The Media Blog

Newspapers disown busted flush May

A few short days ago the majority of UK newspapers were still trying to drag Theresa May's ailing election campaign over the finish line (albeit half-heartedly at times). But following May's disastrous performance at the polls on Thursday and her humiliating efforts to stay in Number 10, the allegiance of Fleet Street's big hitters has vanished over night.

Nobody wanted to be left holding a busted flush after the gamble had failed.

May now has neither the majority, the power nor the long-term future that will have made her of interest to the likes of Paul Dacre and Rupert Murdoch. She is an ex-Prime Minister in-waiting who embarrassed those who championed her, both with her poor performances and the nature of a hollow victory that may be secured, for now, through a 'coalition of chaos' - one of the very soundbites the papers had dutifully force fed their own readers in recent weeks.

The Daily Mail and The Sun managed to turn a blind eye to much of May's faltering throughout the campaign. On the day every other paper led with May's U-turn on social care, the Mail led with a story about pornography on Facebook while The Sun led with yet another attack on Corbyn. They no doubt thought it a wise investment at the time. But now May is feeling the wrath of newspaper editors, angry that their newest plaything was broken out of the box and perhaps also frustrated that they were unable to land an effective blow on Corbyn. Their attacks on the Labour leader were either dismissed out of hand by supporters or turned back on themselves as evidence that the likes of Dacre and Murdoch were getting worried, so maybe Corbyn was onto something.

The Sun has given May a year. That could prove generous, but if so it seems certain it is the last generosity she will receive from them.

'It's shit but it'll do'

Endorsements for the General Election from UK newspapers have followed fairly traditional lines. But some of the efforts have seemed at best half-hearted. In the absence of anything convincingly positive to say about the Conservatives, The Sun, Daily Mail and Express turned to all-too-predictable attacks on Labour’s leadership which looked as lazy as they were savage. Meanwhile, a more thoughtful Times was left endorsing the Conservatives with an air of ‘it’s shit but it will have to do’.  

"The Conservatives have fought a poor campaign. Their manifesto includes policies lifted wholesale from Ed Miliband’s Labour platform of 2015, and a headline strategy on social care that was brave in principle but botched in practice… Mrs May has been pitched to voters as her party’s strongest asset but she has proved wooden when she needed to show charisma. She has been inflexible when she needed to think on her feet and evasive when she needed to be honest. That she is nonetheless by far the best prospective prime minister on offer speaks volumes about the choice voters must make tomorrow."

The George Osborne-edited London Evening Standard also had to dig deep into their reserves of damning with faint praise.

"The current Conservative leadership is moving further away from the social and economic liberalism that has made our country and its capital a global success story. That is the wrong direction… Thankfully, many of the impressive candidates the Conservatives are fielding know this is a mistake…

"Conservative mistakes should have been exploited by their political opponents. Indeed, the Tories would be facing near-certain defeat tomorrow if they had faced an effective force from the centre… The honeymoon enjoyed by Theresa May and her inner circle has been decisively ended by this election campaign, whatever the result… It is true that after her performance on the stump, those who wrote up Mrs May as the new political messiah find themselves embarrassed… But if she learns from this campaign to look beyond her tight inner circle, she will find a Conservative movement full of talent from which she can construct a real team."

The Telegraph couldn’t quite bring itself to champion May or the Conservatives with much conviction either, sticking to the safer territory of criticising Corbyn, while hoping, like the Standard, that May could improve for the experience. This was about the most positive thing they could find to say in support of May:

"The Conservative campaign has not been flawless and Mrs May will doubtless have learnt from the experience… It has been a long campaign and voters may be weary of hearing the refrain “strong and stable leadership”. But this is the central issue. Tomorrow’s election is principally about who the country trusts to handle the Brexit talks. A Corbyn premiership would be a calamity. Britain’s long-term interests require a convincing Conservative victory.”

They’re hardly cheering May over the finish line.

'Easter' ban is not eggs-actly true

The UK is once again in the grips of the contrived annual outrage over "Easter" being 'banned' in the name of political correctness. It follows in the proud tradition of the Daily Mail trying to convince readers that Christmas has been replaced by "Winterval".

This year it is the National Trust and Cadbury coming in for criticism in the media for allegedly dropping "Easter" from their annual egg hunt.

The Telegraph reports:

"The National Trust was facing a membership boycott amid a growing backlash over the decision to drop "Easter" from the name of its annual Easter egg hunt."

The Express adds: 

"Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu accused [Cadbury] of "spitting on the grave" of its religious founder by removing references to Christianity's most sacred festival from the spring event it runs nationwide with the [National Trust]."

And even Theresa May has jumped on the bandwagon, telling ITV News:

"I'm not just a vicar's daughter - I'm a member of the National Trust as well. I think the stance they've taken is absolutely ridiculous and I don't know what they're thinking about. Easter's very important. It's important to me, it's a very important festival for the Christian faith...so I think what the National Trust is doing is frankly just ridiculous."

Of course, this is all nonsense, as this screenshot of the National Trust's website makes very clear.

While it may be unclear which bit of the bible mentions chocolate eggs, it's pretty clear the National Trust website definitely does mention "Easter".

Brexitwashing: Express paints UK tumble as 'Brexit boom', while criticising BBC for 'bias'

The Daily Express has run a couple of stories this week criticising the BBC for a bias over Brexit.

Presumably the Express can't understand why the BBC doesn't run glowingly positive pro-Brexit stories like "BREXIT BOOM: London now cheapest of world's major global centres, says survey" which the Express pushed out on Wednesday.

The answer may be because the story, as presented by the Express, is nonsense. The Express has performed some remarkable mental gymnastics to turn an Economist Intelligence Unit report into a pro-Brexit story. 

First of all, the Express has overlooked the methodology of the report into the worldwide cost of living. This is pretty crucial not least because the report is based  on a dollar conversion. So yes, the UK is cheaper, if you are visiting from overseas.

The Express also downplays the EIU's assessment of the UK tumbling down the global league table. The EIU report states:

"2017 could see fallout from a number of political and economic shocks taking deeper effect. The UK has already seen sharp declines in the relative cost of living owing to the Brexit referendum and related currency weaknesses. In 2017 these are expected to translate into price rises as supply chains become more complicated and import costs rise. These in ationary effects could be compounded if sterling stages a recovery. Similarly, elections across the EU have created uncertainty as to whether other member states will face referendums of their own concerning EU membership. Levels of Greek debt, which were a catalyst of the euro zone debt crisis in 2012, have risen back up the global economic agenda." 

For more, see:
The 'Brexitwashing' continues
Time for some 'Brexmas' Brexitwashing
Express 'Brexitwashing' continues

They've appointed who...!?

Just when I thought 2016 had made me immune to surprise at the inexplicable twists and turns in British politics, this headline appeared:

While the Evening Standard may not be the paper it once was, it's still impossible to see how editing any kind of newspaper can be fitted around a supposedly full time job as an MP, with a constituency office 160 miles to the North. There are also some glaring conflicts of interest.

It's hard to work out who should be most offended by the connotations of this appointment: Osborne's Cheshire constituents; proper journalists or fellow politicians. The answer is probably all three.

But at least the news gave us this Twitter exchange.

In 2014 the Standard named Osborne at the top of its 'Power List' of influential Londoners. Now Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev has the Conservative MP on his payroll.

Under Lebedev's ownership the Standard has increasingly appeared to curry favour with senior Conservatives. In 2013 the paper's former art critic and political columnist Brian Sewell pointed out the paper was in danger of becoming "Boris's newspaper", such was the regularity and flattering nature of its pro-Boris puff pieces.

Sewell, who died in 2015, said the paper was "largely run by young and inexperienced people" and said it had lost its "authority" and "clout".

Osborne's appointment will do little to up the experience at the paper. His editorial experience to date stretches to a brief stint freelancing for the Telegraph and two unsuccessful job applications to the Economist and The Times.

See also:
Boris Johnson's holiday with Evgeny Lebedev was "purely personal" [snipelondon.com]
Osborne's new job confirms disturbing Tory dominance of the media [Guardian]

The Express criticises "weather panic"... no really

The Daily Express has a proud tradition of getting the weather wrong. The paper's commitment to trying to scare its elderly readership with apocalyptic weather predictions is matched only by its ability to get those predictions consistently wrong.

No wonder they were so upset on Wednesday when somebody pointed out the BBC had apparently been "over-egging a weather report" and spreading ridiculous "weather panic". The Express was outraged: doesn't the BBC know that's their job?

The Express reported: 

"One BBC Breakfast viewer accused the show of overly focusing on the fact London and the South East may be hit by weather conditions which the rest of Britain regularly experiences."

That's right. The Express's criticism was sparked by one viewer pointing out the BBC's weather warning may have been a touch disproportionate.

Just for good measure, the picture the Express used to illustrate how "London-centric" the BBC weather is featured Kate Kinsella from BBC London. Now, if BBC London's weather is a bit London-centric, there is probably a clue as to why in its name. 

For more on the Express's track record on weather reports, see:
Haven't ice seen you somewhere before?
The worst prediction for 100 years?
The facts and figures behind Express weatherclaims
Met Office puts the boot in to the Express
Weather forecasting: Express style

Time for some 'Brexmas' Brexitwashing

Christmas is always a busy time for retailers and this year will be absolutely no different. As such, Brexit fanzine the Sunday Express may be over-reaching a little with its front page urging readers to consider this Christmas a triumph for Brexit.

Yes, lots of money is being spent, but putting aside the fact sales were always going to be sky high at Christmas time, it's also worth remembering many things now cost more thanks to Brexit, including things people buy more of at Christmas, from groceries to toys to high-tech gifts (see: Brexit and price hikes push up the cost of Christmas for Britons). 

And yes, there may be more people visiting shops, particularly in London, but that is in part due to the attractiveness of the UK and the devalued pound which has taken a beating post-Brexit. The UK's economic decline has made it a designer outlet store for foreigners (see: Tourist spending in UK surges after pound's Brexit slump). 

Express 'Brexitwashing' continues

Many papers seemed able to agree today on a story about rising beer prices. Here's a selection:

"The price of a pint of beer could be cranked up by a staggering 30p next year because of Brexit, leading pub operators have warned."
The Sun

"Pub companies in Britain have warned the government that they will be forced to raise the price of a pint if they are not protected from a Brexit inflation in the new year."
The Daily Star

"First Marmite, then fish fingers – now Brexit is causing our beer to go up in price. The Brexit curse strikes again as pub firms warn that a pint could cost an extra 30p..."
Metro

"Pub companies have warned the government that the price of a pint could rise by up to 30p if they are not protected from a "triple whammy" of pressures in the new year. A "perfect storm" of Brexit- related inflation, soaring business rates and the introduction of the national living wage will add an estimated 4% to overheads."
The Times

But not all papers…

"Some of Britain’s largest pub firms have told the government they could be forced to up pint prices due to rising inflation, soaring business rates and the introduction of the living wage."
The Daily Express

In fact, the blindly pro-Brexit Express managed to report the story without even mentioning the role of Brexit as mentioned in all other reports.

For more of this, see:
Brexitwashing update
The 'Brexitwashing' continues

'Brexitwashing' latest

In further proof that no spin is too ridiculous in the 'post-fact' world of Brexit Britain, last Friday the Daily Express claimed the slowing of the economy was actually proof it is "booming". Who knew. UK economic growth dropped from 0.7% to 0.5% in the three months following the EU referendum, sparking the following Daily Express front page:

Then on Monday the Daily Express further claimed that:

Its source for this unlikely good news?

"A series of reports from Leave campaigners."

Sounds credible.

Chancellor accused of doing his job

Even by the standards of 'post-fact' politics and the Brexit inspired distrust of experts, the criticism of Chancellor Philip Hammond in Monday's Telegraph is remarkable:

"Philip Hammond is facing accusations of attempting to "undermine Brexit"...The Chancellor has been criticised by Cabinet colleagues for “arguing like an accountant seeing the risk of everything” rather than pressing ahead with plans for Brexit."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, behaving "like an accountant", whatever next. How dare he get distracted by things like trying to understand the financial implications of Brexit, rather than just rushing headlong into it, the bloody bean counter.

Nostalgic nonsense ahoy! Telegraph wants to 'Bring Back Britannia'

For want of something more sensible to do, The Telegraph is campaigning for the return of the royal yacht Britannia, which was taken out of service in 1997.

"Bring back Britannia to rule the waves after Brexit"

This folly seems based on the same broken logic as The Sun’s campaign to bring back the blue passport - that dewy-eyed nostalgia for 1950s Britain can somehow make everything OK (or at least distract readers from the harsh realities of modern life).

Presumably we should expect campaigns in the coming weeks to bring back national service, corporal punishment and polio.

If we needed any immediate assurance that this is a bad idea, the Telegraph reports Boris Johnson thinks it’s a good idea.

"Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, is understood to be considering a detailed proposal to return the yacht to the seas. Sources said he sees it as "a great symbol of global Britain"."

That’s Boris Johnson who also thought the garden bridge in London was a good idea and who spent millions on the disastrous resurrection of London’s Routemaster buses and backed a little-used cable car in Docklands. The man shouldn’t be trusted with a lunch budget, much less millions to squander on any more whimsical white elephants.

In an effort to insult the intelligence of the few remaining countries we've not yet offended this year, the Telegraph claims Britannia will make Britain a more powerful force in international trade, as hapless foreign types will be powerless to resist the smooth talking 'men from the ministry' arriving in the New World on a shiny boat. In the Telegraph’s nostalgic view of the world, Kings and Queens of exotic lands will no doubt lavish rare furs, precious jewels and plundered antiquities upon our trade delegates as they sip gin and play quoits on the deck after weeks at sea.

"You want to do a deal? Great! We'll be there in six weeks."
(pic credit: Wikimedia)

There’s no evidence amid all this anachronistic arrogance to suggest a costly and inefficient yacht will make any difference - or ever did. The Telegraph claims it is "estimated" that back in the 1990s (when the UK was still a prominent member of the EU of course) the "yacht helped secure £3billion of trade deals" from "world leaders and business figures".

"Helped secure" and "estimated" are hardly the strongest foundation for any argument. There is certainly no reason to believe these deals couldn’t have been done elsewhere. Meanwhile there is certainly every reason to believe fewer deals would be done by yacht now. The world has moved on. In an age defined by technology and high-speed connectivity, with private jets and the rapidly changing diary commitments of busy people, business moves quickly. Yachts however move slowly.

As such, the only purpose this campaign really serves is to provide us with yet another metaphor for Brexit, because while the rest of the world moves forwards at speed there are those in Britain intent on seeking out the next backwards step to inflict upon our regressing country.

Mirror deletes creepy, sexist up-skirt MP story

The Daily Mirror has deleted a tweet and a story that drew criticism late Thursday. The tweet suggested an MP crossing her legs while in shot of TV cameras in Parliament had actually been treating viewers to a "Basic Instinct" moment. The Mirror, which described the leg crossing (most likely for reasons of comfort) as "sultry", even ran pictures and a video. 

People crossing and uncrossing their legs is often done to improve circulation. The Mirror perhaps took its decision to run such sexist clickbait for the same reason. However, Twitter users were quick to criticise the Mirror's voyeurism, pointing out it was creepy, sexist and offensive. 

The tweet and article have since been deleted, though it seems remarkable it took the public to point out how inappropriate the comments were. 

Never mind the turmoil, where's our blue passport?

Some newspapers who backed Brexit are still desperately trying to convince readers it's been a success. But the pro-Brexit Sun has gone a different route, attempting to distract readers from reality with the inconsequential tokenism of a campaign to "bring back the blue passport".

Because that’s what our ailing economy needs, a new passport cover. Granted, a lot of people won’t be able to afford foreign holidays but at least it will be a blue passport gathering dust on the shelf, not that filthy maroon muck the EU forced on us back in the 80s.

Of course there's no shortage of people willing to throw their weight behind a campaign such as this. These sorts of things inevitably prove a honeypot for publicity-starved public figures desperate to see their name in print - even if it means backing a patently ridiculous campaign.

Step forward Tory MP Andrew Bridgen who told The Sun: "A country’s passport is a symbol of its sovereignty. As we get our sovereignty back, I’m looking forward to getting my British passport back too."

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: "Bringing back the blue passport would symbolise that we are once again British subjects." 

But the award for toadying obeisance to this distracting nonsense goes to another Tory MP, Andrew Rosindell, who hunted around in the darkest corner of his mind, perhaps where his self-respect used to be, and offered up this effort: "Having the pink European passports has been a humiliation."

And he didn’t stop there, even though he really should have done.

Rosindell doubled down with an even more ludicrous statement: "When I was first a parliamentary candidate, I was asked if I could bring in any bill what would it be — and I wanted to bring back the blue British passport."

Really. If he could change one thing about the UK, it would be the colour of his passport.

So there you have it, next time you’re having a bad day, remind yourself, it could be worse, you could be Andrew Rosindell, or one of his constituents.

See also:
Brexitwashing update
The 'Brexitwashing' continues
Express clutches at straws with post-Brexit ‘house price boom’

 

 

Brexitwashing update

The Financial Times' detailed write-up of the Bank of England's interest rate cut makes for sobering reading. The paper focused on the bleak warnings issued by the Bank's head, Mark Carney:

And just so we're absolutely clear what the Bank of England's Mark Carney was warning.

Other papers reported Carney's clear warning. But not all papers. Here's how the Express reported the news, under the headline "Britain will succeed after EU exit".

For more of this, see:
The 'Brexitwashing' continues
Express clutches at straws with post-Brexit ‘house price boom’

The 'Brexitwashing' continues

Those newspapers who tried hard to convince their readers to vote for Brexit are now trying even harder to paint the outcome of the referendum in as positive a light as possible. And nobody is trying harder than the Daily Express. Here’s a rundown of five of its recent ‘Brexitwashing’ articles.

1. Britain BOOMS after EU vote: Ignore the doom-mongers...it’s good news all round
Daily Express, 22 July 2016
Included in the Express's evidence of a "boom" was May's 2.3 per cent rise in wages, compared to May 2015. The only problem with using those figures is that the entire period was pre-referendum. Undeterred, the paper also cited rising employment through March, April and May of this year... again all of which were recorded a month before the referendum took place.

2. Britain's Brexit BOOM: UK GDP beats expectations and jumps 0.6% in second quarter of 2016
Daily Express, 27 July 2016
On Wednesday I predicted, over on Twitter, that the Express would try to pass off pre-Brexit economic growth figures as further proof Brexit is good for us. Sure enough the Express, Daily Mail and The Sun all duly obliged. But the 0.6 per cent growth mentioned was recorded over the course of April, May and June of this year. The Brexit result was announced on 24 June.

3. Britain's Brexit trade BOOM: USA to import UK beef for first time in 20 years
Daily Express, 27 July 2016
This story has nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with the US lifting a 20 year ban on importing British beef that had been in place since the ‘mad cow disease’ crisis in the nineties. Obviously that didn’t stop the Express claiming this as a victory for Brexit.

4. BREXIT BOOM: UK business deals up by 800 PER CENT in month following EU Referendum
Daily Express, 25 July 2016
The Express tried to pass off this story as proof that "British companies have raked in tens of billions in new deals, with an eight-fold increase in the space of one month". However, 93 per cent of the deal value stated related to just one deal – the acquisition of ARM by Japan’s SoftBank, which actually sparked fears that the declining value of sterling had made UK companies sitting ducks for overseas investors looking for bargains. As the Express even notes: "A weaker pound, in the wake of Brexit, will see more takeovers of British companies by foreign investors in the coming weeks, according to analysts." It should also be noted the ARM deal's dramatic skewing of the figures - it accounted for £24.4bn of £26.3bn in deals - means no other company could have "raked in tens of billions", as claimed in the Express's opening line.

And last, but by no means least...

5. "98% say NO to EU deal: Forget talks with Brussels and quit NOW, urges new poll"
Daily Express, 25 July 2016
While the headline suggests almost the entire UK is now wholeheartedly behind Brexit, it should be pointed out the poll is based on a self-selecting group of Express readers. As credible polls go, they could have asked 500 dogs about their favourite cheese and we'd still be no closer or further away from a coherent, reasoned view on when, why or how the UK should extract itself from the EU.

For more of this, see:
Is the Express clutching at straws with its post-Brexit house market boom?