Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Paxman Says 'Bollocks' to Guido Fawkes

Newsnight have given six minutes of airtime tonight for Guido Fawkes to make a film on the relationship between journalists and politicians. You can preview the film HERE. I suspect Nick Robinson will be none too pleased with the outcome as Guido gets him to admit that he is careful with some stories because he doesn't want to upset his relationship with leading politicians for fear of them not giving him stories. The film ends with Guido interviewing Paxman about empty chairing politicians who fail to agree to be interviewed. Paxman accuses Guido of talking "bollocks" and indulging in "pathetic conspiracy theories". Surely not.

All in all, it's quite a thought-provoking piece, which will not go down well with the political lobby, but he does make an important point about their sometimes incestuous relationships with politicians.

There is, however, a BUT. Guido writes what he likes and is beholden to no one apart from himself. Most political bloggers do not fall into that category. Most of us have some degree of party affiliation or party allegiance which inevitably makes us more prone to expose shenanigans in parties other than our own.

I make no bones about the fact that I am highly unlikely to turn over one of my friends on this blog, but, having said that, I have certainly been known to be critical of people I count as friends. The Patrick Mercer episode is a recent example. So while political journalists certainly pull their punches to avoid being blacklisted by the likes of Mandelson and Campbell, it would be wrong to say that bloggers don't act in a similar manner from time to time. The difference is that for most bloggers it's down to personal friendships rather than a 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' relationship which exists between a lobby hack and a politician.

104 comments:

jailhouselawyer said...

About time somebody told Guido that what he says is bollocks!

Anonymous said...

The problem with Guidos' blog is that the comments have got out of hand,postings containing obscenities are now the rule rather than the exception which is a pity.

Anonymous said...

jailhouselawyer said...

About time somebody told Guido that what he says is bollocks!

Agreed it's more of a comic that a blog,I doubt many folk take it seriously.

Anonymous said...

But the fact remains that what you say is NOT balanced and impartial.

so it ill behoves you to make that kind of accusation about the BBC.

Part of the truth is not truth, it is just commentary.

Anonymous said...

as the guardian advert said - 'you need to know the whole story, before you understand the story'.

Bloggers can be useful, but do they add to the sum total of human knowledge ? Rarely, as they just add to the number of news sources which give a partial and incomplete view of the news. so you 'never know what you're gonna get'.

As with Murdoch not reporting what is going on in China, or Fox not reporting what is going on in Iraq - the bloggers should really be called 'the blinkered' because you never get the whole story - you have to double-source their stuff elsewhere on the main stream media.

Otherwise it would just be gossip- now everyone likes some gossip, but most people don't confuse it with being proper news journalism.

I think Paxo is great, and it is a 'bout time somebody told the Emperor he has no clothes and we can see his...

Iain Dale said...

Anonymous, could you point me to any place where I have ever pretended to be balanced and impartial? FFS I describe myself as former Conservative Candidate at the top of the left hand column. It's quite clear to people where I am coming from. This is also emphatically not a journalistic or news blog. It does what it says at the top - Politics * Commentary * Humour * Gossip

Anonymous said...

I've never understood why the BBC doesn't say to viewers: "There is more to this story than we're allowed to tell you but the govt. will penalise us if we expand on it or present it from another angle." Or 'This is a statement we have been instructed to broadcast by the NO. 10 Press Office." Or: "The government has issued threats to prevent us telling you the truth about this story."

It's the government who would suffer as a result of these sorts of announcement. The public would not like to hear that the BBC was being blackmailed or subjected to threats where there is no issue of national security involved.

Anonymous said...

Guido is right. Paxman should not be reading out Government statements. They either send someone to the studio or don't get the airtime.

Anonymous said...

No need to worry Iain you are on the telly a lot more than Guido,and anyway who watches Newsnight ?

Anonymous said...

Newsnight giving airtime to Guido Fawkes... Manic will go green.

Anonymous said...

I shall be glued to my set - I agree with the remarks about Guido recently - it has descended into people feuding using obscenities. Ok, I know I post off message, but it is intended to raise a small laugh not to just hurl abuse for incomprehensible cliquey reasons.

Laurence Boyce said...

Of course Guido has nothing to hide. That’s why we don’t even get to see what he looks like.

Anonymous said...

Tim Yeo not a friend of yours, then, Iain?

And of course Guido has something to hide. In a Caribbean jurisdictional haven.

Man in a Shed said...

Great clip - Paxo's body language says it all. However, I thought Nick Robinson played with a straight bat - in some ways what options are there ? ( He provides that answer himself - so it will be Kamikaze journalism on Panorama. Guido should get himself booked in.)

Anonymous said...

Some bloggers are more trusted by the public than NuLab politicians -and the BBC - I wonder why that is?

I certainly read Guido (and Iain, of course) because I want to know what is going on behind the scenes - and I'm not going to find that out from the BBC these days. (Who was it who took several days to even mention the Prescott/diary secretary saga, let alone the Dome/Casino fiasco?)

If I can have a laugh at the same time as a good read, that's a bonus.

(By the way Mike, if you think Guido's blog is "just a comic" why are you reading it? I gave up comics when I turned 10)

Anonymous said...

February 2007 pageviews: 426,499, unique visitors: 286,901.

Really says it all....apart from a comment, which I wish I'd kept which said..ish ".. you certainly get all of humanity here".

QED

The Remittance Man said...

The point is that bloggers tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves. We generally don't make any claims to impartiality; indeed when we do try and reflect the otherside's point of view we tend to make a bit of a song and dance about it.

The BBC on the other hand trumpets itself as the impartial voice of truth (though not so loudly of late, I note).

Bloggers generally aren't paid either. We may blog for any number of reasons but money ain't one of them. BBC hacks like Paxman and Robinson are paid to present the facts. From the public's pocket, it should be remembered. Surely this gives them a greater responsibility to be impartial.

Anonymous said...

Well I made my small contribution to the interview by filling Guido with vodka and Tblisi wine at lunch before filming.

Not everyone is an unfriendly as you Iain ;-)

Anonymous said...

The only blogs I read are yours and Guido's, but I've stopped reading the comments on Guido's as they now seem to consist largely of obscenities from inarticulate posters. His lack of moderation doesn't do him any favours.

Anonymous said...

I hate this government. But I also hate the BBC and I would decline to be interviewed if I thought I was going to be subjected to overly-hostile questioning, or that I would be given insufficient time to explain my point of view.

I once heard John Humphreys ask an interviewee, "Well, we've only got ten seconds; what's the answer to the drugs problem?"

Anonymous said...

http://hobycartoons.blogspot.com/2007/01/road-to-nowhere.html

Guido 2.0 said...

"On my blog, there's no holding back from going for the political jugular" - Guido Fawkes

What a load of utter bulldust.

Guido himself spiked a spicy story because it involved one of his informants... not that this stopped him dishing dirt on that same informant on the Q.T.

So that makes him a hypocrite *and* a rude word beginning with 'C' that Iain doesn't like.

There's also the 'Policy Exchange' matter that was not only ignored on his site, but excised from comments on a regular basis until Staines could no longer stem the tide.

[Is that on-topic enough for you, Mr Dale?]

Anonymous said...

rude word beginning with 'C' that Iain doesn't like.

Chad?

Anonymous said...

I admire Paxman but Guido had a point and got under his skin.

Anonymous said...

zzzz Tim Ireland zzzzz the blog pharisee

Anonymous said...

meh, the comments on Guido are better than those here - at least Guido's readers don't have to put up with Tim Self-Important Ireland.

Anonymous said...

Jealous Timmy?????????

Guido 2.0 said...

Oh, not this "You're just jealous!" shit again.

Andrew Ian Dodge said...

Newsnight letting Guido do a film is clear sign that they do think he is significant. That is a pretty slick piece of broadcasting. One does have to worry that they are trying to suck him and make him one of them (as the MSM has been doing with bloggers for quite a while). It was really rather interesting and well done to Guido for pulling it off.

PS: To that bloke above. There is no such thing as unbiased journalism its just a case about whether you are honest about where you are coming from or not.

Anonymous said...

He didn't sound Irish.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Government (or anyone else) not putting people forward for interviews, I thnk most people draw their own conclusions when the BBC or whoever says "The Ministry of Whatsit were invited to respond but no-one was available". My guess is that rightly or wrongly most people will assume that they don't fancy dealing with a sensitive issue and/or haven't decided/been told "the line" - and the audience wil draw its own (presumably unfavourable) conclusions. I assume that sometimes it's genuinely because no-one's available or the broadcaster asked very late - I don't know enough (anything in fact) about the process - but I'll bet most people assume the pols don't want to face the music.

But also agree that the aggression and drive for over-simplificaiton etc makes it difficult to have a useful and illuminating discussion.

Anonymous said...

And those relationships between lobby hacks and politicians would be totally different from those between lobby hacks and bloggers?
For example, perhaps Iain could enlighten us about any bloggers who plug, sorry 'reveal', lame stories on a Saturday night which are due to appear the following day in the Mail on Sunday?

Anonymous said...

It's not just politics that this applies to but all types of journalism. If you're beholden to PRs, lobbyists and so on for your information you're going to lose when someone comes along with the contacts who isn't.
It's only right to protect your source as much as you can, but you shouldn't let fear stand in the way of things.
The whole journalism/marketing/PR biz is completely messed up right now with everyone feeding off everyone else by helping each other out when in reality the journos are just doing whatever the people they are reporting on want.
It's only the way of the world because people have let it get to this position. A few more Guidos and we might get a kick in the pants to the system. Afterall, the readership of unfettered publishers scares the rest of them a lot.

Anonymous said...

No question Manic is jealous. The closest Manic ever gets to a TV, unlike either Iain or Guido, is his living room

Chris Paul said...

Please take MY poll and do rush down to the bookies and try and get £1000 on Paxo to tell Guido tonight that he's talking bollocks.

If you don't do it St Margaret Clitheroe of York may be among those crushed.

Presumably they HAVE recorded the interview already? Waiting until 11pm would be a huge risk to take.

Anonymous said...

It should have been you on Newsnight shouldn't it Timmy!

Scary Biscuits said...

IMHO it should be illegal for government officials to influence journalists by being selective about who they give information to... no wait, it already is. It's called bribery. See the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889-1916 (and for before that the common law).

What I don't understand is why journalists are so keen to go along with the corruption - in the process breaking the law themselves - and why none of them have the courage to report it to the police. Is it because, post Campbell, they're all so deeply in the pocket of government and the corruption is so deeply ingrained?

Primarily this is a failure of management by the MSM. If they all behaved like Guido then the Govt wouldn't get away with bullying individual journalists or news outlets.

The bigger surprise is that Guido is nothing new; they are actually the return to the status quo ante. If you read punch or even the Times from the 18th and 19th centuries, then the press of the day was much less craven towards politicians, even if The Times was a lot more polite than Punch. MSM media is in trouble because corruption, rather than new technology, will ultimately destroy their businesses (as we are already seeing with declining circulations). The internet is only the mechanism for their destruction, not the reason.

Anonymous said...

And oft, my jealousy shapes faults that are not.

Iago innit Tim (from Othello by William Shakespeare, NOT a more succesful BLogger Tim so maybe you're ignorant)

Anonymous said...

The very worst example of a dependent tame journalist is the local sports reporter. The back page of the local rag maintains that all is ok, lessons have been learned, the players will roll up their sleeves, there were a great many plusses in the defeat, great youngsters coming through - up to the day the manager is sacked.

susan press said...

The recent Guido Fawkes stuff has been pretty poor.The blog also plumbs some pretty vile depths of obscenity.Gordon Brown picking his nose is not a great news story. Unless you have a mental age of five.The irony is that G Fawkes clearly can't wait to become part of the media establishment. I suggest he gets some journalism training first -and learns how to write.

Guido 2.0 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Iain Dale said...

Sigh. Yet more insulting posts from Tim Ireland to delete. You'd think he might practice what he preaches wouldn't you? No, nor me.

Telecide said...

Guido aside, it is truism that journalists depend on politicians to produce a story and as a consequence they are disinclined to upset this relationship. As Sky News found to its cost, if you fall out of favour you are likely to find yourself out in the cold as a consequence, putting you at a decided disadvantage against the competition. Towing the line to some extent is accepted as a necessary compromise and is part of standard journalistic practice for anyone wishing to maintain a career in the field for any length of time. That doesn't mean that it is right or healthy and in an ideal world total freedom would be a statutory requirement, but politicians would quickly become far more tight-lipped and evasive as a consequence. There is an understood limit to this though, since otherwise we would have had no Watergate, no questioning the reasons for the war in Iraq or other examples of accountability.

Little Black Sambo said...

Will those pathetic people who complain about the TONE of Guido's blog go and do it there, not here. He is quite able to answer for himself.

Guido 2.0 said...

Pardon my French, but... beg your frogging pardon?

Manic claims and then produces evidence that Staines is talking outright bollocks (complete with a *confession*), and the only response - from a series of sock-puppets - is that Manic is jealous.

Not only is this insulting, it is a deliberate attempt to avoid the (on-topic) issue and undermine the individual who brought it up.

Yet you, Iain, delete the link to the evidence and leave the insults untouched.... while calling Manic the hypocrite!

You'll want to sort this out, Iain - you're making a fool of yourself.

PS - He is quite able to answer for himself.

Then why does he spend so much time hiding behind his anonymous bullies?

Anonymous said...

And once again Manic maniacally posts that all who blog against him are sockpuppet figments of somebody else's imagination - for he surely could not be that disliked?

I used to post as "Guido 100, Manic 0", but this name is better.

Anonymous said...

Comment at 6.03 above - not more boring rubbish about Guido's "anonymous bullies". Last time the reference was to "Team Guido"! I was forced to point out that (unfortunately I lead a sheltered life) I hadn't been so flattered in years!

I thought I was just a humble blog reader who wanted to read Guido's take on current events, rather than weird ranting by someone who doesn't sound all that tightly wrapped. However, apparently that made me part of "Team Guido". Next step "Team Iain" then, by the sound of it.

Guido 2.0 said...

Oh, Manic is sure there are at least a dozen Tories who hate his guts... the real issue is that they pretend to be a gross.

PS - Keep those blinkers on, jj. You'll do well, son.

Tim Ireland Too said...

I'd just like to point out that I am not Tim Ireland 2.0.

Tim Ireland Too said...

Tim Ireland is one person pretending to be three. By his logic, he's not as bad as those beastly Tories so when he sees 100s of people attacking him he divides by 10 to make himself feel better. Are you feeling better, Tim?

Anonymous said...

Oh, is Manic a left-winger? I hadn't noticed. Whenever I click on his blog all I see is references to Guido and Iain and himself. I thought he just blogged about other people's blogs.

Guido 2.0 said...

Manic does often blog about blogs at Bloggerheads... the clue is in the name.

Anonymous said...

Blog off. There's a good fellow.

Anonymous said...

Heh heh. "Guido - you crumble under questioning!"

Let's hope there's no more "miliblink..." stories on his site after this.

His style of debating is obviously only fit for blogging.

Anonymous said...

telecide - "Towing the line to some extent.."

Que ?

Telecide said...

@Anonymous

'towing the line' meaning keeping within the boundaries. I'm not a merchant seaman or anything like that......

MorrisOx said...

The point is that nobody knows who Guido's 'friends' really are.

At least, he thinks they don't, anyway, he-he...

R. W. Rowland

Guido 2.0 said...

*Toe* the line.

(Excuse me, Iain... is this an off-topic comment or link-spamming in your eyes?)

Anonymous said...

telecide - aha, you mean 'Toeing the line..' ?

Anonymous said...

Iain, if you don't believe in the 'You scratch my back..' philosophy, then why do you have a 'blogroll' ?

Gracchi said...

I wouldn't have thought interviews were the sole source of backing off- sources would be too and on that I definitely think that Guido or anyone else who relies on the goodwill of his sources is exposed to that kind of blackmail- don't put thsi story out because I'll give you this one instead. I don't see that as something that Guido is immune from any more than anyone else.

Anonymous said...

jafo said...By the way Mike, if you think Guido's blog is "just a comic" why are you reading it? I gave up comics when I turned 10)

It's a hobby, I post on his blog every day,always using a different name.They in turn get very annoyed and hurl abuse at me,and I sit back and enjoy the fun,I'm old and it passes the time.

Anonymous said...

mutleythedog said...Ok, I know I post off message, but it is intended to raise a small laugh not to just hurl abuse for incomprehensible cliquey reasons.

Same here but I do it for my enjoyment and their annoyance.

Anonymous said...

Guido 2.0 said.Pardon my French, but... beg your frogging pardon?

For the slow amongst us who is Manic ? who is Staines ? What are/is a series of sock-puppets ,what/who are his anonymous bullies? Sounds interesting,spill the beans and I may join you in the fight against sock puppets,bullies and the like.I am old with time on my hands and it is getting tedious making fun of the Guido Posters.I am however an old, Old Labour supporter hope that will not rule me out.

Anonymous said...

Ipost often at Guido - but I do find the attack posts dull.

Anonymous said...

mutleythedog said...I post often at Guido - but I do find the attack posts dull.

I have been over their today posting as "pensioners all" and "Mike" on the thread "Should Guido Audition to Replace Crick?",very surprised at the muted attacks and was wondering if things have been toned down a tad because of tonights program ?

Anonymous said...

hello.

I am not Tim Ireland Too either.

Anonymous said...

Guido was minced, chewed and farted out the other end.

The lesson for today is that telly is not a bit of a lark. You need proper training and years of experience working for "Points West" before you should be allowed on the nation's prime time news show.

Let it be a sobering lesson, Mr Dale.

Anonymous said...

I was surprised that Guido was so slow on his feet and so easily riled that he gave-up NR as a source. Think he may discover what it's like to be denied access.

Anonymous said...

So Iain, can we have your sources too?

Anonymous said...

Staines/Fawkes got mullered.

The jibes about unreliability he can get over.

But revealing that Nick Robinson leaked information to him?

That's bad.

Really bad.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Guido Staines has demonstrated his free speech credentials already this evening by frantically deleting comments and applying comment moderation.

I wonder if this has anything to do with him getting a blanket raspberry from his readers over the embarrassing appearance on Newsnight, in which Guido not only demonstrated that he has the emotional stability of a 12 year old on glue, but the journalistic integrity of the Political Editor of the ZANU Gazette?

Revealing his sources, live, on Newsnight?

jailhouselawyer said...

Ex political blog for sale. Price includes goodwill. K or P? No thanks, I'll have some source...

Guido 2.0 said...

Guido Staines has demonstrated his free speech credentials already this evening by frantically deleting comments and applying comment moderation.

Well said. Even some of Staines' most faithful readers had to admit that he crashed and burned.

Anonymous said...

The television post interview on BBC2 was hilarious.

Guido Fawkes (or Peter Steins) was revealed as a snivelling little girls blouse who blubbed when confronted by Michael White from the Guardian. White’s best line on challenging Steins how he came about the story of duel emails from Number 10, was to bleat “Nick Robinson gave me the story”… to which White retorts: “Ha, I wonder where he got the story from?”

This amateur’s mistake was to light a fuse and forget to depart the building to watch the sparks fly from a-far. He should never have agreed to go on a live TV panel interview… but the sucker feels sick to the stomach now.

Anonymous said...

On the Nick Robinson at source thing, he's clarified this now. http://www.order-order.com/2007/03/guido-regrets.html

It appears the Nick Robinson as source was re this:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/funding/story/0,,2027717,00.html

'The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said on Radio 4's the World at One: "Ruth Turner wrote a document in which she expressed her concern that Lord Levy had put to her a version of events which she believed to be untrue."'

In other words, the source was Radio 4 at 1pm....

Robinson hasn't (and do you really expect him to), been anonymously tipping Staines off.

Anonymous said...

Guido has lost all credibility. An appalling appearance on Newsnight followed by filtering and blocking on his blog.

Surely it would have been far less humiliating if he had, on Newsnight, merely sat silently picking his nose and eating it.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 12:39

You are clearly Paul Staines in another guise.

It's a bit rich of you to avail yourself of a free posting blog whilst, at the very same time, blocking and filtering comment on your own blog.

You are a disgrace - when you're in a hole you should stop digging.

Anonymous said...

Tim Ireland, get a life!

Anonymous said...

anonymous @ 12:51, you are clearly

"Tim Ireland in another guise. "

Or probably not.

But don't be an idiot.

Just because I'm not part of the Staines hatefest that's been organised these past three months, doesnt mean I must be Staines. He has hundreds of thousands of visitors, are you so stupid to think that somebody sticking up for him must be him?

FWIW, I'm also anonymous @ 12:02

Anonymous said...

sorry, my last comment was addressed to anon at 12:57, not 12:51

Anonymous said...

Michael White was his usual smug and insufferable self tonight, he makes the teeth ache. The Guido is evil gang are as predictable and oblivious as ever.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 12:39 said...
"Robinson hasn't (and do you really expect him to), been anonymously tipping Staines off."

Clearly the only person who would (could) write this is the increasingly pathetic Paul Staines. You've been rumbled.

Your only chance to save face after the Newsnight debacle was to hold up your hands and to face the criticisms. However, being the coward you are, you have resorted to blocking and even deleting previous critical posts from your blog. Typical tory.

Anonymous said...

"Clearly the only person who would (could) write this is the increasingly pathetic Paul Staines. You've been rumbled."


um, no, anybody could write that.

You must be Michael White.

See, two can play this game.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 1:21

Staines: Why don't you just open up your blog and let the truth flow.

Guido 2.0 said...

Tut. Manic clearly makes his real name known through his profile, and he does not use sock-puppets. Please stop suggesting otherwise.

Anonymous said...

"Typical tory." - errr. he's not. he's a libertarian.

However, revealing nick robinson as a "source" , is a bad move - even if he wasnt really "source". the whole point is that it LOOKED as if Guido was revealing a source, while under pressure from the Guardianista Michael White.

journalists watching that will obviously be thinking twice of sending tip offs in future to Mr Fawkes.

the ranks will close.

lesson is - never mess around with the MSM, for they will eat you alive and spit you out. they will dangle the carrot of a 5 minute documentary, only to completely demolish your reputation and career in the space of 1 minute following.

Anonymous said...

"they will dangle the carrot of a 5 minute documentary, only to completely demolish your reputation and career in the space of 1 minute following. "

Staines demolished his own reputation and now he's purging all adverse comment from his blog as we speak.

Anonymous said...

The Guido is evil mob are getting a little carried away aren't they.
PS Never trust anyone who works in marketing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

Anonymous said...

"it has descended into people feuding using obscenities"
anon 1:50pm + mutleythedog 2:17pm
+ john 3:24pm + grimupnorth 5:22pm [who complains that Guido's reporting GB's 'nose job' is an obscenity - but Gordo picking his nose is not].

anon 1:56pm "so it ill behoves you to make that kind of accusation about the BBC. Part of the truth is not truth, it is just commentary."

Part of the truth is not truth? It ill behoves?
WTF are you? Charles Dickens? Samuel Butler? Gordon Brown?

Loverly Labour-Meeja Astroturfing - they supply the obscenity on one blog and then complain about it on another - doncha luvit?

Iain, pay no attention - in the morning, we'll be sober, but they'll still be UGLY!

Anonymous said...

"Staines demolished his own reputation and now he's purging all adverse comment from his blog as we speak.

March 29, 2007 1:31 AM "

hmmm.. so he is. oh dear.
thats not really a good move , as if you leave the moderation off you can figure out who the trolls are pretty easily.

censoring spam comments i can understand, but censoring opinion comments is just something that my libertarian instincts are dead against.

maybe he's not as libertarian as he makes himself out to be. hmm.. i'm not getting a good impression from all of this.

if you go out there and express an opinion,you should be man enough to just take the flack.

Anonymous said...

i've noticed a few "peter hitchens" comments on there - and i'm not sure if its the real Hitchens, but the grammar and diction suggests that it really is. And in the usual Hitchens way, the vitriol is coherent, well argued and somewhat bitter,may i add.

oh dear. not a good idea to have somebody like intellectual collosus of the Hitch on your back. chickens coming home to roost come to mind. live by the sword, die by the sword and all that.

still, it just shows how blogging is becoming more and more a public discourse and a public space.

Anonymous said...

note: if you want to delete this comment Iain, then go ahead - after all it is YOUR blog, not Guidos. but i thought i'll just do a cut and paste from HIS blog, before he deletes this in the morning.
disclaimer to the libel lawyers: i have no way of knowing if this is really peter hitchens or not. could be a nu labour astroturfer for all i know.
cut and pasted from this comment thread

**********************************

peter hitchens said...

Mr Staines you revealed yourself to be somewhat of a knobhead.I hate to use that king of sewer language, but you did.
No doubt you will cobble together some excuse for the slavish idiots who worship you and spin your dire performance into a triumph.
I for one think that you richly deserved the kicking that you received.
What goes around comes around, remember that next time you try and humiliate me.
I shall now down the last of this fine sherry and go to bed with a smile on my face.

12:07 AM, March 29, 2007

Anonymous said...

sorry, ghost of john trenchard -

That's so obviously an anon astroturfer pretending to be ph. Not difficult to do.

Quite a lot of prim NuLab anonymongs crowding in this evening.

Has the H o C bar closed early?

Anonymous said...

mike me boyo -
is dat reeely you?

D'ye recall the great times we had on de lump together?

Mike, Mike - ye still owe me the £25 - YE FECKLESS F***ER!

Anonymous said...

yeah anon - the astroturfing was enormous. and the end of it all, mr fawkes has touched a very raw nerve in the 4th Estate and Westminister. lots of journos want to keep their jobs.

Hamer Shawcross said...

I am neither prim nor anonymous but I would like to see Guido getting the bitchslap he so richly deserves.

Can anyone put it on YouTube please?

jailhouselawyer said...

hamer shawcross: I believe that Chicken Yogurt is attempting to put it on YouTube. You can of course download the Newsnight programme and fast forward it to the relevant part. It was even better second time around. Especially as the subject of sources was discussed and the unwritten rules and that idiot broke the golden rule. Let him wallow in it...

Anonymous said...

Sehr geEhrter Iain

Thank you for this entertaining clip

Yr obedient servant etc

G Eagle

Anonymous said...

Jeremy to Guido: "you're living in a pathetic conspiracy world" and then the "Lord Levy's trial... " followed by backpedaling like blazes.

It was like watching Barry Manilow taking on Tyson.

Frankly, I think Manilow would have fared better with Tyson than Guido did with White.

Guido appeared to be so out of his depth he may as well have been coming up for air in China.

If this doesn't once and for all nail to the wall those "political bloggers" who claim journalistic tendencies but can't back it up with ability, experience, skill, aptitude, integrity or capability, then frankly we may as well hand over the BBC and Channel 4 news to you lot now, dress up in furs and howl at the moon.

You're just political wannabees with a hard-on for exposure. Twenty years younger and you'd probably all be going on Stars in Their Eyes, Pop Idol or Britain's Got Talent.

Anonymous said...

Carl Eve said..Jeremy to Guido: "you're living in a pathetic conspiracy world" and then the "Lord Levy's trial... " followed by backpedaling like blazes.

Great posting very enjoyable,agree with you wholeheartedly.

Anonymous said...

Is Guido 2.0 Michael White of the Guardian? Who came across as a complete arse on last night's Newsnight. Keep up the good work Guido Fawkes.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Is Guido 2.0 Michael White of the Guardian? Who came across as a complete arse on last night's Newsnight. Keep up the good work Guido Fawkes.

Don't think so befuddled poster however I thought Sir Michael White and Paxo made your man look like what he is all mouth and a squeaky voice.

Anonymous said...

Blogs and more blogs... It's all crap, it's all about obsession with celebrity, it's about trying or pretending to be important but, we don't give a damn about what you write.

This fashion will end soon, the "blogosphere" will collapse. Blogs as a means for collaborative work will survive. Blogs from people trying to influence others or to emulate a broadcaster will not. We didn't dump the telly to now get "informed" by self-centered wannabes. Internet is ruled by horizontallity, and these blogs are just a vain attempt to emulate the obsolete vertical uni-directional paradigm. The fact that you can add comments means little.

We don't give a damn about your self-centered power hungry blog addiction