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.
The Journalist Who Was Arrested for Investigating a Pedophile Orphanage about American journalist Leah McGrath Goodman, who was expelled from Jersey, held incommunicado for hours in the basement of Heathrow, and then expelled from Britain, all for trying to investigate Haut de la Garenne.
Sky News piece on the charges against Heath mentions Leah McGrath Goodman: Ted Heath Investigated Over Child Sex In Jersey:
It was a favorite technique of the KGB in its last decades of existence to accuse political dissidents of being mentally unbalanced, so that it could lock them up in mental hospitals and forcibly administer drugs to them.
My answer is ‘neither’.
Just for the record.
Habbabkuk to “John S Warren”:
“Are you, like Daniel, in favour of letting anyone who is determined to get to the UK do so? Or do you believe that the UK authorities and Eurotunnel security should uphold the law on entry to the UK?”
“John S Warren” to Habbabkuk:
“My answer is ‘neither’.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suppose you also believe in fairies And not.
N_
“@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.”
_______________
How very convenient.
For when the enquiry gets uder way: it woz him, M’Lady, but of course I don’t recognise him.
Pot and kettle. 7.51pm
We certainly live in a stinking rotten country. Financial corruption. This massive establishment cover up of child sexual abuse. Political preferment for titles and placements. Dismantling of the state and its privatisation – the NHS, prisons, mail, probation service to name just a few. Waging of illegal wars.
I could go on.
“It was a favorite technique of the KGB in its last decades of existence to accuse political dissidents of being mentally unbalanced, so that it could lock them up in mental hospitals and forcibly administer drugs to them.”
And its making a comeback, but at least as Putin’s craven supporters say he is kind to animals
https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/daniil-kotsyubinsky-alexander-kotsyubinsky/has-punitive-psychiatry-returned-to-russia
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/20/russian-artist-cuts-off-earlobe-protest-forced-psychiatric-treatment-dissidents
@Kempe
“Still waiting for Mr Goss to reconcile his conviction that MH17 was shot down by those pesky Ukraine ultra-fascists with new claims that it was destroyed by a bomb planted by those even more pesky Israelis.”
Oi, I was in the queue first – he still has to provide a credible source for his claim that Litvinenko left a polonium trail on the BA flight between London and Israel.
You asked the question. You have the answer: neither. Yes, I endeavour to make only serious comments. Here is how it works: I do not visit this site as a regular commenter. I make a comment when I feel I can make a constructive point. I do not possess the vanity to comment on everything. I may also comment on something I think is interesting or illuminating that another commenter writes; or more rarely, I may comment on a very bad argument, or a real blunder. I should also point out that I prefer to treat the debate and the commenters courteously.
Here is how it doesn’t work: I do not spend (waste) my time on spurious and idle questions created by you. Your questions are not acute; they are the wrong questions, what I term ‘Daily Mail’ questions; ill-considered binary choices with foolish outcomes that satisfy only the thoughtless or unheeding. It isn’t that easy; as I said, ‘raise your game’: think of something original to write, if you can.
Incidentally, the references you made to “montages” and “intimidatory tactics” had nothing to do with what I wrote on the subject, or think about it. At this point you sank to writing dross; but that is your problem. You may of course write what you like; I am indifferent, but when you make gratuitous observations of that nature, ex-nihilo, you merely confirm that you have nothing interesting to say. Forgive my candour, but it is for such reasons that I am inclined to think that you are not a ‘serious’ commenter; clever, no doubt, but a trifler.
Trolls are not interested in advancing any discussion. On the contrary, they want to divert discussion into matters of secondary (or less) importance. Hence it is rightly said: don’t feed the trolls.
N_
7:16pm
Yes: that’s why my sentence contains the phrase “if they recognised any at all”.
Kind regards,
John
RobG
7:15pm
No doubt you are right.
Ten years ago, who would have dared predict that allegations of sexual abuse of children by a former Prime Minister would be taken seriously by the police?
Kind regards,
John
I think Habba might have penned this lengthy piece in the Telegraph…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11706093/Lord-Janner-is-a-helpless-senile-man-who-should-not-be-prosecuted.html
And also the Telegraph’s attempt today to smooth over allegations against Heath…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11783304/Sir-Ted-Heath-The-Filipino-brothel-keeper-who-sparked-child-sex-abuse-inquiry.html
What with Filipino prostitutes and the rise of the ‘hard left’ in the UK, it surely must be terribly un-British to go after grandees like Heath…
Keep on taking the pills.
RobG: “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.”
So did Laural & Hardy. Nobody thought there was anything odd, because homosexuality had not been invented at that time, so clearly nothing could be amiss.
@Mary
“So the areas under investigation are Jersey, Kent, Dolphin Square (again) and Wiltshire.”
@Soon
“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 (for those who don’t already know) in Hampshire.
And…whaddayaknow…police are now investigating in a fifth area:
“Now FIVE police forces reveal they are investigating abuse claims against former Prime Minister Edward Heath as it emerges more alleged victims have come forward.”
“Kent and Hampshire Police are the latest forces to investigate allegations”
And curiously, that article from the Daily Heil doesn’t say what the Hampshire police are investigating…
On Jersey:
“Earlier today, Jersey Police also revealed Sir Edward is one of at least 13 ‘well known’ politicians, celebrities and sports stars being probed over decades of child abuse in schools and children’s homes.”
Don Hale, editor of the Bury Messenger, is quoted as saying
“When Barbara Castle came to see me in August 1984 within her dossier, she had several cuttings about ex-PM Ted Heath including one about Heath offering weekend trips for boys from Jersey on his yacht. It was all tied in with her claims about the Westminster paedo ring. The names related to people at the highest level.”
And…
“Sir Edward, who died in July 2005, was famously reticent about his private life – and his friends and supporters say they are sure he did not carry out the alleged sex crimes.”
Really? Odd that none of them actually put their names to saying that, then!
The nearest we get is a statement by the “Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation” (what – couldn’t they find a spokesperson willing to be named?) and a statement by some presumably retarded former Tory MP, Brian Binley, who “worked in Sir Edward’s office for a period of time” (10 years? 10 days?), who said “I find it very difficult to believe from the Ted Heath that I knew”, which is NOT equivalent to a statement saying “I’m sure he didn’t do it”.
Nonetheless, he asks an interesting question: “(W)hy, and I understand one of the cases was reported in the Met, why isn’t the Met being reviewed, why is it just Wiltshire Police?“
@John
9:08pm
“Yes: that’s why my sentence contains the phrase “if they recognised any at all””.
Fair enough, but there isn’t much of a point left about why he didn’t recognise his alleged abuser Edward Heath at the time or recognise who he had been until a few years later, because if he had the kind of background he says he had then it wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprising if he didn’t know what the prime minister looked like.
Well it could be Winchester College, or it could be the Children’s Cottage Home in Cosham in the Portsmouth area, where a lot of child abuse has been alleged.
(Or it could be both.)
N_
10:13pm
I obviously have not made myself clear, so I’ll try again. I had no intention of attacking “Nick”‘s credibility. Actually, if Heath’s abuse of “Nick” (if true) fell within 1977-1983, he was no longer Prime Minister, so there would be even less reason for “Nick” to recognise him. I quite agree with you.
I was dealing with the allegation (which I don’t believe, but I do not rule it out a priori either, given what is gradually emerging from Exaro et al) that Heath was not only a child abuser but that he had children killed on his yacht after he had abused them. Why on earth would he do something like that? What would be his motive?
I was making the point that if Heath was abusing children on his yacht at the same time that he was Prime Minister, which is far from unlikely if “Nick” is telling the truth, then he was about the one politician that such children would be able to recognise and name, if they were able to recognise any politician at all. So a possible motive would be to keep them quiet and unable to talk about him.
I’ll stop there, because it’s hard to credit that I am writing something so far-fetched. But then, isn’t the idea that a former Prime Minister was a child abuser pretty far-fetched? Yet it’s being taken seriously by a number of police forces.
Kind regards,
John
Remember Ukraine Air traffic control sent the MH17 over a war zone.
Also they have form for shooting down airliners.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2015/02/mh17-historic-flight-paths-altered-to-make-flying-into-a-war-zone-look-normal-3107290.html
The £1billion that Gideon gave away to his City pals yesterday in the RBS share sale would have gone a long way to fund the deficit in the NHS.
NHS trusts told financial plans ‘unaffordable’
4 August 2015
Hospitals and health trusts in England have been told by regulators to look again at their financial plans as current ones are “simply unaffordable”.
Monitor has written to the 46 foundation trusts with the biggest deficits “challenging” their plans.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33767791
The CEO of Monitor, David Bennett, has this background. McKinsey is just one of the management consultants being used in the background in NHS privatisation.
‘David Bennett’s previous roles have included non-political Chief Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair; Head of the Policy Directorate and the Strategy Unit in 10 Downing Street; independent adviser to various NHS bodies and senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on regulated, technology-intensive industries.’
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447092/50709_HC_237_Monitor_ARA_WEB.pdf
Who we are P 56
Hear, hear, Jeremy!
BREAKING NEWS: Corbyn suggests Tony Blair should face war crimes trial over Iraq
22.00 4 August 2015
LABOUR LEADERSHIP contender Jeremy Corbyn has suggested that Tony Blair could be made to stand trial for war crimes over the invasion of Iraq.
/..
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/breaking-news-corbyn-suggests-tony-blair-should-face-war-crimes-trial-over-iraq-1-7392488
Mary
10:43pm
No wonder Blair doesn’t want Corbyn anywhere near the possibility of becoming PM.
Kind regards,
John
Tomorrow’s Daily Mail front page:
https://twitter.com/suttonnick/status/628678929700782080
Strange how the Filipino hooker is now being highlighted all over the press.
Mary, the biggest favour that Corbyn can do for himself is to openly come out and say that Blair should be expelled from the Labour Party.
There’s only so much that trying to be ‘inclusive’ will do for you.
Quite John.
BLiar used to hand out gongs for cash. So does Dave.
Now PM is set to hand knighthoods to a string of failed MPs: Fears party leaders will use list published alongside names of new peers to compensate those who lost seats in the Election
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3184504/Now-PM-set-hand-knighthoods-string-failed-MPs-Fears-party-leaders-use-list-published-alongside-names-new-peers-compensate-lost-seats-Election.html
‘It is already known that the Prime Minister is preparing to announce around 50 new peers over the summer as part of the controversial ‘dissolution’ honours list.
It is expected that more than 35 of the new members of the House of Lords will be Tory – including a number of party donors – around six will be Labour and about 10 Liberal Democrat.
The announcement has been delayed for months following wrangles within the Civil Service about whether it is appropriate for Mr Cameron to ennoble so many donors.’
‘Of the almost 40 Conservatives set to be elevated to the peerage, sources say a ‘big handful’ are likely to be businessmen who have given thousands of pounds to the party.
Civil servants are understood to have delayed the process by questioning the appropriateness of ennobling so many people simply because they directed money into party coffers.
Since 2010, almost one in five Tory peers appointed by Mr Cameron have been donors. Research shows 13 of the 83 new Tory Lords since 2010 have poured £23million into party coffers.’
The seven peers who rubberstamp a PM’s appointments.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/04/00/2B1381E500000578-0-image-a-49_1438645345135.jpg
@John
“What would be his motive?”
Fun? Sexual pleasure? Showing off? Doing the done thing? That’s that one done and finished with; get rid of it, would you, Jeeves?
What was Marc Dutroux’s motive? Paedophiles are sick and don’t view children the way the rest of us do.
@RobG
“Tomorrow’s Daily Mail front page:
https://twitter.com/suttonnick/status/628678929700782080
That caption, “Son and hair” – do you think it could have a hidden meaning? That photo of the baby with a full head of hair looks fake to me. (Not that babies can’t have a lot of hair; they can; I’m just saying that particular photo looks fake.)
From the BBC:
“On Tuesday night, Hampshire became the fifth force to say it was investigating ‘allegations’, but gave no further details.”
So they’ve yet to confirm it’s the Children’s Cottage Home in Cosham, near Portsmouth, that they’re investigating…
…so maybe it isn’t, and maybe allegations are going to be aired about Winchester College?
Is this a genuine sighting of Fred?
https://i.imgur.com/vHE7EzH.jpg