Mar/10
21:12 6
Brave Sir Donal ran away!
Ladies and gentlemen, Donal Blaney has left the building! The credentials of the UK’s #11 Conservative blogger as a freedom-to-offend commentator in the Rush Limbaugh mould were left in tatters yesterday after he pulled his blog at the behest of CCHQ. Visitors craving for the stylings of this p*** poor Richard Littlejohn are now greeted with the following:
So, why will those looking for bile about gays, muslims and immigrants now need to look elsewhere? The Young Briton’s Foundation (chief executive D. Blaney) has provided ideological and campaign training to 2,500 Conservative Party activists, including 11 Westminster candidates. Today’s Grauniad has done a number on the YBF, exposing the group – which aims to indoctrinate young Tories with a virulently right-wing agenda – as electoral kryptonite. Policies espoused by the YBF leadership include scrapping the NHS, the use of waterboarding by security services and a US-style liberal firearms regime. Anyone familiar with Blaney’s writing will be unsurprised to discover that many of the most damaging elements of the article were sourced from his blog.
This could be dismissed as a non-story were it not for the fact that “there is an informal understanding that the YBF is the main provider of training for young Conservative activists”. To compound the embarrassment, the latest gathering of the YBF was addressed this week by none other than Eric Pickles and Liam Fox, who number among six Tory frontbenchers to have spoken at group conferences since 2003. Blaney’s personal blog, resplendent in it’s ’Nasty Party’ worldview, also features endoresments from Daniel Hannan, Michael Gove and Douglas Carswell.
Sunder Katwala has done a brilliant job of setting YBF in the context of a ”long tradition of ’so right-wing you probably think we’re joking’ wing-nuttery” in Conservative youth circles:
“Contrast Norman Tebbit closing down the Federation of Conservative Students for being too right-wing in 1982 with the extent to which the ProgCons engage and champion this Maggie’s Militants rump today … I doubt anybody could believe they are so ill-informed or lazy enough not to know about YBF’s right-wing “radicalisation” mission – which was causing CCHQ disquiet when IDS was leader – and exactly where they are coming from”.
The removal of his blog is some climbdown for Blaney, who has revelled in his image as a champion of (right wing) free speech and a bête noire to the left. Those wishing to crow express their feelings on the matter through the medium of song may find the following appropriate (video below so you can sing along):
Brave Sir Donal ran away.
Bravely ran away away.
When danger reared it’s ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Donal turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Donal!
“He’s buggered off!”
“So he has, he’s scarpered!”
Feb/10
17:32 4
Two new Scottish blogs
If their blog suddenly exploded (unlikely as it is powered presumably by biodiesel) Scotland’s green movement would lose a decent clutch of its rising stars. Adam Ramsay and Gary Dunion, who were behind the recent No Shock Doctrine for Haiti campaign, have joined up with other Scottish green (Party) troublemakers such as Peter McColl and Maggie Chapman to join the ranks of blogging Edinburgh University alumni. They’re tweeting from @brightgreenscot and their RSS feed is here:
Whether they’ve exhumed his body or are receiving posts through means of séances, it seems that Lanarkshire’s own Keir Hardie has made a return to the political fray at 4wardnotback.blogspot.com. Its aggressive punchy style is exactly what Labour needs in the run up to May 6th. RSS feed is here or tweet Keir up @keirhardieblogs:
Check them out.
Feb/10
10:21 24
CCHQ is watching you as Tory high command co-ordinates right wing bloggers
Hats off to Marcus Brown at The Kaiser’s Toilet blog for this brilliant bit of sleuthing, uncovering the fact that someone in Conservative Central Office has the job of spying on every single mention of “David Cameron” on Twitter. No sooner had Brown posted a link to his latest blogpost than some poor intern from the CCHQ blog police descended to monitor what he had said about their Dave. His site stats (below) clearly show their use of Twitter search in this way:
What an awful job. How depressing. How glum that must be. I’m not quite sure what to make of all this. And every time my initial tweet gets retweeted, well, they keep coming back. May be they have to by some central office decree – may be they have been ordered to click on every link that is remotely connected to the two words: David and Cameron. – Marcus Brown
Just how paranoid are CCHQ?
This insight into Tory tactics online comes in the same week their reputation for a “hands off” approach with right wing bloggers took a serious knock. Accusations of party office meddling have been a consistent line of attack from Conservatives ever since Labour’s failed dalliance with central control.
Left Foot Forward were among a number of sites covering Tory blogger’s boozy hospitality on the Ashcroft dollar. Within minutes of publication, a piece on Eric Pickles’ briefing to the Tories’ online army was subjected to a barrage of critical comments by a veritable “who’s who” of Conservative blogging. Figures including Iain Dale, Tory Bear, Juliet Samuel, Steve Green, Tory Rascal, Francesca Preece, Einy Shah, Man in a Shed, Mike Rouse, Steven Adams, David Breaker and Ollie Cromwell all logged on to vent spleen. So who could be responsible for co-ordinating this conspicuous and rather clumsy rebuttal operation by bloggers who – to a man – were all on the guest list for the briefing referred to in the Left Foot Forward piece?
Scrapbook can confirm that this effort was led by CCHQ, with online chief Sam Coates sending an email to all invitees, pointing them in the direction of the offending blogpost.* Embarassingly enough Coates wrote in November that “the real strength of the centre-right blogosphere up to now has not been in working together or toeing lines”. Oh, dear!
In the words of one Tory blogger this week:
“It’s really obvious when you try to coordinate attacks quite so unsubtly.”
*No, not the fake one that was sent to various lefties (nice try).
Feb/10
22:21 4
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
When will some people realise that the internet is for life, not just for Christmas?
If you are a reader of Recess Monkey or the Internet and have realised comments from a Liberal Monkey and you are wondering who he is, let me point you towards him. Liberal Monkey is yours truly, yep, it’s a name that I have been thinking of using for a while – Irfan Ahmed
“Tory Bear along with other people are questioning if I am Liberal Monkey, I was planning on keeping it a secret but as the blogosphere is known for not keeping any secrets the simple answer is, I am Liberal Monkey.” – Irfan Ahmed
Come back, Irfan. It’s been too long!
Feb/10
09:57 3
Recess Monkey 2004 – 2010?
UPDATE 10:06 D’oh! It seems Devil’s Kitchen had this yesterday. Slowly, slowly catchy monkey?
UPDATE 10:11 This tweet from Hilton confirms it. But, seriously, what an odd name for a children’s entertainment group.
Like the reformation of a once-beloved band, Recess Monkey wasn’t quite the same after returning from a hiatus of several months. It seemed Alex Hilton, the enfant terrible of Labour blogging, was ever busy with other projects and was too often deputised by lesser diarists, one of whom had undergone a funny-ectomy courtesty of Cowley Street.
Ever inquisitive as to what Irfan Ahmed Liberal Monkey Mr. Monkey is up to, Scrapbook’s visit to Recess Monkey this morning offered compelling evidence that the left’s favourite primate has finally been dispatched to the big parliamentary estate in the sky:
The recessmonkey.com domain now redirects to recessmonkeytown.com, the website for “the acclaimed children’s music band from Seattle, WA”. However Alex Hilton has promised members of the Recess Monkey Facebook group that he would start blogging again soon and recently appeared on Sky News opposite Tory Bear.
Is that an Iain Dale style ego-blog on the horizon?
Jan/10
00:10 6
Norman Tebbit joins the blogosphere!
No, seriously. Really, just look at the screen grab below. Oh, all right then bloody well go and look for yourself if you don’t believe me.
Eurosceptic loose-cannon-at-large Norman Tebbit has joined fellow troublemaker Daniel Hannan with his own blog over at the Telegraph (RSS feed here). And it takes him precisely 118 words to have a go at the Cameroons:
“About the only leading politican to show any [grit] these days seems to be the much-abused Prime Minister Brown. Grittiness and the stiff upper lip seem to have been replaced with emotional incontinence, political correctness and open-necked shirts worn with well cut suits.”
Open neck shirts, eh? To whom could the Noble Lord possibly be referring?
Scrapbook looks forward to Tebbit’s special brand of unreconstructed biggotry and “nasty party” quotes gaining mind share with journalists and bloggers in record time!
Thank you, God.
Jan/10
17:56 1
A message to the progressive blogosphere
An extremely witty email from a lefty politico set the old grey matter going yesterday:
By the weekend nobody apart from Tory Bear will be talking about #KerryOut. Bar a few diary mentions, this is a story that even ConservativeHome can barely manifest enthusiasm for. The reason why most are ignoring it is the same as why my office ignore entreaties to discuss the status of my bowels with them: they are not interested in talking sh*t.
In this vein, many thanks to a contributor for the following good advice:
Scrapbook was party to some of the anti-tweeting on this but has come to the view that a full on blogwar is exactly what Harry Cole et al want. The progressive left should get back to what it does every day with increasing efficacy: derailing narratives from the right and exposing the Tories with verve and wit.
Let’s not get distracted by this ridiculous sideshow.
Jan/10
00:30 21
#kerryout campaign wins its first vote (but it’s for Kerry McCarthy)
One assumes this is not what the so-called “independents” running the rather vicious #kerryout campaign had in mind:
It seems the campaign has actually won a vote – and possibly a campaigner - for Kerry McCarthy in the form of a friend of tweeter and blogger OxfordSpring, who describes himself as a “Tory political obsessive”.
Also interesting to note the various Tories who are either conspicuously silent, voicing dissent or have backtracked once they became aware of the character of the campaign. This one is from Matthew Barrett, a member of Conservative Friends of Israel:
This one is heading straight for the buffers.
Hat tip: Tom Callow for pointing out Barrett’s about turn.
Dec/09
18:00 0
Normal service will be resumed shortly
Apologies for the disappearance of Scrapbook over the festive period. The credit for this must go to Fasthosts, who updated their billing system in such a way that it no longer accepted Maestro cards even when the required funds were available.
In the meantime, why not check out Left Foot Forward’s call to arms for the next year.
2010 is going to be fun.
Dec/09
19:13 5
BBC slapped with new injunction as Trafigura and Carter Ruck come back for more
It seems waste dumping bastards oil company Trafigura and their libel lawyers Carter Ruck didn’t learn very much from their comprehensive owning at the hands of the blogosphere in October. The New Statesman is reporting that the video ‘Dirty Tricks and Toxic Waste in the Ivory Coast’ has been removed from the BBC’s website after they after legal threats (it was here):
You can view the original report over at Wikileaks or a Newsnight report on the super injunction shitstorm below:
What to Trafigura seek to achieve by attempting vainly to suppress something that is already in the public domain?!
This is Streisand Effect 101.
Hat tip: Iain Dale
Palin-O-Meter
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