Operation #NotWBoycott – target the top ten advertisers – updated
12:50pm update – 5 of the top 11 have pulled out!
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The stench around the News of the World isn’t going away – in fact its only getting worse today.
Yesterday, thousands of people did amazing work by emailing companies and registering their disgust. You forced 17 companies to publicly distance themselves from the NotW. As momentum gathers pace – we need a targeted campaign on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and email focusing on the top spenders.
So here is the information:
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People are turning a blind eye to the coming crush
Just as planned by the government, my family now face a pretty dire financial situation, and I haven’t even lost my ESA (Employment Support Allowance or sickness benefit) yet.
As I’ve warned many times, sick or disabled people are already much more likely to live in poverty, so there was precious little room to accommodate the squeeze that Osborne is convinced we need.
So despite nights spent tossing and turning, evenings with notebook and laptop and spreadsheets, I just can’t see any way out. We’ve spent years juggling and ducking and diving, we’ve already sold our house and any other assets we had. I can only see two choices left:
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Murdoch: the Downfall parody, with a twist
It’s the obligatory Downfall parody, but with different scenes, and actually quite funny
via @journodave, created by @davesusetty
The right to IVF treatment is not a ‘luxury’ for some
contribution by NorthBriton45
On Monday night my wife returned from a pleasant evening out with her parents only to be ‘stabbed’ in the thigh by me. It was a normal evening. There was nothing personal about it, indeed, she asked me to do it. I’ve done it all week with a needle kept in the fridge. It’s a vital part of IVF treatment which we’re currently undergoing fortunately with the NHS.
But this week Cristina Odone was exercised at reports that a single woman might have had the cheek to access IVF treatment on the NHS despite living on benefits.
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Report: NHS birthday march yesterday
contribution by Sean Gittins
On July 5th 2011 the National Health Service turned 63. With Andrew Lansley’s recent attempts to privatise our health service battered but nowhere near being defeated, the birthday was an opportunity to show support for the NHS as it was originally intended to be – a provider of free health care for all.
A composite of groups including UK Uncut, NHS Direct Action, Unite, health workers and individual supporters of the NHS (and, of course, a healthy dose of police) were just some of the many who gathered on Savoy Street to march to Westminster to demonstrate their belief in the guiding principles that were the core of Nye Bevan’s original NHS creation.
It seemed there were over a 1000 people in the march once it started to get going. It was bright and loud. People sported fancy dress costumes, banners, flags and the colours of their respective organisations as drums and chants heightened the volume and atmosphere.
Once moving, we began to make our way down the Strand towards Trafalgar and into Westminster.
Halfway down Whitehall some of the march broke away to protest outside 79 Whitehall, or the Department of Health as it is also known. Repeated calls for Andrew Lansley to appear unforunately led to no cameo appearance from the Minister for Health.
The march concluded just beyond Parliament Square opposite the Houses of Parliament. Crowds gathered around to listen to a range of speakers including General Secretary of Unite Len McClusky, Jackie Davis, Dr Ron Stringer, medical student Rita Issa and UK Uncut activist Joe Beardsmore.
As the last speech game to its conclusion the rain began to pour down. But there was still time for the most classic of birthday traditions as everyone joined in and sang Happy Birthday to the NHS.
As Rita Issa noted in the last speech of the day, the creation of the NHS was seen by many of its opponents as a social reform necessary to stem a political revolution. Perhaps now that the Coalition proposes to take away our social reform it is time to call for that political revolution again?
The campaign for an advertiser boycott of NotW: how you can help
Updated at 5:15pm – Expanded list of 17 companies below. We’re now focusing on top ten advertisers
On Monday afternoon we heard the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler’s phone. Yesterday, Channel 4 revealed the tabloid had spied on a senior police officer as he was investigating suspects with links to the NotW.
Today, its reported the police believe that bereaved relatives of 7/7 had their phones hacked. The police are also investigating claims that parents of the Soham girls also had their phone hacked.
Enough is enough. Boycotting the paper itself is unlikely to have much impact as most of you probably don’t buy it anyway. Instead we have to target advertisers. This is where we need your help.
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‘Relatives of 7/7 victims had phones hacked’
Detectives from Scotland Yard’s team investigating the phone hacking scandal are in the process of contacting a “handful” of the 52 bereaved families whose names or phone numbers have appeared as part of their inquiry, sources told the Daily Telegraph.
It is thought that journalists were seeking to access voice messages left on family members’ phones as they desperately waited for information about their loved ones in the aftermath of the bombings in 2005.
It is unclear if they were aware at that stage that their relatives had died in the bombings.
The news will come as a deep shock to the relatives affected, coming as it does on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the bombings.
Last night Clifford Tibber, solicitor for a number of the families, said he was unaware of the development but added: “This will cause heartache for all the families involved. The anniversary is such an emotional moment for everybody who was caught up in the bombings and many of them still struggle at this time of year.”
Should lefties like Tescos?
Middle class lefties should pipe down when it comes to supermarkets. Decent, affordable food is an old socialist goal to be applauded, not opposed.
Thus starts New Labour pressure group Progress’ article on the joys of Tesco. And it continues in the same Guardian-baiting vein: Tiffany Rose designer wear… Sabatier carving knives… vegetarian restaurants… Hampstead liberals… chi-chi delicatessens… organic butchers… and so on and so forth, reminding us all that only the Hoorayest of Henries would harbour suspicions of Tesco’s benevolent schemes for the enrichment of humanity.
As I’ve noted before, arguments that come this heavily-larded with pre-emptive insults are usually attempting to smuggle some form of horseshit or other past the reader.
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Hugh Grant battles with NotW in interviews
Today, BBC 5 Live and Radio 4 both featured the actor Hugh Grant talking about the NotW phone-hacking scandal.
Grant had his own phone hacked of course, and got his own back partly by secretly recording a former NotW journalist and getting his confession on tape.
On Radio 4, Grant said: “Brooks & Coulson are either the worst editors in history of the world or they’re liars.”
Listen (3 min)
On 5 Live, Hugh Grant discussed with the former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan, who he secretly recorded talking about phone hacking earlier.
Interview from here
Listen (19min)
Yes, we do need a ‘new patriotism’
Last week Labour MP Jon Cruddas and academic Jonathan Rutherford wrote an article for the Guardian titled ‘Labour must fashion a new patriotism‘. They said:
We are an immigrant nation. There is no going back and we must find ways of living together and creating a new vision of England. We demand that migrants must be like us. But who actually are we? They must share our British values. But what are they? Newcomers must answer correctly the citizens test. But could we?
I think this is spot on.
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