Tinfoil Times

Around these parts we do not tend to encourage tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories, but I'm putting down a marker here for future reference.

Having been in Paris myself on Sunday I couldn't fail to notice that a fairly prominent mass stabbing took place there - with two British tourists hurt - apparently perpetrated by an Afghan nutter run amok.  It promptly featured in UK news outlets, as you'd expect.

Then, radio silence on the Beeb and in the Grauniad.  No updates on Tues or this morning, notwithstanding the clear British interest, and even though more details became available elsewhere.

What price a *liberal meejah* resolution, post-Swedish-election, to minimise such stories? 

ND

Damian Green - Done Up Like A Kipper

The newpapers don't know quite what to say about Damian Green.  I suspect a couple of things are going through editorial minds.  

(a) They probably assume there's a very technical basis on which May probably does have to let him go - an ill-judged lack of candour in an overall context of post-Weinstein and anti-Tory sentiment.  Does anyone really know the content of his hard drive (if I may use that expression)?  Oh yes: a bitter ex-copper who behaved outrageously back in 2008 and is unreformed to this day - hopefully with some serious trouble of his own to face in due course.  Still, ministerial code is ministerial code.

(b) They probably know Green personally (as do I - I've known him for 40 years).  It is of course possible to misjudge someone, but ...  They've also quite possibly encountered the young lady in the story (as have I), given her penchant for self-promotion; and maybe they are able to form a view.

Yes, for an event of this magnitude it's all rather quiet on the editorial front.

Still, when a government is down, it's down.  Probably gets worse before it gets better.  One of May's few world-class virtues is her ability to stand up straight and get on with it.  A virtue indeed when half the game is to keep afloat for another 4 years and let various storms blow themselves out.  I just hope that in her hour(s) of weakness she doesn't (as some assert) slip back to calling on Nicholas Timothy - a man whom, like George Osborne, we never want to see or hear from again.  Ever.

ND

Is the UK media really right-wing biased; the European Migrant crisis suggests not

So yesterday the Prime Minister makes some statements about the immigration crisis. Britain can;t take too many more he said, it send sthe wrong signals, we should really be dealing with things in Syria, Shcengen is the problem, etc. etc.

All perfectly reasonable positions to take.

Same day, Labour leadership candidate, Yvette Cooper says we should take 10,000 at least - not even specifying whether that was a day, month or year. Andy Burnham makes some noises about this sort of thing too, without allowing himself actual facts to use.

And lo, today, I read wall to wall media coverage about how the UK is not doing enough, UKIP are Nazis for not wanting to take a million Syrian refugees, Cameron is awful and we should be opening up the Chunnel to every passing Syrian. Not just the BBC and Guardian, but the Telegraph, Sky says Britain is shamed.

Al in all, a classic media somthing-must-be-done-panic. But it is a left wing stance here, accepting all immigrants, not caring about our own people or our way of life and putting internationalism first. The right-wing, conservatice view is branded as uncaring (in my view, it is very caring of the people who elected the Government over others with no claim) and linked to pure evil.

I don't buy the Country is dominated by a Righ-Wing press, the media elites are all Liberal and Lefty at heart these days. As soon as the Laboru Candidate picked a side, they happily followed it agains the Government line, same day and clear for all to see.