A crude characterisation - by Richard... Sunday, September 05, 2010

A crude characterisation - by Richard... Sunday, September 05, 2010

"Just who is this Guido Fawkes, aka Paul Staines - the semi-literate, extreme right-wing, public-school educated, foreign-born former bankrupt and convicted criminal blogger whose ineptly written innuendoes may yet put an end to the career of one of Britain's better politicians, (thecompletely blameless - ed) William Hague?"

So writes Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times (yes, it does still exist, although I had to check to make sure), but I'm not sure whether this is serious, or a wind-up. He continues, in classic style, answering his own rhetorical question:

Well, Mr Staines is Bloggsville incarnate - the very essence of that vast network of talentless and embittered individuals tapping away at their keyboards in the intellectual vacuum of cyberspace, only occasionally leaving their computer screens to heat up a Tesco microwave-ready mini filled garlic and corriander nan bread with Indian dip selection before returning to spew out some more unsubstantiated bile.

I must say that I really do object to this crude characterisation. I most certainly do not use Tesco ready-meals. Ooop North where it's really grim, we have to get ours from Morrinsons - it's that bad. As for leaving the computer screen ... nah! I get Mrs EU Referendum to pop them on grate along with the tripe sandwiches, after she has emptied the coal from the bath.

But says the great Liddle, of blogging in general, "This is anti-journalism, and nobody takes any notice of it - except, of course, the mainstream media and the government." Do you think I should take him to the PCC?

As for serious blogging, I took one look at The Sunday Telegraph this morning, with its yards of guff on Dannatt, and decided not to bother today. There are times when you simply cannot compete with the narrative, knowing full well that the paper has learned nothing and, more importantly, is not capable of learning anything.