Wednesday, 30 May 2012







WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2012

Badge of Honour

Norman Smith doesn’t really seem to enjoy the limelight off camera. After his well publicised run in with Downing Street’s Craig Oliver, the Beeb correspondent was keeping a low profile at the New Culture Forum’s Jubilee party last night. Guido overheard a friend telling a sceptical Smith that “it was a badge of honour”. “That’s not quite how the BBC see it” he replied…

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May 30, 2012 at 8:33 am  Comments (21)

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

Going for Gove

Gove’s articulate and feisty performance at Leveson has won him plenty of friends this afternoon:

Word is that he would never run against Osborne in a leadership election, but with more performances like today…


Downing Street Hated BBC’s Murdoch Spider’s Web Image

The image Craig Oliver was complaining about at length was perhaps a bit more Hammer House of Horror than BBC News, no worse however than anything produced on this blog. ‘Mad’ Frankie Maude’s people told us he was actually quite pleased with his sinister image. Gordon Brown’s fans bitterly hated the Prime Mentalist image, megawatts of pixels were wasted decrying that hugely successful meme.  The Treasury once balked a bit at one of Guido’s portraits of George Osborne. Though admittedly, unlike the BBC, we don’t pretend to be impartial. On balance Guido thinks we saw Craig Oliver and Norman Smith doing their respective jobs…

UPDATE:

Here is the full clip that caused all the trouble:

Video via ConservativeHome
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May 29, 2012 at 9:22 am  Comments (80)

The Full U-Turn List

With a u-turn announced last night on the Pasty Tax and the watering down of caravan taxes and secret courts, Guido thought he’d put together the comprehensive one stop guide to Coalition u-turns:

  • Rape anonymity
  • Selling off the forests
  • Vanity photographer on the public payroll
  • Scrapping school milk for under-5s
  • Scrapping Bookstart
  • Scrapping  the Financial Inclusion Fund
  • Cutting Housing Benefit for long-term jobseekers
  • Immigration target policy reduced to an “ambition”
  • Coastguard cuts
  • Circus animals ban
  • Reduction in BBC World Service cuts
  • Cutting support for disabled people in care homes
  • Scrapping the Office of the Chief Coroner
  • Automatic prison sentences for carrying a knife
  • 50% sentence reductions for an early guilty plea
  • Scrapping the Youth Justice Board
  • Scrapping Domestic Violence Protection Orders
  • Plans to introduce unannounced Ofsted inspections
  • Watering down of Child Benefit cuts
  • Video games tax relief kept after all
  • Scrapping NHS targets
  • Joint Strike Fighter mess
  • Watering down plans to recall MPs
  • Rowing back on Secret Courts
  • Pasty Tax scrapped
  • Caravan Tax watered down

No Plan B though…

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May 29, 2012 at 7:49 am  Comments (158)

MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012

An Expert View

News of Craig Oliver’s spinning has reached the Scottish salmon fishing retreat of Charlie Whelan:

Spoken like a true pro…


Ken’s Blind €ye

“It is the demand of a few right-wing journalists and a few extreme nationalist politicians” say Ken Clarke of an EU referendum. Those extreme nationalist politicians like Zac Goldsmith? Or how about those well know right-wing journalist who ended up as Labour MPs like Ronnie Campbell, Rosie Cooper, Jon Cruddas, John Cryer, Natascha Engel, Roger Godsiff, Tom Harris, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, George Howarth, Austin Mitchell and Keith Vaz?

They have all called for an In/Out vote.

One too many at the cricket yesterday Ken?

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Posted by Britannia Radio at 08:59