If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcom x
The Maleficent Seven: Who Will Labour Aristocracy Choose To Replace Starmer?
Despite Partygate. Despite the Covid contracts. Despite Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol. Despite a spiralling cost of living crisis and a vote of no confidence from within his own party, a recent Observer poll found that UK voters still think Boris Johnson is a better Prime Minister than Keir Starmer would be.
Continue reading “The Maleficent Seven: Who Will Labour Aristocracy Choose To Replace Starmer?”Concocting Another Kuenssberg: BBC Struggle to Find a Replacement Stooge
* Update – a few days after this article was published the BBC confirmed Chris Mason as the new political editor. Check out our Matrix Database entry for Mason here to see which characteristics he has in common with his predecessors.
The BBC are apparently struggling to fill their flagship role of political editor. Laura Kuenssberg is leaving the position this month, after years of reading out text messages from Dominic Cummings – sorry, years of impartial reporting – and, according to the Guardian, BBC bigwigs have been “unhappy with the choice of candidates” put forward to replace her. They have “began inviting fresh applications for the job.”
What kind of characteristics are BBC executives looking for? Perhaps you’re wondering whether you have what it takes to “immediately become one of the most influential and scrutinised journalists in the country”?
With the help of our Matrix Database, which documents conflicts of interest among high-profile journalists, we take a look at the previous incumbents of the role to see what “attributes” they have in common…
Read Full ArticleThe Complete Compendium of Ukraine War Hypocrisy
When establishment politicians, the mainstream media and the cultural elite are all saying the same thing and won’t tolerate a sliver of dissent – hello Keir “don’t mention Nato” Starmer – we should always be suspicious.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is as barbaric and outrageous as liberal commentators claim, daily, with megaphones. However, we can all point the finger and condemn the evil deeds of others.
As Noam Chomsky reminds us, a foundational moral principle is that “we apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others, if not more stringent ones”.
Read Full ArticleInvisible Hands: The Libertarian Culture Warriors Targeting UK Schools
Individuals with links to right-wing think-tanks, political lobbying and the Conservative Party have established an anti-Communist “educational” organisation that does not reveal the sources of over £30k per year in funding.
Continue reading “Invisible Hands: The Libertarian Culture Warriors Targeting UK Schools”Believing in Lies: Andrew Neil Owns Himself With “Pro Kremlin” Corbyn Slur
Last week Andrew Neil accidentally offered a fascinating insight into what we might call the “mind of the corporate media”.
Neil, whose Twitter thread is usually full of acerbic put downs, staunch self-defence and the pseudo-intellectual posturing of The Spectator, got carried away and tweeted that Corbynistas were “pro-Kremlin” and a “busted flush”.
Read Full ArticlePutin has Invaded Ukraine…and it’s YOUR Fault “Woke” Climate Change Activists!
Nothing reveals bias in the media quite like conformity of opinion. When the journalists that constitute the “free press” all parrot the same or similar lines, the mask slips to reveal the shared assumptions underlying corporate journalism.
Read Full ArticleMatrix Database: The Top 20
The Matrix Database is an effort to document personal factors that undermine powerful journalists’ claims of objectivity and impartiality. We are on the lookout for significant conflicts of interest and likely causes of bias/imbalance along the most high-profile political and opinion journalists in the UK – and we’ve found plenty!
We have now completed the entries for the “top 20” UK journalists (ranked by Twitter following). Our results for the “top 20” are as follows:
Read Full ArticleWes Streeting: Rising Star of the “Extreme Centre-Left”?
Can a Labour politician whose upward trajectory is financially propelled by a “lobbygate” Lord, an heiress of the Sainsbury supermarket dynasty, and numerous Blairite millionaires, really be the frontrunner to lead the party ostensibly of, and for, the working class?
Continue reading “Wes Streeting: Rising Star of the “Extreme Centre-Left”?”Newsnight Editors Think Description of Jeremy Corbyn as “Hard Left” is Fair and Accurate!
Last autumn we wrote to the BBC to complain about Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis using the term “hard left” three times in one programme to refer to a sector of the Labour Party. On one occasion she explicitly identified Jeremy Corbyn as a member of the “hard left”.
Thousands of you supported our complaint on social media with shares and comments.
We have now received a response from the BBC and warn you in advance that it is likely to raise your blood pressure! According to the BBC, “‘hard left’ was used to simply indicate where it is generally perceived those opposed to the proposals (from Keir Starmer) are on the political spectrum”. This was, according to the BBC, “a fair reflection on the tensions within the Labour Party”.
The BBC insist that “your concerns have been seen by senior Newsnight editors”. Does this imply that Newsnight’s top editors believe that it is fair and accurate to describe Jeremy Corbyn as “hard left”!?
We disagree and decided to escalate our complaint to the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit…
Read Full ArticleINVISIBLE HANDS- THE LIBERTARIAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST VAPING REGULATION
[A version of this article was originally published in The Ferret and The National.]
Organisations that do not disclose their funders are running astroturf campaigns that have spent over £80,000 on Facebook adverts attacking proposed anti-vaping legislation.
Continue reading “INVISIBLE HANDS- THE LIBERTARIAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST VAPING REGULATION”
The Free Press? 