An asbestos damages bill has gained significant support in Scotland. Members of Scottish Parliament have had a chance to look over the bill, which proposes compensation for Scots for any past exposure to asbestos. The bill is expected to pass.
The new …

Tim, not trying to wind you up here but can you honestly say that you can’t see how some people might perceive your attitude towards Iain as at least slightly obsessive?

Anyway, never mind, despite not letting your comment through Dale was unable to stop you taking centre stage in his feed widget, so for several hours you did kind of have a comment up pointing to this story.

Funny you say you’re so apologetic Iain – you refused to publish my comment on your blog pointing to this story.

If you’re so apologetic and willing to admit your mistake, why not post a story on your blog saying so, or why not allow comments that point that out?

Unfortunately your mendaciousness is open for everyone to see.

http://frontlineclub.com/events/2009/05/dinner-briefing-will-the-internet-win-the-next-election.html

(*I suspect that you know this and do it quite deliberately. Goodbye.)

Priceless.

Get lost, cjcjc; grown-ups are talking.

I have no idea whether Dale meant to “smear” Watson – though how you destroy the rep of one who has already destroyed it himself is a moot point – or not, i.e. I have no idea whether he knew what he wrote to be false.
Clearly Dale was not able to show that Watson was copied on those specific emails.
OK – I agree he should admit that on his site. It is rather cowardly not to do so.
However does anyone believe that Watson and McBride – who sat next to each other at the heart of the Brown machine – did not dicuss the kind of stuff which Red Rag might contain, inclduing the smears?

Still, I repeat, in helping bring down Blair and replacing him with Brown, Watson has helped destroy Labour for a generation, so I don’t want to be too hard on him.

libel + substantial damages = “He pushed me!”

Like it.

Three posts from Iain “If I find out that a story is wrong I will hold my hands up” Dale this morning, but not a word about this on his site.

And here he is now. Hello, Iain.

Iain, you did not publish an immediate apology, your story when you are supposed to have done so has already changed once, you were extraordinarily slack in following up, and just yesterday you *again* claimed without evidence that Tom Watson must have been involved in the ’smeargate’ email(s).

Regardless of political allegiance, a person with the degree of influence that Dale has should strive for a higher standard. Or are you saying that our expectations of decent civil conduct should be reduced when looking at any political figure of note, be they elected or not?

If it was wrong for McBride to smear (and I think we’re all agreed on that), and that the consequences of the email fiasco were fair, then is it not wrong too, for a high-profile player in the political media arena to commit libel without even apologising?

Iain is always harping on about his readership figures, yet whilst a daily newspaper pays the price for publishing a libellous smear, Iain just blithely goes on his merry way. We’re all critical of the declining standards in many areas of the old media, yet try and hold a new media player to account and all of a sudden we’re being partisan.

Ever thought it might have more to do with concern for the health and integrity of blogging rather than some tribal rant?

OK, so that’s a total of three trolls for Iain (counting Hendren’s tweet). Does anyone else have anything else to say in defence of Iain, what he did, how he did it, and how he continues to behave about it?

As I said, though, since he has helped Brown destroy Labour we all owe him a vote of thanks!

Of course Sunny’s magnum opus is tiny in comparison with Tim Ireland’s:

Why Iain Dale is a Scoundrel Who Won’t Honour my Boycott, now printing Vol. 10652.

Run along now…

Help me out here, LFAT, as you appear to be struggling and in need of rope.