Posts Tagged ‘Andrew Marr’
Theresa May Is Not A Tory, She’s An Authoritarian Bureaucrat.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 17: British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House on January 17, 2017.
At the beginning of last week, Tuesday, 17th January, Theresa May finally made clear that leaving the EU means leaving the single market. It also means leaving the customs union because without doing so it will be impossible to negotiate independent trade agreements.
This has been obvious all along. Before the referendum, campaigners on both sides were clear. The idea that there was any doubt about it was an invention of the soft-left Blairites at the BBC, eagerly supported by the delusional Tim Farron and his party, now the most illiberal, anti-democratic party in Britain.
I’m unhappy that Ms May didn’t make this clarification a lot sooner but of course she was a Remainer and as David Cameron said, it would be foolish to have a captain to steer the ship in a direction he or she didn’t want to go.
I am generally very unhappy about Ms May’s style of government. It is secretive, authoritarian, dismissive of public opinion and everything is played very close to her chest and as much behind closed doors as she can get away with. Her dictatorial, micro-managerial style at the Home Office is continuing in her role as PM and I believe it is unsustainable for the leader of our country. We need far more openness, interest in the people and a desire to inform rather than to conceal.
But the shocker for me was her repudiation of central Conservative philosophy. She derided the ‘cult of individualism’ as she put it.
Ms May, the Tory Party is all about the individual. It is about individual liberty and individual responsibility. Individualism is the very essence of why I am a Tory.
Then today the brazen cover up about the Trident missile launch which was kept secret from Parliament, even as it was debating the renewal of our nuclear deterrent. Her secretive, fundamentally dishonest approach was revealed as she dodged Andrew Marr’s questions again and again. It is obvious that she did know about the incident, chose to keep it secret from both Parliament and the electorate and refused to be honest about it when questioned.
I am , of course, reminded about her attempt to falsify and cover up the International Comparators report on drugs policy which showed clearly that harsher criminal sanctions have no affect at all on drugs use. This didn’t fit with her prohibitionist prejudice and she wanted it changed to deceive Parliament and the electorate.
I have given Theresa May a more than adequate, even generous, chance to prove herself, particularly given my knowledge of her conduct as Home Secretary. She was the right compromise candidate at the time but now the Conservative Party needs to get rid of her and appoint someone with leadership ability. I was impressed with her initial words about inclusiveness and a country that ‘works for everyone’ but I see now that the leopard has not changed its spots. She is authoritarian, illiberal, secretive, anti-democratic and, most importantly, dishonest.
Theresa May is no Tory and she is not fit to be prime minister.
It Sticks In My Throat But Theresa Is Magnificent.
The Andrew Marr Show. 2nd October 2016
Ms May’s performance on the Andrew Marr Show today was a triumph.
She delivered common sense, wit, an inclusive vision and very broad appeal. In a “country that works for everyone” she is undermining the incoherent left. She is showing true leadership in excellent style.
Now all we have to do is get her properly informed about cannabis and drugs policy. I cannot believe that someone who is so rational and considered can fail to understand. I think the truth is that prejudice and years of propaganda is so entrenched, even in sophisticated, intelligent people, that some politicians, including Theresa, have not had the evidence properly presented to them.
We must do better to get our message across and somehow we have to get Theresa May properly to consider our arguments.
Fleet Street Celebrates Total Victory Over Leveson. The Public Interest Is ‘Collateral Damage’.
This article started as a comment on an excellent piece in 'The Conversation'
by Professor of Communications, University of Westminster.
Politics versus public interest in battle over press regulation.
The Fleet Street Mafia has successfully subverted and corrupted our political leadership to ensure that Leveson has achieved nothing in bringing the worst excesses of the press under control. In fact, if anything, press regulation is even weaker and less effective than before Lord Justice Leveson first assumed the chair of the inquiry.
The Leveson Inquiry. A Waste Of Time And Public Money.
The whole exercise has been a farce and a waste of public money. Cameron and his cronies are so terrified of the press that they will do literally anything; change any policy, ignore any evidence, promote any untruth, in order to comply with the wishes of Murdoch, the Barclay Brothers or Paul Dacre.
IPSO, the replacement for the PCC, is even more corrupt, dishonest and fraudulent in its practice than its predecessor. It fails to enforce the Editors’ Code and instead finds excuses for publishers to breach the code as it suits them. It acts in expressly the opposite interest to that which it pretends. It seeks to support the interests of the press over the interests of the public at all stages.
IPSO’s new strategy to deal with troublesome and substantive complaints is simply to dismiss them, even without any consideration. The PCC would have made a play of investigating complaints before dismissing them but IPSO simply closes them down saying they do not raise any possible breaches of the code – even when they consist of blatant inaccuracy and distortion.
John Whittingdale MP. Sycophant And Toady To The Press Barons.
The net effect of Leveson is to place the public in a worse position than before it started. We have gone backwards. The press is more powerful, politicians are supine. In the case of weak, corrupt individuals like John Whittingdale, he has become the servant of the press barons, doing their bidding, performing at their wish from inside government where he betrays the electorate and subverts our democracy.
Fleet Street is like the Wild West but with immunity against any consequences of any actions. The only hope that we have is the terminal decline of newspaper circulation and that the power of this unelected elite of editors and proprietors will crumble over time. It would help if our other media, particularly the BBC, would stop letting Fleet Street set the news agenda. We need to accelerate the move to online news content.
The whole corrupt edifice is well illustrated by the regular Sunday morning spectacle of Andrew Marr, a dyed in the wool Fleet Street stooge, interviewing low-rent tabloid hacks such as Amanda Platell or Jane Moore, before another servile chat with a government minister. This defines the shabby, dishonest politicking within and around the Westminster bubble.
We do not have a a ‘free press’, we have an out of control, rampant, vested interest. While we need ‘freedom of the press’, in that journalists may investigate and publish the truth, we also need ‘freedom from the press’ and its bullying, self-serving control of our country and its political system.
Farage On Marr. A Towering Performance.
Nigel Farage, The Marr Show, 1st June 2014
This was Nigel Farage at his very best: the man of the people, relaxed but determined, fair minded but firm, tolerant but strong, patriotic but generous. Really it couldn’t have gone any better.
All the vile abuse hurled at him by the small men and women of the media and the political establishment, the disgraceful BBC bias, the blatant hypocrisy of Tory and Labour that ferment conflict within our country every day. Nigel dealt with them all with a smile and good grace.
He is stronger than ever. The UKIP policies that he hinted at seem sensible and popular. Protest votes will be hardening into solid support. Britain now despises the identikit Cameron, Miliband, Duncan Smith, Balls and the rest. The chattering idiots at the Guardian and the BBC and the Bullingdon Club associate members at the Telegraph and the Times. They’re all as out of touch as each other. The Fleet Street Mafia is as disgraced as the members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet. We want none of you anymore!
Simon Heffer’s Disgusting Prohibitionist Rant
Fat Cat And His Drug Of Choice
Journalists in the old media and politicans are panicking. They are trying to crack down hard on us and our rights to opinions and self-expression. In the age of WikiLeaks and the internet, their self-serving oligarchy is undermined by real freedom.
Cameron’s and Miliband’s arrogant and dismissive rejection of Bob Ainsworth’s proposals for an end to prohibition, shows they have no proper response to his arguments. Today, another member of the ruling elite penned a truly ignorant and repressive opinion in The Daily Telegraph. See here for the full article.
As well as trying it on with the discredited idea that cannabis causes psychosis, Heffer says, with astounding spitefulness and stupidity:
“We have a serious problem with drugs in this country because we do not punish drugs crime severely enough. Legalisation is not the answer, but getting nasty might just be.”
It is an utterly disgraceful article. Heffer should be ashamed of himself for spreading lies and misinformation, I suspect deliberately.
The facts are that the harms caused by prohibition are well documented and proven.
The facts are that the allegation cannabis causes psychosis is just the latest scare story. In the 1930s the prohibitionists used to say that cannabis makes white women promiscuous with black men. This is just the latest smear of equivalent value.
Public opinion is hugely in favour of an end to prohibition. You only have to look at the polls and the huge volume of comment and opinion on the web.
The oligarchy of politicians and the media is on the point of collapse. Those who value truth and freedom can console themselves that the darkest hour is just before dawn. Journalists like Heffer and Andrew Marr, for example, are desperate to hang on to their corrupt position where they control the news agenda and contrive media coverage in cahoots with their friends in parliament.
A peaceful revolution is coming where fat cat journalists with no more talent than the lowliest blogger will be turfed out of their comfortable sinecures as the irrelevant dinosaurs that they are.
Heffer and his chums on both sides of the House have had their nasty little stitch-up going on for too long. Dawn is approaching and his sort has no future
Who Rattled Andrew Marr’s Cage? I Think He’s Worried.
It's Called Competition
Andrew Marr’s rant against bloggers rather surprised me. His Sunday morning show is a fixture for me. I think his intemperate and short tempered polemic betrays an old-fashioned journalist’s insecurity and fear of the new media
Someone in his privileged position has only to sneeze and he will be published in front of millions. I admire his work but there are thousands, equally capable and with equally valid opinions who are now able to express themselves widely on the internet. The real question is when will the “dead mens shoes”, “who you know not what you know” culture be overturned? Let’s not be shy here, I know my writing is generally better than most that’s published in the national press, yet I only enjoy that audience occasionally. Those, like Andrew Marr, who already have their foot in the door, shut it firmly in the face of their challengers and competitiors. It’s a closed shop, much worse than any trade union restrictive practice.
I do agree with him completely about anonymity. It is a matter of pride to me that, wherever I can, I use my own name when writing, commenting, abusing, complimenting, agreeing or yes, occasionally, even ranting. I also agree, in this one instance only, with that obnoxious little billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, when he said “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”. I think he’s absolutely right on this and I hope more people will follow his and my example.
Overall though Mr Marr, I think your rant about bloggers says more about you than anything else – and you’re right to be worried. I hope you stick around but there’s plenty of dead wood in journalism and broadcasting that needs chopping out. Editors are the lazy ones, the real culprits. It’s easy for them just to sign off the same old names time after time. They have become far too powerful and need taking down a peg or two. They should be scouting round the blogosphere for new talent instead of sitting on their backsides getting fat and lazy.
Tony Blair With Andrew Marr
Showdown
I have to admit I was impressed.
I do not begrudge it all. It was fantastic, riveting television – if you’re a politics junkie like me. I know there will be vociferous opinion against but I thought he was marvellous, quite inspiring and utterly convincing.
He always was the best possible successor to Margaret Thatcher and that shone through in the interview. He’s explicitly not a socialist, so why he persists in the Labour Party I don’t know. I can see why he supports the coalition. In fact, he’d make the perfect coalition PM with Dave and Nick as his deputies! Now there’s a thought!
I never voted for him but always rather liked him. I confess I allowed myself to be swayed by the Bliar and anti-Blair brigade but yes, even I am susceptible to propaganda. Recently, I have given serious attention to his involvement in the Israel Palestine dispute. I have been deeply impressed at his even-handedness. It is a talent to remain so impartial in such a heated and emotional situation. It convinced me of his integrity.
That is the quality that shines through. It is the quality that matters to me most, that I think means most of all. He is a man of integrity. I do not agree with him on everything by any means but…
He is a great man.
Tony Hayward, BP And The Oil Spill
Good Job
I am really very impressed with BP’s Chief Executive. He is doing the best possible job for his company – and probably for all concerned. His appearance on the Andrew Marr show this morning was an object lesson in how to handle such a crisis. He is suitably contrite. He is direct, honest, loyal, everything that any board of directors or committee of shareholders could ask for. Crucially, in the TV age, he looks right. His appearance is an exact match for his message.
Here is a man who is worth every penny of a salary I would expect to run to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
I’m no fan or friend of big oil companies. There’s little doubt in my mind that BP and Esso/Exxon, the world’s biggest, operate an effective cartel on fuel prices. They’re so big that no government can do anything about it.
I don’t think you can blame BP for the disaster although obviously it is responsible. Clearly, you have to ensure that all possible safety standards and procedures are complied with but, given that, it could have happened to any oil company, anywhere. There’s no more greed in BP than anywhere else. It’s just a business trying to make a profit like any other.
I deplore the oil spill just as I approve of motherhood and apple pie. I understand that Obama has to give BP an appropriate amount of flak but the important point is how it is dealing with the disaster and all its consequences. From what I see I think we should all be grateful that Tony Hayward is the man in charge.
Now Is The Time For Recrimination – Before They Get Away!
I am delighted to see that The Times and now, this morning, Andrew Marr, are joining me in calling for bankers to be brought to account. The “Thunderer” even said that “heads must roll”. Roll they must, many of them, until the baskets are full and the streets of the City are running with blood. The executions should take place in public so that the greedy thieves and scoundrels who have pillaged our economy can be subject to public humiliation and villification as they meet their doom.
I will carry the metaphor no further but the dread and fear that should now be ruining the weekends of the chief executives and chairmen of the banks should be little different from that of the French aristocrats awaiting the guillotine.
We must insist that those individuals who have taken multi million pound bonuses from banks, funds and all forms of financial institutions that are now insolvent must be able to justify the payments in the same way that a director of a small business that had gone bust might have to explain his drawings to a liquidator. In many instances money will have to be recovered.
Whether guilty of personal wrongdoing or not, the chairmen, chief executives and non-executive directors who have presided over this catastrophe must take responsibility and go! The same sanction must fall on the heads of the regulators.
Lord Adair Turner, Chairman, and Jon Pain, Managing Director Retail Markets, who both accepted poisoned chalices at the FSA only last month may have some excuse but the rest of the board should be summarily dismissed, not even allowed to resign.
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been extraordinarily unequivocal in many of their statements this week. We want to know much, much more detail about the “mechanisms” that will put in place to restrain the banks in future. If the taxpayer has saved your business then in future you will not be gambling on ludicrously complex financial products that only you understand and for which you set the rules. We prefer that you lend £100,000 to a small business rather than £10 million to a virtual roulette wheel.
“There a million stories in the Naked City”. Now is the time for “le dénouement”.
Peter Reynolds 