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02 September 2011 2:36 PM
Toynbee snaps at latest attack on her earnings
A top spat broke out in media circles yesterday as the outspoken Tory blogger Guido Fawkes ambushed Polly Toynbee over money. Toynbee was holding an online conversation for The Guardian newspaper on the growing wealth gap, when Fawkes muscled in, asking her: “If you are so concerned about wealth inequality and want to see more income redistribution, why are you so rich?”
The ambush was a replay of one attempted by Toby Young on Question Time last year, when he challenged Toynbee about having sent two of her children to private schools. Toynbee brushed Young off but Fawkes, whose real name is Paul Staines, persisted. He pursued her across Twitter, pointing out that writing about poverty had earned Toynbee a salary hefty enough to afford three homes, one of which is in Italy, as well as funding her children’s education. “Polly is crying about poverty all the way to the Bank of Tuscany.”
Toynbee finally hit back. “You have devoted your life to poison and malevolence,” she wrote on the Guardian blog. “You’re always hammering on about my earnings — as if they were in any way exceptional for someone in my profession,” before declaring them to be £110,000pa. “I write often that I think the distribution of rewards are unjust — yes, including my own.”
Toynbee is not the only Leftie to have faced awkward questions about sending their children to private schools. Labour MP Diane Abbott sent her son to City of London School, something about which she still gets harangued.
Toynbee Snaps Over Earnings Attack – Londoner’s Diary
Darling Leaks are a Taste of What’s To Come – Nick Robinson
Tory MEP Junket – PSbook
PM Slaps Down BBC – Paul Waugh
Palestinian Solidarity Campaign Links to Neo-Nazis – Harry’s Place
Economist Warns Against Green Jobs ‘Creation’ – GWPF
Cameron Not Liked – Iain Martin
Balls Claims He did Not Want Darling’s Job – BBC
What Sort of Modernisation, Dave? – Harry Cole
Too Late for Vickers – Andrew Lilico
Green Sock Puppets – Mark Wallace
25 Reasons for Financial Panic – Zero Hedge
Duncan Of Benghazi - Speccie
Targeted Political Ads are the Future – Politico
Will Dave Murder Nadine’s Baby? – PoliticsHome
They Are My Followers – Laura Kuenssberg
Dave’s Oily Secret - Guardian
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