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.
N_ do you wanna bet…
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-labour-leader
The bookies now have Burnham slightly ahead, because apparently someone has recently been placing huge bets on him (Tony Blair?). Up until then the bookies had Corbyn as evens or odds-on favourite.
I suppose that you’ll now say that the tens of thousands who are signing up to the Labour Party to vote for Corbyn are all trots, Marxists and communists.
I wonder what’s the next line on the script of the totally surreal fantasy land that British politics has become?
http://ragingbullshit.com/2015/08/07/the-dream-of-internet-freedom-is-dying-warns-top-civil-liberties-attorney/
The dream is dying, she said, because “we’ve prioritized things like security, online civility, user interface, and intellectual property interests above freedom and openness.” And governments, for their part, have capitalized on the fear of “the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: terrorists, pedophiles, drug dealers, and money launderers” to push for even more regulation and control, she added.
Point to ponder.
Re all this talk on here about Sir Edward murdering little boys on his boat:
I suspect most of the commenters who’ve hopped onto this particular (and safe, Heath being dead) bus were not around when he was politically active. Had they been, they might know that Heath wasn’t sailing a dinghy or a small sailing boat but ocean-going yachts.
Now ocean-going yachts have CREWS.
What were the crews doing while Sir Edward was allegedly buggering and murdering little boys? Did they somehow manage not to notice anything? Has any former crew member ever come forward and say anything?
I know, I know – MI5 had the goods on them and they kept quiet. Or perhaps they all died untimely deaths.
Or perhaps not and Ba’al is right in his several comments on this subject, ie, the “commenters” in question are talking their usual bollocks?
Equally though, Habbabkuk (8:06pm today), none of the crews have come out and said it was bunkum. In fact, why have they been so very silent? I agree that ‘innocent until proved guilty’ must remain the cornerstone. But we’ve seen so many of these famous faces – household names – convicted of such crimes in the past couple of years since the revelations about Jimmy Savile, it’s become difficult to discount anything. It does seem likely that there has been an industrial-scale racket of child abuse in high places. Whether or not a British Prime Minister was actively involved in the abuse, I don’t know. It would be quite something, though – and not something good, I have no sense of glee over all this – if the allegations against Heath were to be proven.
Oh, and the bookies now have Corbyn in sixth place to be the next prime minister of the UK (think about that: he hasn’t even been elected leader of the Labour Party yet). At odds of 14-1 it might be worth a small flutter.
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-prime-minister
Suhayl
“Equally though, Habbabkuk (8:06pm today), none of the crews have come out and said it was bunkum. In fact, why have they been so very silent?”
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Oh come on, Suhayl – you’re usually so sensible.
You know perfectly well that every day – on the internet and elsewhere – brings its crop of wild allegations on all manner of subjects.
Perhaps the crew members concerned – assuming they have heard of these allegations – simply find them too ludicrous and off-the-wall to comment .
Especially since their denials wouldn’t be believed anyway (it’s a cover-up, they’ve been got at!).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On September 5, 1974, one of Heath’s yachts, the Morning Cloud III, sank off the Sussex coast and two members of the crew were lost at sea (the five others survived in a rubber dinghy). https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OtRYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HOUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3027,1190284&hl=en . On Sept. 2, 1974, Heath’s predecessor yacht, the Morning Cloud I, was wrecked off Jersey, after the seas had taken it off its moorings. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19740904&id=sf0QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MpIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3743,278332&hl=en
Very bad luck, or …?
Where’s Craig? I hope he is Well – on Holiday or Something. I really Respect Him…
Meanwhile – Delete it if you want…My wife and I are off to the pub.
Most Tories – well the people who used to (and probably still volunteer and work for nothing for The Tory Party) are Really Nice and I respect their views and largely agree with them.
I have lots of Tory Friends and I have Lots of Independent Friends who don’t Belong To ANY Political Party…
Let Me Introduce You Lords and Tories and Liberals and Democrats and Labour Party Supporters…
To Us
…You Know The People Who Actually Live on Planet Earth
We are The 99%
We are The Human Race…
Who The FCK Are You PSYCHO’s in CONTROL?
Are You Human??
Tony
“You folks in the UK have an idiotic law of libel (although a most convenient one for big shots). Here in the notoriously plutocratic U.S., we have a law of libel that makes it quite difficult for a plaintiff to win a case, especially when the plaintiff is a public figure.”
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Odd that the poster of the above – apparently an American citizen – omitted to add that American courts were specifically instructed, a year or so ago, not to enforce UK libel judgements in the US. A welcome development, I should add.
5 out of seven crew survived and there were no casualties in the other sinking.
Your point?
Oh, I know – it was ….a WARNING. 🙂
Those two yachts were lost in September 1974. The sighting of the boys reported in the Mirror story reportedly happened in the “early 1970s”. ‘Eleven boys went on Edward Heath’s yacht but I counted only 10 who left his boat’ claims mum: Author Linda Corby said police in early 1970s told her ‘someone above’ had ordered them not to investigate.
Heath was Prime Minister from June 1970 to March 1974. He remained as leader of the Tories until February 1975.
Perhaps it should be made clearer to unsuspecting readers that Morning Cloud I was wrecked a full three years after Mr Heath sold it.
BTW, I once sold a car which was written off in an accident a year or so afterwards. I think it was a warning.
The same commenter now springing to the defence of Heath (racing yachts have crews etc) dismissed a comment of mine here way back about the obese friend of SaVile, Jaconelli the Scarborough ice cream capo. Jaconelli was in the news at the time as the SaVile allegations were breaking out.
His comment was something to the effect that oysters to which Jaconelli was partial are not fattening. It was just a way to divert attention away from the main fact which was that SaVile and Jaconelli were both paedophiles.
I don’t where the comment on this blog is now but this is the gist of what I was saying.
‘The modern era has provided its fair share of characters such as Peter Jaconelli – a successful businessman who was active in the Fishermen’s and Fireman’s charity. No one would describe him as an average man. He was average in height but in no other way – particularly in his width. This huge Italian Ice cream maker and seller acquired his huge size by eating huge amounts of oysters and even made an attempt at the world record for eating them. He also played judo and was particularly good at it in his younger days often in contests on the beach. Later in life he was an important member of the town council. But he was always seen in his ice cream parlour greeting the many tourists in his own distinctive way.’
http://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/acharacters.php
“Heath was Prime Minister from June 1970 to March 1974. He remained as leader of the Tories until February 1975.”
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Thank you for that info. Perhaps it would be of interest to readers to learn that he was succeeded as leader of the Conservative Party by Margaret Thatcher, who was – as readers might also be interested to know – elected three times before being ousted. Edward Heath is now dead.
Oh yes, I forgot – he went up to Balliol and became the organ scholar there (organ scholar – I hope you notice the connection). Balliol – as readers might be interested to know, is an Oxford college.
If anyone needs to know any more well-known facts about Mr Heath, don’t hesitate to ask!
James O’Brien talking this morning on LBC Radio to Mark Watts, Editor of Exaro news, about Ted Heath and also Janner and all the rest of it:
http://lbc.audioagain.com/player_popup.php?item_id=84762&channel_id=0&user_id=0&sec_id=nosubscription&guid=2015-08/07/2c0840442dd7c016c69cdd104993ba63
Moving on we have hope. Maybe Macmillan’s winds of change might waft over the UK!
It’s Corbynmania Thousands rally for Jeremy Corbyn
By Michael Calderbank
August 7, 2015
It’s a cliche of the left press to describe meetings as ‘packed’. But the rally in support of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership bid held last night at the Camden Centre was really something else. Not only was the main hall packed to (and beyond) capacity, but so were both overspill rooms. Corbyn addressed hundreds left queuing outside from the FBU’s campaigning fire-engine. Similar scenes had been witnessed at the weekend in Liverpool, Preston and Birmingham. No wonder the Blairites are panicking. A genuine popular movement is beginning to coalesce around the bid to get Jeremy elected, and it senses that – for the first time in a generation – real change is possible.
The rally – chaired, significantly by PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka, not himself a Labour party member – had more of the flavour of a People’s Assembly gathering than your usual Labour party meeting. It’s clear that the campaign is successfully appealing to a generation of activists whose political consciousness was shaped by the experience of New Labour in government – introducing student fees, deregulating the banks, invading Iraq. Most feel they have never been represented in the political process, but now see a chance to change all that. Corbyn was one of only a handful of MPs who really gave expression to their ideas then, and has been a rare voice in support of radical opposition to the austerity agenda ever since.
/..
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/its-corbynmania-thousands-rally-for-jeremy-corbyn/
Go Jeremy!
Six diversions and distractions so far.
Mary
The bloke you ‘re suddenly going on about again might have got fat by eating too many of his own ice-creams but certainly not from eating oysters.
I eat a lot of osyters and nobody would call me fat.
BTW, I believe Edward Heath was partial to oysters. When Harold Macmillan (not MacMillan – Lysias please note!)won the leadership of the Conservative Party and thus became PM, he and Mr Heath, the then Chief Whip, went out to White’s for a celebratory dinner of oysters, steak and brandy.
Well, let’s see, Habbabkuk, let’s see. Initially, when Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall were accused, I thought, ah, it’s a witch-hunt. But they were found guilty, as were a load of others. Then there was Cyril Smith. I’m aware that false allegations were made against a (living) retired politician and that people got sued for making them as they had no basis in fact. But I do think these allegations from multiple sources do need to be investigated and until that’s been concluded I don’t think any of us can make any assumptions either way, regardless of what we might wish to be the case. I did not dislike Heath as a politician. he did do some good things. For example, although all political parties continued to play the ‘race’ card, he quite rightly sacked Enoch Powell in 1968 and in 1971 he deliberately allowed the Ugandan Asians to seek refuge in the UK. I did not agree with some of his views and policies. But none of that is relevant to this question of alleged child abuse.
Suhayl
” But I do think these allegations from multiple sources do need to be investigated and until that’s been concluded I don’t think any of us can make any assumptions either way, regardless of what we might wish to be the case.”
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That may well be your position, Suhayl but I fear it is not shared by the usual dingbats on here with a very close interest in paedophilia, who have obviously already found Mr Heath guilty as alleged. 🙂
“Six diversions and distractions so far.”
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My apologies for daring to comment on YOUR blog. 🙂
I can’t remember if Habba said this…
“We have no idea whether these charges have any basis in fact; but their provenance looks flaky to say the least. We are in the bizarre position where four constabularies are appealing for evidence to back up a case that they would be unlikely to pursue if they could exercise their own discretion. But the police have been so damaged by failure to investigate Jimmy Savile, against whom there was plentiful evidence of abusive behaviour down the years, that they are obliged to investigate every allegation, however far fetched, levelled against a public figure.
There is an unedifying whiff of Salem about all of this. It is essential that if these allegations have no foundation then the police should make this clear as speedily as possible.”
… or whether I read it here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11781169/The-facts-about-Ted-Heath-must-be-established-quickly.html
At the moment I won’t give you the latest on all this. Much more fun to watch Habba slowly hang himself, in Balliol college or elsewhere.
Mary
“I eat a lot of osyters and nobody would call me fat.”
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I just wanted to let you know that sea urchins are delicious as well. Not the spikes, obviously, just the inside as carefully cleaned.
I know you don’t approve of people who eat oysters because you are against the pleasure principle, but what ate your thoughts on sea urchin-eaters?
RobG
No, laddy, that was someone else.
The stories about Heath do seem to have struck a nerve, don’t they?
Thank you Suhayl for speaking some sense on the subject. I’m afraid that there are a small proportion of people who when they get in positions of authority abuse that authority for sexual and other ends – it happens in business, politics and probably most areas of public life. Perhaps those trying to use such abuses for political ends and to advance their own anti establishment views should remember that it not something to which their own left wing heroes are not immune either:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294198/Special-report-Did-Socialist-Workers-Party-cover-NINE-rapes-Kangaroo-court-cleared-official-raping-teenage-member-scandal-goes-far-deeper.html
https://piraniarchive.wordpress.com/home/investigations-campaigns-and-other-stuff/healy-was-not-framed-he-was-a-serial-sexual-and-emotional-abuser/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080493/Stalins-army-rapists-The-brutal-war-crime-Russia-Germany-tried-ignore.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037293/Saadi-Gaddafi-spent-thousands-prostitutes-taking-drugs-11m-London-mansion.html
http://www.haaretz.com/beta/1.570727
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jul/23/iraq.suzannegoldenberg
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/28/escaping-assad-s-rape-prisons-a-survivor-tells-her-story.html
And then of course there is St Julian of Assange who is of course totally innocent and just being fitted up.
Ba’al Zeval : I don’t hate anyone although I have never particularly liked you because you seem like an incredibly arrogant snob. What I wrote earlier was told to me by my neighbour, and to be frank, she’s much more believable than some link to some website written by someone I’ve never met relaying information from somebody else; how is that any more reliable? My brother-in-law told me Savile was a necrophiliac back in the 80’s. Anecdotes aren’t always wrong you know. Incidentally, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions;
my neighbour’s friend died of cancer.
RobG
N_ do you wanna bet…
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-labour-leader
The bookies now have Burnham slightly ahead, because
apparently someone has recently been placing huge bets on him (Tony Blair?). Up until then the bookies had Corbyn as evens or odds-on favourite.
I would happily accept a small wager with you if I could do so without revealing my identity.
Corbyn is now favourite on the Betfair exchange, very slightly ahead of Burnham:
You could get 16\1 against a Tory majority at 10pm on the night of the general election! I’m still kicking myself I didn’t put some money on. It was obvious the Tories would win. All the media and all the experts and pundits were saying any result other than a hung parliament was extremely improbable. I remember one moronic pundit saying that “all the polls are within the margin of error”, clearly not having the slightest clue about statistics. The message being passed under the table was “Vote Labour for Chaos”. Classic.
“I suppose that you’ll now say that the tens of thousands who are signing up to the Labour Party to vote for Corbyn are all trots, Marxists and communists.”
Don’t worry! I am a Marxist and a communist myself. You were saying that Corbyn got a standing ovation in Norwich and that his opponents in the Labour leadership contest “could never muster this kind of popular support”. I was pointing out that support at an SWP conference is not the same as popular support, that’s all. I didn’t call the SWP “Trots”, as I have sufficient knowledge to know they aren’t.
Here’s a question for you: which major party in Britain introduced primaries? They must be pissing themselves laughing in the Tory party that the Labour party is trying to follow in their footsteps and is fucking it up so badly. Still, I imagine that strings will be pulled and money spent to ensure Corbyn doesn’t get it. He’s in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for goodness sake!
Then after he loses, the SWP can say “Unfortunately,…”
Oops, I left out the Betfair link:
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/#/politics/market/1.103946886