Sun suffers effects of ‘news’ drought

MediaGuardian – Sun’s Harry pictures ‘three years old’: The Sun’s front page and centre-spread photographs of Prince Harry groping and kissing a girl are three years old and were not taken this summer as the newspaper claims today, according to Clarence House. There also appears to be a question mark over how the photographs came to be published, with Clarence House claiming that their owner, Natalie Pinkham – the girl whose breast Prince Harry is pictured fondling – did not give her permission for them to be printed. The Sun’s page one, headlined “Dirty Harry” and tagged “picture exclusive”, claims that the six photographs were taken “this summer in trendy nightclub Boujis”. But Paddy Haverson, Prince Charles’ communications secretary, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the pictures were taken at another nightclub, Purple, in September 2003 – before Prince Harry began dating his current girlfriend Chelsy Davy. “The pictures are three years old and we have asked the Sun to correct it,” said Mr Haverson. The allegation throws the story’s central claim – that the Prince cheated on his girlfriend – in doubt. It is the third time in a year that Clarence House has claimed the newspaper has published incorrect pictures of the 21-year-old prince.

UPDATE – Independent – Police called in over ‘stolen’ pictures of woman with Harry: The Sun’s photographs of Prince Harry cavorting with a blond television presenter have already soured relations between the red-top press and royal family, and yesterday they became the subject of a criminal inquiry, as the Metropolitan Police began an investigation into how the newspaper obtained them. The television presenter Natalie Pinkham, who owned the original shots, contacted Fulham police to report that several hundred negatives from her private collection had been stolen while she moved house earlier this summer. Copies were later sold to The Sun, which reprinted them on Tuesday under the front-page headline “Dirty Harry.” One showed the Prince kissing Pinkham’s neck, while apparently fondling her breast. The newspaper was then forced to issue an apology for its article, which alleged that the photographs had been taken this summer at Boujis, a London night-spot, when in fact they were more than three years old… her lawyers have also launched a legal action against the Daily Mail, which reprinted the allegedly stolen photographs on Wednesday under the headline: “Harry’s fury over nightclub snaps.”… “The whole affair has been horrible for her. She would never do anything to embarrass the princes,” said (a) friend. “The photos had always been kept completely secret, and only two other people, her brother and a friend, even knew they existed.” Although a firm of professional movers was employed to take her possessions between the two properties, which are less than a mile apart, they are not thought to be implicated in the theft. “Natalie was very careful to make sure the removal men didn’t handle any of her sensitive stuff,” said the friend. “She has her suspicions as to who actually did take the negatives, and is upset and angry that they would seek to profit from her in this way.” Pinkham is understood to be taking the legal action against the Mail to make sure the images are never reprinted. Such action was not threatened against The Sun because they have already conceded that the photographs do not belong to them.

UPDATE – Observer – Ginger snaps: Sun editor Rebekah Wade, was so incensed over the mistake that led to the paper printing out-of-date photos of Prince Harry that she allegedly threw a phone at her hapless picture editor. It is unclear whether it was of the mobile or landline variety, but our own hotline is open to anyone who can shed further light on the incident.








Posted in Rupert 'The Evil One' Murdoch | 1 Comment

The Post-911 Blues

Watch the video.
Visit the MySpace platform.
Dive into iTunes or HMV and vote with your wallet… this is lovely, lovely stuff.








Posted in The War on Stupid | 1 Comment

When paranoia meets ignorance II

Well, glory be… Dennis is digging (a deeper hole for himself):

Dennis Paul, Conservative Campaigner: Lambeth Lad, meet David Orchard!

Lambeth Lad, a regular contributer on one of my opponents blogsite during the general election, attacking our newly elected Conservative MP, Anne Milton recently appeared to contribute to my earlier blog on the Ashenden Attack. He has interesting views on Co-Op & Waitrose shopping and public transport. He also appears familiar with walks near Stonebridge Wharf in Shalford and seems wary of animals.

Now meet David Orchard. I received a strange email in his name a while back with a Waitrose email address – viewers may find the remarks a little odd. Is this the same David Orchard of Stonebridge Wharf, Shalford?…living at the same residence as our former Liberal MP?

Yes, you could be right, but is there a ‘missing link’?

And, at first glance, it would appear that he has a number of supporters in his corner.

However… what his conveniently deficient timestamps don’t reveal is that this post and the first five comments that followed were all published between 11:30 and 12:30 late last night. Perhaps Dennis managed to plug in to the ‘closing time’ crowd and earn a record-setting exchange of comments in the space of an hour, and perhaps not. Me, I have my doubts, particularly as both Dennis and his ‘supporters’ engage in improper use of words like ‘blogsite’ and ‘weblink’, and cannot tell the difference between a post and a comment. Still, it’s worked out well for Dennis, as one of the comments from a ‘supporter’ includes a handy backtrack on his use of the word ‘opponent’ (“lets face it, he’s hardly a friend”).

Related link: Chris Ward – Dennis Paul and his own little world…

Damn and blast it all, now I’ve gone and linked to the site of a known Liberal Democrat, thereby proving Dennis right! If he ever discovers the blogroll on the Anne Milton website, I’m finished!

(ahem)

The amazing thing about a website that takes a dim view of certain local Conservative campaigners/candidates/MPs is that it tends to attract the attention of people who take an equally dim view of these same people. Some of these people are politically active, and some are not (and of those who are politically active, some represent Labour, and others the Liberal Democrats).

Also, some of these people contribute via comments, and some via email (and some via both).

There has been plenty of material regarding Anne Milton submitted under comments that has been deleted, moderated or reigned in publicly (and here’s an excellent example of the latter).

Via email, the process is a little more private, but very much the same; it’s my damn website, and I decide what gets published on it.

That website happens to be the top search result for ‘anne milton’ in just about every search engine available, so I do get a fair amount of email… but something like 5% of submitted material gets published. People who submit material/links to Bloggerheads in general won’t be at all surprised to learn that – often – people submit material that I’m already aware of and/or looking into. Also, it matters not a jot where the material comes from if it’s true… and what is true is that Anne Milton misled voters and lied outright during her campaign and – most important of all in the context of this argument – repeatedly passed off Conservative councillors, candidates and key members of her campaign team as ordinary members of the public. Here’s a quick roll-call for those who came in late:

Mike Chambers (then part of her campaign team, now Conservative Borough campaigner for Onslow)
Amanda Worrall (who is, amusingly, no longer a fan)
Kathy Lyons (Conservative candidate for Friary & St Nicolas)
Dora Paul (wife of Dennis Paul)
Grant Griffiths (former Deputy Chairman of Guildford Conservatives and Anne Milton’s Campaign Director)
Richard Gates (aka Councillor Richard Gates)

So I find it particularly galling to be subjected to repeated allegations that I publish the Anne Milton weblog at the behest or direction of Sue Doughty’s office…. especially when the source of these allegations is the Junior Dipstick whose wife played a significant role in an actual deception of the same nature and who played a significant role himself in one of the most dishonest and morally reprehensible aspects of Anne Milton’s campaign.

As my recent email to Dennis Paul makes clear, I’ve yet to work out if he’s an outright liar or completely delusional. Perhaps it’s a little of both…

Bloggerheads/PWP – Black Dog Lacks Clue: This is part of the curious ‘Us and Them’ mentality shared by some journalists and many, many party bods (including supporters of Anne Milton such as Dennis Paul). The latter group simply cannot accept that anybody who disagrees with their views can form the offending viewpoint independently. They would rather believe (or have others believe) that the viewpoint is fed to them or forced upon them by a political body. Yes, sometimes this happens. But usually it pays to keep your mouth shut until you have proof. To immediately and/or repeatedly leap onto the idea that anybody who speaks their mind is a party activist is completely wrong-headed and shows a startling level of arrogance. Aren’t ordinary members of the public capable of forming opinions? Isn’t voicing or acting on these opinions the right of every citizen? No, I’m afraid not. To hold any opinion or take any action you first must be part of the official fellowship. Then, of course, those opinions or actions can easily be dismissed as part of a party-political campaign. (See, as an example, the only defence offered by Anne Milton regarding racist pamphlets in Guildford.) You see how it works? You need to be part of the club before they can beat you with it.

… but one thing I’m certain of is that I’m not going to stand for it any more. All such allegations will be removed from his website or there will be serious consequences.

(lights pipe)
(relaxes)

Still, I must thank Dennis for something… at times I get tired of battle and wish to quietly potter along with life’s many joys and distractions. With this latest stunt Dennis has strengthened my resolve and sharpened my focus.

Many whispers reach me of local Conservatives who are already sick of Anne Milton and her dishonesty, laziness and/or ineptitude…

Anne Milton: Guildford MP (and Dipstick) – The Health Select Committee
Anne Milton: Guildford MP (and Dipstick) – A clear conflict of interest
Anne Milton: Guildford MP (and Dipstick) – Anne’s mysterious absences

… Sue Doughty may not be pleased with the idea of going up against a stronger candidate at the next election, but in my view, the sooner this constituency is rid of Anne Milton and her gang of scruple-deficient morons the better it will be for all of us. In short, I think it’s worth actively working toward deselection rather than watching and waiting for the inevitable.

I invite Conservatives to support this campaign.

[Psst! Dennis! You didn’t publish my comment that quickly and politely linked to my response to this lovely post… but feel free to do so tonight and claim that you did so last night. Oh, and you’re a clever boy… so perhaps (with some help from teacher) you can work out the significance of my inviting lambethlad to get in touch via email – for the first time – on the day after the election.]








Posted in Anne Milton | Comments Off on When paranoia meets ignorance II

When paranoia meets ignorance

Ahahahahahahaha! I was just checking Dennis Paul’s weblog for updates and I happened across this old XML feed, which hasn’t been updated since April. This feed reveals that the introduction to his website used to read as follows:

The accuracy of representations or their authors posting cannot be guaranteed and I accept no responsibility for their content. However, posts in my name ‘Dennis Paul’ are mine. Racist or homophoebic posts are not accepted. Contact me at www.dennispaul.org

BEWARE blogging on other dodgy sites. Hackers may obtain your ISP address; credit card details; email addresses and personal data about you. If you suspect an attack, contact the Police.

Contact the pol… hahahahahahahahaha! Contact the p…. hahahahahaha! Contact the pfft… ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

(Oh hell, you may as well call an ambulance… I’m dyin’ here.)








Posted in Anne Milton | 4 Comments

Abu Ghraib in Lego

Hahahaha! This appeals to me in all sorts of ways. (via)

In fact, it has me wondering how one would render napalm use in Lego. I’m guessing that the process would start with the purchase of 10,000 of these little buggers.








Posted in It's War! It's Legal! It's Lovely! | Comments Off on Abu Ghraib in Lego

Skewing the debate

An excellent post by Curious Hamster on the subject of co-ordinated reactions to the recent open letter from British Muslim groups.

(His statement regarding Blair’s position on attacks on innocent civilians is spot on, but just in case you’re in any doubt…)








Posted in The War on Stupid | Comments Off on Skewing the debate

Dennis Paul makes a big mistake

[Note – Excuse me for repeating a lot of Dennis Paul’s content in this post; it’s just that the man has a bad habit of deleting content once it’s (finally) clear to him that an argument has failed to go his way. He once deleted an entire post that was part of a recent paedo-fear campaign because of a single ‘inappropriate comment’.]

Dennis Paul is in for a surprise...I first encountered Dennis Paul when he released this racist pamphlet as part of Anne Milton’s 2005 election campaign. An important thing to note here is that Dennis Paul may not actually be a racist himself; he’s just proven himself willing to exploit the fears of others for political gain.

Now, the thing that gets Dennis Paul going – the one thing that’s guaranteed to make him attack – is any suggestion that Anne Milton is less than perfect. In fact, he reacts as predictably as any little boy would if you said something about his mother.

The nastiest of these attacks are made ‘anonymously’ which – in theory – allows Dennis to maintain the moral high ground if anybody dares to say anything about him and have the guts to put their name to it.

In theory, that is.

Dennis found himself in hot water this time last year when I tracked a number of anonymous comments on the Anne Milton weblog to his place of work (Sutton Council).

As I’ve said before; normally it’s considered poor form to take a dispute offline… but when a man who is running for a position that involves him spending public money and he’s shown himself willing to abuse a similar position, all bets are off. I lodged a formal complaint.

While that complaint was being processed, another visit was tracked from Sutton Council’s servers which totally nailed him as the perpetrator. The afternoon before his short-lived exposé page (The Sewer) came into being, Dennis spent an entire weekday afternoon in his office accessing 52 different pages from my core site and the Anne Milton weblog – i.e. doing research for his shiny new web page. Soon afterwards, I was informed that the Council had “investigated this matter and taken appropriate action” and that they had “reviewed and actioned changes to its network security to prevent a reoccurence (sic).” (It should also be noted for the record that his partner in crime Mike Chambers is guilty of exactly the same thing, and soon you, me and everybody who knows how to use a search engine will find out how seriously the Learning and Skills Council treats such matters.)

When Dennis Paul isn’t making cowardly anonymous attacks, he busies himself assuring the public that they are under constant threat of crime and social disorder, and only he and his Tory chums stand between them and the end of civilisation as we know it. Unlike his opponents, who waste time with party-political snipes as the danger grows ever-greater. (See – Fear: inappropriate and dishonest use of.)

This is a perfect example of this type of action and, yes, we’re just about to get bang up to date…. stay with me.

The one thing the anonymous attacks and his public statements have in common (apart from claims that I’m some kind of computer hacker) is the false and deliberately misleading assertion that I’m employed by the local Liberal Democrats and this is what motivates me to launch ‘personal’ attacks against Anne Milton.

Allow me to state the following for the record:

I have done work for a Labour MP. I have done work for a Conservative MP. I have also done work for the Liberal Democrats as a party, but I have never done work for a Liberal Democrat MP, local or otherwise. I was not connected to Sue Doughty’s campaign during the 2005 election, and I am not connected with the developing campaign now.

In fact, I think it’s highly unlikely that Sue Doughty will be running against Anne Milton in the next election, as odds are Milton will be deselected as a result of her ongoing laziness and ineptitude… the latest example of which is her poor attendance record on the Health Select Committee.

*Bang*

OK, now we’re up to date. Because Anne Milton is totally incapable of tackling this charge head-on, once again it’s up to Dennis Paul to sling some mud around in the hope that some will stick, or at least cloud the surrounding waters. Here’s his response (emphasis is mine):

Dennis Paul, Conservative Campaigner: Brutal Attack At Ashenden

Residents of Ashenden estate have rallied behind Conservative campaigner Mike Chambers campaign to improve security at the pathway by Tesco following a vicious attack there last week. The victim, a neighbour of mine lives at Beech Grove. He was attacked by youths late at night and is in a serious condition in hospital following the attack. I raised the issue of security in 2004 and was successful in getting the pathway shrubs cut back. More recently, despite sneers from our opponents mocking our concerns on this issue, Mike Chambers and Conservative Councillor for Onslow Sheila Kirkland visited the site reviewing lighting in the area. Your local Conservative Team are liaising with the Police and Tesco to tackle security on a number of fronts. Mike Chambers launched a Petition last week immediately following the news and has received a tremendous response, calling for a range of security measures in the area.

Opponent? You what?

Dennis Paul is obviously referring to this, which was a personal reaction to his political shenanigans, not a political attack by his ‘opponents’, as he would have people think.

I submitted the following comment in response:

Erm… Dennis? I’m not your opponent, mate.

Oh, and you should know by now that I’m not a big fan of people who climb over bodies to claim the moral high ground.

The next day, a series of comments were cleared for publication, but mine was not.

So I sent Dennis the following email:

I knew you wouldn’t have the guts to publish my comment.

Now I know that you’re either an outright liar or completely delusional.

(And if you’re running as a candidate in any election, it really doesn’t matter which.)

Here’s Cheers, Pap Smears

Tim

And the response? Ha! I just know that you’re going to love this:

Dennis Paul, Conservative Campaigner: Things Turn Nasty!

Following my last post on the Ashenden Attack, one of my ‘opponents’ has saw fit to send in a vitriolic email containing a nasty personal attacks. This fellow, thought to have a close Liberal Democrat connection signs off as ‘pap smears’ which perhaps sheds light on his motives.

Despite this email, readers will see from my last post on the Ashenden Attack, that his cynical remarks were in fact accepted. However, just to keep him happy (ie give him something to protest about) I have removed the comment anyway.

It is disappointing that people who are trying to positively raise awareness about security threats and seek improvements are attacked in such a negative way.

I invite Liberal Democrats to support our campaign.

(Psst! Tell the truth and shame the devil, Dennis. You were lucky enough to have queued that comment rather than delete it.. which allowed you to publish it just long enough for you to save this ‘proof’ to disk… before swiftly deleting said comment.)

Dennis Paul has made a big, big mistake here. When acting anonymously, he and Mike Chambers can (perhaps) afford to be a little more overt in their claims that I’m part of the local Liberal Democrat campaign team, but – until now – he’s been very careful about publishing actionable defamatory/libellous material under his own name and/or on his own website.

Repeat: until now.

As heavily-qualified as his claims may be the second time around, this post clearly confirms the intention/suggestion behind his unequivocal classification of me as an ‘opponent’ in his earlier post.

Dennis Paul, I’m calling you out. Again. Either prove the claim or delete it and publish an apology.

If we end up in court, I’ll be calling on representatives from Sutton Council and the Learning & Skills Council as witnesses. I will be forced to do this for practical reasons even if Mike Chambers is not included in this action. Each organisation will have records of material that either you or Mike Chambers have published anonymously from your place of work. This, in turn, will tie either or both of you to the relevant Blogger accounts and thereby make you accountable for *all* of the material published under these accounts. Do you *really* want this to happen?

UPDATE (4pm) – Several visits from inside Parliament (in.parliament.uk/194.60.38.10) and Conservative Central Office (host97.conservative-party.org.uk/194.203.158.97) have been recorded and noted this afternoon. Thank you chaps. Now I know that you know what I know. And the action you’ll be taking/recommending is…?

UPDATE (15 Aug) – *Sigh*… When paranoia meets ignorance II








Posted in Anne Milton | 5 Comments

Lord Stevens goes shouty-crackers… again

Bloody hell. Have a look at this NOTW editorial by Lord Stevens (mirrored/archived here at NOTWATS).

Lord Stevens – If you’re a Muslim, it’s your problem: WHEN will the Muslims of Britain stand up to be counted? When will they declare, loud and clear, with no qualifications or quibbles about Britain’s foreign policy, that Islamic terrorism is WRONG? Most of all, when will the Muslim community in this country accept an absolute, undeniable, total truth: that Islamic terrorism is THEIR problem? THEY own it. And it is THEIR duty to face it and eradicate it.

Refusing to consider a motive because murder is wrong? This guy must be some kind of super-cop. (And that’s just his opening gambit – check out the full rant if you think you have the stomach for it… and try to forget that this joker used to be Metropolitan Police Commissioner.)

Some background on Lord Stevens is available at Wikipedia and analysis of a similar editorial can be found over at Spy Blog.

UPDATE – Chicken Yoghurt – A lemon entry, my dear Stevens

UPDATE – Somewhat related… Boing Boing – Chertoff: We must “eliminate people who are susceptible to becoming killers”








Posted in The War on Stupid | 3 Comments

Top this…

From the front page of today’s edition of The Daily Sport:

Public interest!

(Direct link to image here for those of you in the cheap seats.)

Our only saving grace as a nation? Well…

MediaGuardian – Sport drops one-third of readers: Sales of every single middle-market and red top Sunday newspaper have declined over the past year, with the Sunday Sport losing one-third of its readers. The Sunday Sport’s diet of naked women and sport seems to be proving a turn-off for readers, with 33.7% of the paper’s circulation disappearing over the past year – the biggest year-on-year fall in circulation of any national daily or Sunday title. In July, the Sport’s circulation was down to just 105,499 copies, from almost 160,000 copies in the same month a year ago, according to the latest ABC figures.








Posted in The War on Stupid | 1 Comment

My MP appears to be on holiday… all year long

Guess which member of the Health Select Committee has the worst attendance record. Go on… take a punt.








Posted in Anne Milton | Comments Off on My MP appears to be on holiday… all year long