reading, I promise you this gets a great deal less boring.
Eighteen months ago I wrote an article about Aaronovitch’s confession that he solicits fake reviews of his books to boost their score on Amazon. In response a reader emailed me with an analysis of Aaronovitch’s twitter followers. He argued with the aid of graphs that the way they accrued indicated that they were not arising naturally, but being purchased in blocks. He claimed this was common practice in the Murdoch organisation to promote their hacks through false apparent popularity.
I studied his graphs at some length, and engaged in email correspondence on them. I concluded that the evidence was not absolutely conclusive, and in fairness to Aaronovitch I declined to publish, to the annoyance of my correspondent.
Naturally this came to mind again today when I noted that Aaronovitch’ tweets to his alleged legion of followers in fact tumble into a well of silence. I do not even tweet. The entire limit of my tweeting is that this blog automatically tweets the titles of articles I write. They are not aphorisms so not geared to retweet. Yet even the simple tweet “Going Mainstream” which marked the article Aaronovitch derided, obtained 20 times the reactions of Aaronovitch’s snappy denunciation of my mental health. This despite the fact he has apparently 10 times more followers than me. An initial survey seems to show this is not atypical.
In logic, I can only see two possible explanations. The first is that my correspondent was right and Aaronovitch fakes twitter followers like he does book reviews. The second is that he has a vast army of followers, nearly all of whom find him dull and uninspiring, and who heartily disapproved en masse of his slur on my sanity. I opt for the second explanation, that he is just extremely dull, on the grounds that Mr Aaronovitch’s honesty and probity were never questioned, m’Lud.
Clark : ” Multiple stories strongly suggest that this continues to give BT (billing) decisive advantages over their competition in the landline / ADSL sector.”
Exactly. Theoretically there was competition. In practice BT had a monopoly.
Fred 12:09 pm:
Fred, 10:41 am:
Fred, either apply a bit of consistency, or fuck off and die, to use your own favourite phrase. My allegation is that you sometimes joke around a bit. Your allegation is much nastier, far more serious and a lot less honest.
No, don’t die; I still think you’re a good bloke, and I’ll still back up your fair points, like having to travel to Inverness for medical services that used to be available in Wick. I remember those journeys all right. And I met the woman who’s bus you were fixing when you were injured, too. Small world; treat it as such. We are not enemies.
Fred, please look through my comments regarding you with a view to how much I’ve actually supported your arguments, particularly those on this page at 3:04 am and 3:47 am. I don’t agree with you 100%; neither do I totally disagree. I respect you and your opinions, in part because of my personal assessment of you from the time we spent together and the activities we shared, for which I thank you.
Node 11:50am,
Your best bet will be to contact the Phone Co-op directly. They’re still only a relatively small organisation, so they have to buy capacity wholesale from other telecomms cos, so it’s quite likely they won’t show up in your search. Hopefully they will grow organically to a point where they can provide their own capacity, without having to raise outside capital.
They’re not perfect – the IP address they gave me is registered to TalkTalk, which got a bad report in a recent “Which?” magazine survey. Still perfectly acceptable performance, though.
Worthy of a press statement from the People’s Republic of ……
Joint statement by the UK and Vietnam on UK Prime Minister’s visit to Vietnam.
From:British Embassy Hanoi
30 July 2015
Part of:Vietnam …
A joint statement on the visit to Vietnam of the UK Prime Minister David Cameron to Vietnam on 29 and 30 July 2015.
‘Prime Minister David Cameron visits Vietnam, 29 July 2015. Photo by: Huy Kham
At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Right Honourable David Cameron MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland paid an official visit to Vietnam from 29 to 30 July 2015.
During the visit, Prime Minister David Cameron called on H.E. Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, H.E. Mr. Truong Tan Sang, President of the Social Republic of Vietnam, and held talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The visit took place on the fifth year anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral Strategic Partnership. It was the first official visit of a serving British Prime Minister to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.’
/..
https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/joint-statement-by-the-uk-and-vietnam-on-uk-prime-ministers-visit-to-vietnam
Yards of it.
Then he’s back to deal with the ‘swarm’ of migrants at Calais as he referred to them. How dare he!
‘David Cameron criticised over migrant ‘swarm’ language
48 minutes ago
Speaking to ITV News, David Cameron spoke of “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life”
David Cameron has been criticised for his description of migrants trying to reach Britain as a “swarm”.
Labour’s Harriet Harman said “he should remember he is talking about people and not insects” and called the use of “divisive” language a “worrying turn”.
Hundreds of migrants tried to enter the Channel Tunnel overnight.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33716501
Prepare to be kettled on Sunday.
http://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/Assets/London+Marathon+Digital+Assets/2015+Prudential+RideLondon-Surrey+Classic+Route+Map.pdf
In an attempt to make Alistair (I lied) Carmichael seem more legitimate and proper Libdem leader Tim Farron has given Mr Carmichael the position of Home Affairs Spokesman.
Tim Farron appears to be saying, hey I know Alistair lied, but he said sorry, so everythings alright again in my books, lets get on with it.
A large percentage of Carmichael’s constituents seem to think otherwise.
http://www.thenational.scot/politics/outrage-after-carmichael-makes-ironic-return-to-frontline-politics-in-libdem-home-affairs-role.5771
Blairite terrier John McTernan attacked Labour’s party members yesterday, as left-winger Jeremy Corbyn became the bookies’ favourite to be the next leader of the Labour party.
McTernan, who was the mastermind (should read disaster-mind) behind Jim Murphy’s General Election campaign, told The Spectator magazine that Corbyn should not be allowed to be in charge of the party for “two minutes”.
McTernan said: “It just beggars belief that there isn’t something that, in the unlikely event Corbyn wins, something is done swiftly and quickly to restore the party to its sense”.
When the interviewer put it to McTernan that Corbyn may be who Labour’s grassroots wanted to win, McTernan replied:”Who cares about the grassroots?”
I’m beginning to wonder if McTernan is actually a double-agent working for the Tories, after all every thing to do with Labour that he touches turns to dust.
Or is the Labour party so far to the right now (best bet) that his inane lickspittle ramblings, are seen as constructive, it’s a mad, mad, mad world, or was that one mad too many.
http://www.thenational.scot/politics/murphys-spin-doctor-john-mcternan-if-corbyn-is-elected-we-must-depose-him.5762
”Who cares about the grassroots?”
I see Unison and Unite do, lol. They’re backing Corbyn.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33707321
And the CWU.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/30/communication-workers-union-backs-corbyn-as-antidote-to-blairite-virus
That’s 5/6 of Labour’s funding down the swanee, if they want to push it.
Why?
Far from representing a fringe constituency, Corbyn is a representative of the only political current, with the exception of the Scottish nationalists, to have galvanised popular opposition to the Coalition and Conservative governments: the radical left. In high politics, within the wider labour movement, and within social movements, the imagination and strategies that have brought people in and won disputes in a new era of reactionary government have come by and large not from centrists or trade union leaderships, but from grassroots activists and radical political minorities. On many core issues, the radical left is now the only political force articulating what a majority of the public wants: economic democratisation, tax justice, and public ownership.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/left-must-unite-behind-jeremy-corbyns-bid-labour-leadership
Node – I’ve successfully avoided using BT for years, rather than pay their absurd
leechline rental as a prerequisite for using anyone else’s service. Seems The Market Forces don’t apply to that, and Competition is in this instance deplorable. But if I’d just been conned like that, I’d be looking around for collaborators in a class action. I do understand your position, though. Life’s too short, and the smartarse marketeers ubiquitous. Boycott if possible, I suppose.“If you know Clark you will know he has mental health issues, much of what he remembers about his stay in Caithness is not true”
Either this is a lie, or Fred is abusing and bullying someone with a problem. Either way, it is contemptible behaviour.
Just a few posts on the Réunion discovery on
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/03/disappearing-aircraft/comment-page-20/#comments
Being a French outpost, it is part of the EU and in the Eurozone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union
From Robin Cook’s autobiographical The Point of Departure (2003):
My edits and emphasis, and of course the “centre” to which Cook refers has moved even more to the right since then. It’s obvious why the corporate/establishment news mass media so strongly opposed any change in the voting system; “swing” voters are, by definition, the ones more easily swayed by attitudes in the media; why would the mass media voluntarily surrender any of its power?
Scotland, with its proportional system for Holyrood has provided the lesson. When the electors can see that positions outside the media mainstream can win, they will to vote to support them.
Glenn, please don’t worry any more than I do about Fred. I remember the gist of his answer to my question even if he doesn’t, and consequently I don’t take it too seriously 😉
I have just been watching many species of bees collecting nectar from my lavender plants which are in full flower. The bees are wonderful and necessary for our survival.
I am therefore incensed to learn that Cameron and Truss have rolled over to the NFU.
‘The government has temporarily lifted a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides in certain parts of the country.
An EU-wide moratorium was put in place after some studies showed the pesticide caused significant harm to bees.
But following a second emergency application by the National Farmers Union, two neonicotinoid pesticides can now be used for 120 days on about 5% of England’s oilseed rape crop.
Environmental and wildlife groups have called the decision “scandalous”.
‘We have fully applied the precautionary ban on the use of neonicotinoids introduced by the EU’
Defra spokesperson
The areas where farmers will be allowed to use neonicotinoids has not yet been decided. According to the NFU, it will be those areas where there are records over the last season or so that the pests – primarily the cabbage stem flea beetle – have inflicted most damage on oilseed rape crops.
Farming Minister George Eustace MP told BBC’s Farming Today that it was “predominantly farmers in Suffolk” who would now be able to use neonicotinoids. He said that the government was approaching the issue “with an open mind” and that there was “a lot of ambiguity” about the evidence.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33641646
23 July 2015
38 Degrees have an emergency petition.
‘Fresh batches of bee-killing pesticides are on their way to British farms right now. Prime Minister David Cameron could stop these toxic chemicals before they are spread across our fields and wreak havoc on bees. But he’ll only do it if enough of us pile on the pressure.
Environment minister Liz Truss has just approved this fresh use of bee-killing pesticides. It’s no surprise – she’s been exposed holding cosy meetings with chemical industry lobbyists. If our environment minister won’t protect bees, we need to turn the pressure onto David Cameron. He’s her boss – and that means he has the power to overturn her decision.
Please can you sign the emergency petition to Cameron now, asking him to overrule his minister and act to protect the bees? It will only take a few seconds.’
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/emergency-bees-petition
Clark quoting Robin Cook : “The image, language and policies of the Labour leadership are angled to the right because they know that the only electoral battleground that matters is for the centre.”
Then why does this not apply equally to the Conservatives? Why are the image, language and policies of the Conservative leadership not angled to the left?
If Cook’s point was ever true, it is no longer. Now Labour is angled to the right because the slightest deviation leftwards is torpedoed by the MSM, as exemplified by their treatment of Corbyn.
An actor has been cleared of perverting the course of justice by making up a story that he was molested by former chancellor Kenneth Clarke during a cash-for-questions TV sting 20 years ago.
Ben Fellows, 40, from Birmingham, alleged that the leading politician had plied him with alcohol and carried out the sexual assault in the office of a lobbyist while he was working undercover for ITV’s The Cook Report in 1994.
Where does it go from here? Will a Ken Clarke face any charges?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/30/actor-kenneth-clarke-sexual-assault-perverting-course-of-justice
The “#ImHardLeft” tag has taken off in support of Jeremy Corbyn, but it’s been hijacked.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/594227/Labour-Jeremy-Corbyn-supporters-lampooned-ImHardLeft-Twitter
The personal attack on Clark from Fred is well out of order, no matter if it has any substance or not.
Fuck of and die retard, and i mean it. Don’t ever complain about ‘personal’ attacks ever again you fucking bully.
Republicofscotland, to my mind the Ben Fellows case is a bit of a strange one. The jury at the Old Bailey were asked to judge not whether Fellows was telling lies, but whether he perverted the course of justice. The jury found him not guilty on that count. Go figure!
Ben Fellows has always said that if he was telling lies then Kenneth Clarke would have sued him for libel. Clarke has never done so, and made a failed legal attempt to keep his name out of this Old Bailey trial.
There seems to be more to this trial than meets the eye, particularly since Ben Fellows also claims that our glorious prime minister was part of the cover-up (Cameron worked for Carlton Television at the time), although as far as I’m aware this wasn’t mentioned during the trial.
A number of years back, David Cameron was famously confronted on live television, on ITV’s ‘This Morning’. The presenter, Philip Schofield, bluntly asked Cameron what he was going to do about institutional paedophilia, and pulled out a list of high profile sex offenders. Here’s the clip…
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuy92c_philip-schofield-this-morning-david-cameron-pedo-list-full_news
Node, 3:53 pm; I think it depends upon the meaning of “centre”. If we mean the centre of public political opinion, you’re right. If we mean the centre of opinion promoted by the corporate media, Cook’s point makes sense, and that’s the “centre” that’s relevant regarding the crucial swing voters in marginal constituencies. The swing to UKIP in England illustrates this.
Well said, Juteman (16:21). Incidentally, weren’t the Nazis rather fond of identifying people supposedly having mental problems, and bullying them over it?
Mary, three points regarding the 38 Degrees petition opposing neonicotinoid pesticides due to their effects upon bees: the exception sought by the NFU is minimal; they want to plant pre-treated seed rather than resuming any kind of spraying, so any effect upon bees would seem very unlikely. Conversely, the NFU are claiming this exception to be utterly essential, so how did they ever cope before the late 1990s, before neonicotinoids were widely used? And I see this is for rapeseed, most of which goes into diesel fuel for vehicles.
RobG.
Yes it is a strange case, I recall Mr Fellows claiming that Ken Clarke touched him inappropriately in Mr Clarke’s office, why hasn’t Mr Clarke sued Ben Fellows, over character defamation?
It is indeed a curious case.
As for Philip Schofield, I recall that clip you speak of, and the sheet of paper he handed to David Cameron, the attempt out certain characters backfirec on Mr Schofield.
When Phillip Schofield handed the Prime Minister a list of names of supposed paedophiles on live TV last November, he had no idea the ten-second stunt would end up personally costing him tens of thousands of pounds.
Until now it’s been widely assumed that ITV would put up the majority of the libel payout to Lord McAlpine, whose name was briefly visible on a card that the 51-year-old presenter handed to David Cameron during his appearance on This Morning.
However, I’m told Phillip has agreed to split the £125,000 damages plus legal costs, meaning he will lose at least £62,500 from his £1million salary this year.
Hullo Clark
Hullo Fred…
I hope you two can patch things up..
I’m a delicate wee soul with my own failings n Problems, so to be able to live with someone practically 24/7 all parties must be Just Ok and Dandy With me. i sometimes feel down and sorry for myself…Then i think how lucky i am to have people around me in a peaceful environment ( unlike Cameron’s Gangs Making Children watch their parents being torn apart in Syria )
I genuinely Feel lucky to have met Clark
And Craig
And Nevermind
I wish i could meet some others on this Blog too..maybe one day…Anyhoo, off to Ju jitsu, Peace all
P.s. before I go – one of My Hero’s Takes on Amnesty International. –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_NaU5S_Wnw#t=13
Corbyn Interview with Andrew Marr:
Wants to stop gross exploitation in housing market and stop predatory investors: TICK
Wants to stop the ever widening gap between super rich and poor: TICK
Wants to get rid of Trident (Already obsolete and a pointlessly futile weapon) TICK
Wants to separate Labour from accusations of “Tory Lite”: TICK
Wants to foster a party that is not a pale impersonation of Tories: TICK
Wants to build infrastructure: TICK
Wants to cease fluff economy based on speculation and replace with proper industry: TICK
Wants to bring public utilities into public ownership and purge the middle men: TICK
These points, apart from possibly No.3, are not particularly socialist policies, and almost every Tory government before Thatcher would probably have agreed that they are sensible. Therefore he is hardly revolutionary. But the press would have us believe that these sensible policies are somehow Marxist or “Red”.
See Michael White’s appallingly desperate piece in the Guardian for final proof that the Grauniard is not just lurching to the right, but actually thinks that sandals and white socks are more important than political philosophy.
Would love to meet a gracious soul such as Brian. Celtic culture reminds me of native americans like the Navajo and bri has the face paint of peace, not war.
Thanks Brian, will c ya soon.
Tonight on channel 4 news, Mc ternan was torn apart by Will Self, bit by bit, its well worth a watch.
re nicotinoids, you will find that the NFU would take about 24 hrs. to change their minds, should farmers moan too loud. The resulting lobbying to these right wingers would take another 24 hrs. before they’d allow spraying too, the wedge is in the door.
Fred, please act positive and apologise to Clark, no dent in your crown, just an out of order righted.
“Fred, please act positive and apologise to Clark, no dent in your crown, just an out of order righted.”
He’s the one made it personal.
I’m happy enough just discussing the issues but if somebody makes it personal I will respond.
It’s up to them.
“It’s up to them.”
I think it’s a shared responsibility, fred. Give a little. Take a little. It seems fair in the long run.