Thursday, January 24, 2008
Guido On Newsnight Tonight
Guido Fawkes is going on Newsnight again tonight. After his last experience it's a brave decision and I wish him luck. The blogosphere will be watching! But he's got a good story to tell on Hain and it should be told. His research and ferreting around the Hain campaign helped make this into a major story, and I hope that the two journalists he's on with - Steve Richards and Ann McElvoy - will be big enough to acknowledge that.
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38 comments:
They'll probably give Guido an easier ride than Michael White did. If he turns up and he's sober.
The truth of course is that Hain broke the major parts of the story himself and that GuF was on a red herring over Picture Financial when the enormous quantum of the under declaration was given to the MSM. That was by Hain.
The existence of the unthinking think tank again came out from Hain's declarations too.
GuF can mostly take credit for some poisonous tittle tattle about individuals like Morgan, three red herrings on supposed graft, and this projection of hatred thing.
GuF has very low standards of proof and balance. He doesn't care much about facts. He blogs gossip and libel. If it is wrong he thinks nothing of going back and changing it to suit the new realities - with no annotation.
His part in this process is easily overstated. Every bit of this process would have occurred IMO on much the same timescale without there being a single blogger in action.
It might have even happened quicker without the GuF red herrings and the GuF hate campaign.
Comical Chris strikes again. Part of me wonders whether you actually believe the guff you write. I just cannot think anyone with two braincells to rub together couldn't actually acknowledge that this whole thing was started by Guido.
I know you are, along with David Boothroyd, one of the biggest apologists for New Labour, but surely even you can see that Hain had to go.
Hain only went to the Electoral Commission after Guido's phonecalls to his office.
The existence of the think tanks was discovered by a journalist, not volunteered by Hain, although I stand tobe corrected on that one.
You accuse Guido of peddling gossip and libel. If the cap fits. On the rare occasions I visit your sad excuse for a blog I find you doing exactly what you accuse him of.
Let us hope that Mr Paxman is not on duty tonight !!
I agree Guido deserves some of the credit for this, but I hope he has the good sense to go on Newsnight as himself.
I don't know why you think the Beeboids will give Guido much credit. They are avid supporters of censorship of the net after all. And the thought of someone challenging their well paid sinecures by doing the job rather better and for rather less must make them grind their teeth.
As always, back to the wall at all times and never pick up any loose change.
@ Chris Paul
Don't be so incredibly stupid. So you seriously believe that Hain outed himself and thought he would not have to resign? How utterly moronic.
Hain jumped before he was pushed - as always.
Who gives a stuff about 'proof and balance'? Certainly none of Hain's apologists or those in Government - or had you not noticed?
Guido specialises in gossip and tittle tattle - he says so quite clearly on his blog. Or are you completely illiterate?
If Guido blogs libel he can be sued - and unlike some of the Labour Party cretins he'll have to pick up the tab himself.
And you want him to 'annotate'? How precious. What the hell has that got to do with you? He does things his own way and if you don't like it you can fornicate with yourself - that's if you can get round to it.
Let's face it Hain played rough and got smacked. Isn't that just so awful?
Very poor response to Chris Paul Iain...I cant believe it you are starting to turn into Guido..shame..I thought you were better
oh god!yvette cooper,chief secretary to the treasury.whatever next?
Its Sister Kirsty. Break a leg Guido!
More Iain Dale on Newsnight too please Aunty Beeb! (I know he has strobing C4 ties)
No one knows I'm a twat!
What if Peter Hain is innocent and he's doing the decent thing, unlike Hamilton, Archer and Aitken?
Guido will live to regret this episode I think.
Gary
I sort of hope its Emily - although this might distract Mr Fawkes!
As far as CP is concerned I wholly agree with you Iain. The blogosphere is rightly giving Guido credit as are parts of the MSM.
If the last appearance was a bad as everyone makes out, then I suppose it motivates Guido more in order to correct the bad impression, particularly when he's on the high ground.
However, I worry his triumphalism displayed on his blog could be his downfall.
Iain,
While I think that Peter Hain, unfortunately, had to go once the matter had been referred to the police, I don't think much of the running was done by Guido.
You said:
"Hain only went to the Electoral Commission after Guido's phonecalls to his office." That is a logical fallacy - post hoc ergo propter hoc - and, to be honest, doesn't stand up at all. Can you prove that no-one else contacted Mr Hain over this issue?
Steve Richards is more accepting of bloggers than Michael White, as we know; his essay in Iain Dale's Guide to Political Blogging in the UK says as much. Guido will have a rather easier time as he now has a little experience of being on broadcast media - he's been on a few programmes since his encounter with Michael White - and he's no longer vulnerable to being 'outed' as Paul Staines, given that the aforementioned Guardianista did that for him and that he appeared on a programme on Radio 4 last week and was credited as Paul Staines.
Chris - you don't enhance you're arguments by trying to compress Staines' moniker into a fart. He produces enough hot air himself anyway.
xD.
gary elsby stoke said...
You, sir, are obviously NOT following the news. It could well be that Mr Hamilton was innocent after all! read the transcripts of the inquest. Then come back and apologise to Mr Hamilton.
The only person to have any regret must be the poor unfortunate liar and cheat...H A I N!
It’s the old adage about power and responsibility that should be in our minds here. Old media journalists did/do have some responsibility to their editors who in turn have duties to their proprietors and (sort of) to the public at large. Hasn’t stopped polemics and bile over the years of course (Harmsworth, Beaverbrook and Black et al) but although the print media has been satirised for a century or more (e.g. Waugh’s “Scoop”) there has always been a modicum of responsibility and rectitude. Perhaps seeing something in permanent print under your bye-line does this. Or maybe it’s fear of the libel lawyers.
Herr Fawkes and Iain Dale and others have little of such a sense of proprietorial responsibility and those, like me, who post on their blogs none at all. Iain is more cautious generally – perhaps a bit fearful of not scuppering his future chances of a Tory seat or employment with the Speccy and the Torygraph. Fawkes, to put it bluntly, doesn’t give shit! One side of me says “Good for him” – the other says he’s a bit of a tart with a tart’s sense of right and wrong!
Hain has admitted to what is a criminal offence, Gary, how can he be 'innocent'?
And perhaps you and Mr Paul would like to give us an 'innocent' explanation for that so-called Think Tank - you know, the one that hasn't produced anything, doesn't have any staff and hasn't produced any accounts?
His own boss called him 'incompetent' - one of the first bits of truth to come out of Gordo's mouth.
The left are getting all dewy eyed and regreting Peter Hains passing. Assasins are rarely popular.
Looks like a trap.
Within 6 months Labour will be legislating to control blogs etc...
Newsnight. Guido. It'll be an auto da fe.
I keep hearing this total nonsense about Hain being innocent until proven guilty.
There is nothing to prove. He broke the law. He has admitted this. He is not innocent.
The law says you have to make a declaration by a deadline. He didn't.
Next week is the 31st deadline for the filing of my tax return. Can I call HMRC and say, sorry mate, too busy working to be bothered to fill in your forms. Will that let me of the £100 fine for being late + interest? Will it heck. They will refer me to the relevant law.
Hain is Guilty.
And he is just not guilty in this one either. I hear cabinet members saying he is a man of integrity and honesty. More pants. Read what the high court in Northern Ireland had to say about him. He was almost in contempt of court. The judge took a dim view of his statements and conduct.
Guilty Hain is a poison in the body politic, politics is much better now he is gone. Unfortunately the stable is still very dirty and much more clearing up needs doing.
I would add my two pennies worth!
To be an MP,in itself, confers responsibility, accountability and certain privilege and all too often of late I am concerned that certain politicians of all parties pay lip service to this.
Being a Minister of State only adds to these requirements, especially as a Minister represents the whole electorate and not just those who voted for the governing party. Any reasonably justified suggestion of impropriety, whether it has occurred through malicious intent or just bad admin, is a serious affair and not to be taken lightly. We should rightly expect, and demand, that Ministers adhere to the highest standards of behavior and professional conduct. Whatever the degree of transgression of these standards by Peter Hain, and however culpable he is proven to be, he should have resigned or been asked to step down until the matter had been satisfactorily resolved.
If any one has any doubt as to why many of the general public feel disengaged from politics then this is a clear example of why.
Iain,
I take my hat off to Chris Paul, Gary Elsby and Paddy Briggs. Their unflinching loyalty is refreshing in these cynical times.
I hope, therefore, that they will not be too upset by the more recent version of the Hain / toast picture you showed earlier...Peter Hain - an Update
Iain,
I don't know why you don't just concentrate on your blog.
Plough your own furrow, fnarr, fnarr.
In my opinion the Tories have gone all Telegraph, I'm by no means far or ultra right wing, but they are no longer distinguishable from the communists.
I did that test at the Devil, wherever it was. I'm:
Economic Left/Right: 1.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.97
Which is very moderate, is it not.
Less Gvnt, less taxes, that is what will save us from totalitarianism.
How much has the EU just added to everyone's gas bills on the spurious basis that it's to save the planet?
Give us your own opinion, we are obviously interested, though the lists are a bit dull, like net curtains :-)
Good luck.
Glutton for punishment springs to mind...
Creating a phony "think tank" could only have been for the purposes of "laundering" (i.e. hide the source of) donations.
This was no innocent oversight it was a concerted attempt to deceive.
Good on Guido for his perseverance. It took him a year.
Well wasn't that disappointing. And for once you can't blame the BBC.
Guido simply isn't cut out for telly. Which makes you think he isn't really cut out for being Guido.
He has created a fictional character and we've all bought into it; we've indulged the lie because it's somehow more exciting. The reality is a bland, boring man whose best stories would barely make watercooler chat in the Millbank newsroom.
Guido did well to keep his powder dry against the co-conspirators (apologists?) Wark and Richsrds who are known Labour obfuscationists.
No real light shed on the role of the blogosphere on getting rid of the heinous Hain character though?
Hear, hear, jailhouselawyer. Staines is a real glutton for punishment. "Look guys, I'm going to undermine your well-paid wine-bar-resident journo jobs by scooping you as an amateur... and when I appear on TV I expect you to treat me with respect." No, not just a glutton for punishment... a complete idiot!
The best thing you guys could do is refuse to appear on the BBC.
They will always put a support labour spin on it as they are new labour. Keep out of the devils camp.
How lucky Guido is to have all your brave and expert counsel. I don't know how he managed without it for the few moments he was actually on Newsnight.
Maybe next week you can select the England football team as it is well known that the manager also regularly consults the commenters here for advice.
Told you so.
Guido got lucky. With one story. Now he's Matt Drudge. Dream on.
If Guido had been around in 1997, I doubt Alastair Campbell would have survived as long as he did, and got away with controlling the news agenda as much as he did - especially by 2001 onwards when the media was completely under his thumb.
It's possible too that the events leading up the Iraq war might have played out differently.
If all information is left in the hands of governments, spin-meisters and compliant MSM, all we get is lies. Only on the blogs does the truth come out in time.
Shame it has taken so long for the internet to arrive.
Guido is a national treasure. He's good because you know he's only interested in truth. He's taken the grey world of the MSM and made it black and white again.
Thank God there is a place where politicians are judged and held to account. I hope he burns a few more before his time is through.
Please,
can someone explain WHY so much money is needed for an election to what is essentially a non job and I thought was decided by MPs.
Presumably they, the MPs, have enough nous to know which way they will vote so why is money needed?
Have to admit that the invented post of deputy PM, devised to keep John Prescott quiet, has not excited much interest tho the damage wrought by Prescott is considerable and should be instantly corrected.
Do these people have so little pride that they will sell themselves for a title...?
God help my country - no one else seems capable!
I have to admit, I haven't been following events as closly as I should be. I've been busy.
So when you're busy. as we all sometimes are, you tend to cut the nonsense out and hit the facts.
I gather by one contributer to this blog that Hamiltion is now innocent.
I apologise unreservedly to Neil Hamilton, his wife and their children.
I apologise to the Conservative Party for accusing this man of taking money in brown paper envelopes and putting them in a safe place.Once again, I apologise.
I also didn't catch that Peter Hain has acknowledged a crime and that he committed one.
I take my hat off to the Conservative elite and only wished I'd voted Conservative all along.
To think that a Government Minister of Hain's credibility could have stepped to one side because of honour fills me with grief.
Guido fawkes must be right here.
BUT....sunshine! let's wait a little while longer.
gary
ordinary housewife said...
"....the invented post of deputy PM, devised to keep John Prescott quiet.."
Rab Butler?
Willie Whitelaw?
Geoffrey Howe?
Michael Heseltine?
Or don't Conservative Deputy Prime Ministers count?
unsworth: "If Guido blogs libel he can be sued "
Sued in what jurisdiction, pray tell?
January 24, 2008 11:36 PM
Taking out the transparent attempt to belittle Guido's blog (if it were that trivial why do so many people read it?) you are arguing that because Guido is not a slick media performer we should not take him seriously. In other words we should choose media image over real blogging substance. In fact his appearance on Newsnight is a diverting irrelevance. Guido's persona may be a fiction - but his blogging uncovers real truths. As Tapestry says - he's invaluable. The frantic attempts to discredit him just show how threatening to the status quo he is.
Oscar, I think you'll find that Guido fawkes has been proven wron 100 times ou of 100.
Yet still you believe, yet still you champion.
Why?
Because you want.
You want to hit back at the people's party with anything you've got, even if it's not true.
Blair is a murderer, a thief and a war monger. He fixes judges, lords and police.
So says Guido Fawkes.
Blair is a 3 times winner and ended the NI terror. He is up for President and is the 'saviour of Palestine'.
Methinks that Guido Fawkes will swim with the fishes very soon.
And still you clap and still you champion and still you want.
We don't really understand why 3 times losers hang on to a 100 times loser but we try to persevere as best we can.
Peter Hain has tripped up. Not entirely Aitkenish or Archerish is it?
Gary
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