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.
A Labour MP accused of kicking a Yes campaigner outside a referendum polling station walked free from court yesterday after the case against her collapsed on a technicality.
Marie Rimmer MP, from St Helens in Merseyside, had denied assaulting Patricia McLeish as Scotland went to the polls last September.
The 68-year-old appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court for trial yesterday.
However, the case collapsed when it emerged that the word “Glasgow” had not been included in court papers outlining the charge.
Depute fiscal Adele MacDonald said her research showed there was only one Shettleston in Scotland, and that is the area in the east end of Glasgow.
Thankfully the Crown intend to appeal against the decision.
We can’t have another Labour MP assaulting people who don’t agree with their views.
One possible reason as to why the bin Laden state of the art plane crashed without a single survivor
As to why Sana bin Laden was targeted for assassination, this report continues, was due to her having been recalled for additional testimony before The Iraq Inquiry headed by Sir John Chilcot this coming Monday, 3 August.
RobG
5:21pm
Thanks, Rob. I don’t really follow the BBC website much. I came across it while searching for more information about Heath.
I am rather puzzled: do you think it is untrue that Heath is being investigated by four separate police forces? If it is untrue, no doubt that will become apparent in due course.
I don’t know about BBC coverage of the Corbyn leadership campaign. It has been my impression that general media coverage has become better in the last few days, but that is not saying much. Generally speaking he has been ridiculed and dismissed by the great and the good, to their shame, because he is clearly articulating the core beliefs of a very large proportion of the nation, and he’s the only candidate who is doing so.
Kind regards,
John
Study these two photo’s pay special attention to the ears do the match?
http://tapnewswire.com/2015/07/chris-spivey-and-lee-rigby/
So the areas under investigation are Jersey, Kent, Dolphin Square (again) and Wiltshire.
The implication here is that the brothel was in or near Salisbury.
‘The BBC understands Wiltshire Police halted an inquiry into a brothel keeper in the 1990s after she said Sir Edward was involved in child sexual abuse.’
Edward Heath abuse claims: Four forces investigating ex-PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33770021
The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation
http://www.arundells.org/
The twitter comments amuse. His coterie of luvvies inc Major and Williams are there.
https://twitter.com/Arundells
The trustees of the charity.
Mrs Genie Turton, CB
Lord Hunt of Wirral, MBE
Mr Lincoln Seligman
Mr James Elder
Mr Wilf Weeks, OBE
Mr Peter Batey, OBE
Mr Edward Bickham
Mr Gordon MacDougall
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends73/0001112773_AC_20131231_E_C.pdf
One of my brothers used to live in Salisbury and we walked past the house a few times. It is a beautiful place in a marvellous location in Cathedral Close with a view of the famous spire.
The United States has warned of “additional steps” if Damascus continues taking actions against the US-backed militants in crisis-hit Syria.
At the Monday news briefing, White House spokesman Josh Earnest was referring to US-trained militants, who he admitted have been suffering losses.
Earnest said that the government of President Bashar al-Assad “should not interfere” in operations by the US-backed forces on the Syrian soil, which he alleged were part of a “strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL” as US President Barack Obama had promised.’
So the president of Syria, has to stand by and let the US do whatever the hell it wants on Syrian soil, and if he interferes there will be trouble.
Just who the hell does Obama think he is?
@John Spencer-Davis
Thanks for the correction about the brothel madam in question not being Carole Kasir. I stand corrected. The one who made the allegation about Edward Heath was also jailed for 6 years after an investigation by the Wiltshire Police.
Not Edward Heath (NB = please gvie your usual handle in future, thanks!):
“My advice to any victims who may be reading this is not to trust the police or any other authorities…etc..”
______________________
And my advice to any people reading your post would be that if they have any regard for the safety of the wider community they should apply to have you seconded under the Mental Health Act.
In your post you
– seem to think that Carole Kasir, although long deceased, is going to stand trial shortly;
– claim that Jeremy Thorpe murdered various hitch-hikers he picked up;
– hint that Princes Charles and Andrew are paedophiles;
– Prince Philip was implicated in the Profumo affair;
– appear to agree with someone else’s view assertion that Edward Heath was a paedophile and murdered some of his victims.
You are barking mad.
~~~~~~~~~~~
PS – Please supply your proper name and addres so that we can start the sectioning procedures. Thanks.
sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
A note on Medialens ref Toynbee and Blair. She nominated him as her ‘man of the decade’ in 2010.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1438690863.html
One thing is for certain: paedophiles go where the children are.
Scores and scores of children abused in care homes have disappeared.
But it’s not just care homes. The abuse also occurs in private boarding schools, including the ones at the pinnacle of English society (and indeed British society – let’s not forget the crimes at Gordonstoun.)
I have now heard whispers from two separate sources that the Heath allegations are connecting with the sexual abuse of both choristers and older children by teachers at Winchester College.
Winchester is only a short drive from Salisbury.
Will the police raid the Wykeham Arms pub, just outside the Cathedral Close in Winchester and a favoured haunt of senior figures in the judiciary and church as well as teachers at the College?
When they do, the days of the ruling old boy network will be numbered.
The issue isn’t just who actually commits the crimes but who knows about them and keeps quiet. The structure for keeping quiet, whether by doing a Nelson, by running a coverup, or by murdering those who might reveal things, is basically the same as the power structure in this country.
The Profumo scandal was ringfenced from Prince Philip. But will the sex crimes of the royal princes be kept under wraps this time?
Hey Michael Peat, are you reading this?
Wilf Weeks, OBE, one of the Arundells trustees, was a private secretary to Heath.
‘GJW Government Relations was a political lobbying company which counted Enron and Balfour Beatty among its clients. It was implicated in the UK LobbyGate scandal of 1998, boasting of the immediate access to ministers it could obtain in return for cash [1].
GJW was created in 1980 by Wilf Weeks and Andrew Gifford. It merged with BSMG Worldwide in 2000 [2]; BSMG Worldwide merged with Weber Shandwick in 2001, and Weber Shandwick GJW, the public affairs arm of Weber Shandwick, was born. At the time of LobbyGate, its staff were:
Andrew Gifford, Managing Director
Wilf Weeks, Chairman (now Chairman of European Public Affairs, Weber Shandwick GJW)
Nigel Clarke, Director (now Chairman, Public Affairs, Weber Shandwick GJW)
Karl Milner, consultant
Mari James, Cardiff office (now Managing Director of Public Affairs in Wales, Weber Shandwick GJW)’
Shandwick of Weber Shandwick (now InterRepublic) was Peter Gummer, now Lord Chadlington and brother of John Gummer, now Lord Deben, of dodgy beefburger fame and a minister under Major and Thatcher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gummer
@John Spencer-Davis
4 Aug, 2015 – 5:39 pm
John, Heath has come under various police investigations since the 1960s (in otherwords, when he became PM in the 1970s it was known he had ‘form’, which raises all sorts of questions). Allegations against Heath are currently being investigated by the MET, Wiltshire police, Kent police and Jersey police. Here’s Exaro’s latest piece on it:
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5629/sir-edward-heath-met-also-investigates-claims-of-child-sex-abuse
With regard to the investigation by Jersey police, it also involves allegations of child murder; although I should stress that these allegations don’t say that Heath was directly involved, but he was part of the cover-up.
I am reliably informed that a lot more revelations about Ted Heath will be appearing in the near future.
Habbabkuk, you haven’t half got a lip on you. Maybe you can give me your name and address so I can come round and make it a fat one?
Yes – I made a mistake about Carole Kasir.
And Prince Philip was implicated in the Profumo affair. He was a friend of Stephen Ward. He was also a regular at the sex parties.
Didn’t they mention that in the Hasbara Handbook?
Israeli authorities allow a pub/cafe to open in a Muslim cemetery.
Ma’manillah is a historic Muslim cemetery that contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period. It includes several historic shrines and tombs. Muslims stopped using it in 1927 when the Supreme Muslim Council decided to preserve it as an historic site.
In my opinion the opening of a bar/cafe in any cemetery is of poor taste and highly inappropriate.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/20188-israel-opens-pub-on-islamic-cemetery-lands-in-jerusalem
Peter Gummer, Lord Chadlington, is a neighbour of Dave and is president of the local Tory partei. Also a partei donor, of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gummer,_Baron_Chadlington
He sold land to Dave to enable Dave to enlarge his garden.
Cameron ‘should have declared’ £137,000 deal to buy land from millionaire friend
Prime Minister facing questions over deal with next-door neighbour
Tory donor bought house across the road from the Camerons’ home
Former watchdog say PM should have declared details of the financial transaction on the Commons Register of Members’ Interests
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2065053/Cameron-140-000-deal-Tory-donor-Lord-Chadlington-buy-land-home.html
THEY are ALL in IT together.
The brothel madam whose case was dropped because of her threat to reveal Edward Heath’s paedophilia has now been named as Myra Ling-Ling Forde.
Meanwhile the Telegraph still can’t refer to Heath without calling him “Sir Edward”.
Who arranged for Heath to live in the house he lived in? Surely the house itself belongs to the Church of England?
Forde got a lot of her girls from care homes. Her sister is quoted as saying that she “knew a lot of politicians”. Here’s hoping that Ms Forde stays in good health.
RobG – If you know what the allegations are, please post them. There can be no libel or defamation against the dead.
Oh, and as an anecdote, I used to live in Bexley village back in the early 1980s, and Ted Heath was my MP. I got into a major dispute with my employer and wrote to Heath about it. He helped me out in a big way, although I never actually met the man. To his constituents, Ted Heath was generally seen to be a caring and helpful MP (his popularity was part of the reason he went on to become PM).
And back then, Morecambe and Wise used to sleep in the same double bed on their show, and not many people thought it was a bit strange.
@Mary. You’re right – they are all in it together.
Haut de la Garenne could turn Britain into Belgium.
EXCEPT that when the rage rises against the higher echelons of privileged scum in this country, and against their judges, politicians and celebrities, the royal family won’t be in a position to join the demonstrations and position themselves as decent fellows who stand with the people against corruption, paedophilia and murder. Oh dear.
Jeremy Corbyn, the surprise frontrunner in the leadership election for the UK Labour Party, says he would impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel if he were to become prime minister in 2020.
In an interview with The Electronic Intifada, the member of parliament for Islington, in central London, endorsed key elements of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
Corbyn is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and is well known as an active supporter of Palestinian rights.
He told The Electronic Intifada his involvement in the movement took off after he entered parliament in 1983. He has visited Palestine nine times, as well as refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria.
Corbyn emphasized that the Palestinian right to return was “the key” to a solution.
Jeez…… Labour’s Friends of Israel, must be shitting themselves at the thought of Corbyn’s appointment as leader.
RobG
6:33pm
I knew about Edward Heath being accused (by Michael Shrimpton) of child murder well over a year ago, but I’ve never said a word about it because I just never regarded it as remotely credible.
Exaro’s witness “Nick” says Heath abused him. Now, “Nick”‘s previous testimony places the abuse he suffered from a group of men including prominent politicians in the period 1977-83.
That would seem to suggest that Heath was active as a paedophile long after he became the most famous politician in the land in 1970, when he became Prime Minister. I should stress that apparently the police regard “Nick” as a credible witness.
I believe “Nick” is talking about boys aged from about 13-14 upwards. If Heath was active as a paedophile during the period he was Prime Minister, you can pretty well guarantee that the one politician boys of that age and upwards would recognise, if they recognised any at all, would be the Prime Minister.
So it is possible that Heath was abusing adolescent boys at a time when they were capable of recognising him, and presumably saying so. Draw your own conclusions about that.
All total speculation at the moment. I will be interested to see what comes of this.
Kind regards,
John
@Not Edward Heath
4 Aug, 2015 – 6:50 pm
Heath might be dead, but I say again, allegations of child murder do not directly involve Heath. Some of the people who were allegedly involved are still alive.
If you do a search for “Ted Heath Morning Cloud Jersey children’s home” it might turn up something.
Not Edward Heath – The house Arundells was his and now belongs to this charity. Stuffed full of valuables according to the photos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundells
Details of the charity – my comment @ 5.40pm
In other news, Dennis Kucinich has become the US Democratic Party’s front-runner for the US presidency, and AIPAC are shitting themselves something rotten.
@Mary. Thanks for this. Any idea whether he bought the freehold from the church or from a private owner? I’d find it hard to imagine that house with an estate agent’s sign outside it.
Oops – actually there’s quite a bit of info at the house’s Wikipedia page. Edward Heath bought the freehold in 1993.
Node at 3 Aug, 2015 – 7:29 pm
Those living in Scotland who “punch the air in delight” at the fall in the price on oil and its probable effect on Scottish revenues remind me of these other “punchers” from the Scottish Labour group when they heard that Scottish banks were involved in the banking crash.
The voters took note of these acts of selfishness and have now excised all the perpetrators into oblivion.
John, Shrimpton is a totally off-the-wall character who has a weird obsession/hatred of all things Germany. It seems likely to me that Shrimpton was being used to discredit allegations against Heath; and it seems to have worked, up till now.
The allegations against Heath actually go back a lot longer than when Shrimpton first appeared on the scene. Pre-internet, so it’s difficult for me to provide links.
@John
“you can pretty well guarantee that the one politician boys of that age and upwards would recognise, if they recognised any at all, would be the Prime Minister”
Not if the boys were in care homes, you can’t. Nor if they underwent sexual abuse for several years as this man says he did. Or at least, you couldn’t guarantee they’d recognise any politician.