The Johann Hari controversy: a gift that keeps giving
Oh, praise the Lord – this Johann Hari thing is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it? Sentencing the little arse to a year’s hard journalism studies is Just. The. Perfect. Outcome for this whole hilarious escapade – it ends nothing and ensures an ongoing mutual fragfest between some of the nation’s most tiresome hacks.
I can almost hear that little vein on Toby Young’s temple throbbing.
I mean, where to start? The precious spectacle of British journalism up in arms over some grievous affront to its much-vaunted integrity, perhaps, a proposition akin to a career poledancer launching a crusade for public modesty? Oh, please, continue!
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Politicising art from the Middle East? It has already happened
When pro-Palestinian activists interrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Proms, critics of the action often repeated variations of the same line: ‘Don’t politicise art!’
Without unpacking this formulation’s assumptions, there is something missing here – the fact that the Israeli government itself is deliberately ‘politicising art’ in order to distract from the occupation.
In May this year, leading Israeli chef Michael Katz told Australian media:
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Signs of our increasingly illiberal culture
One of the most unpleasant aspects of the last Labour government was the illiberalism that saw it create over 4000 new criminal offences.
However, it’s becoming clear that, in this regard, Labour was merely reflecting a censoriousness culture.
Take these examples:
- two men were jailed for four years for (unsuccessfully) using Facebook to try to incite a riot.
- The London Philharmonic Orchestra has suspended some musicians for writing a letter
- a man has been imprisoned for trolling.
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Former LabourList editor Derek Draper is back
Derek Draper is planning a return to the political scene, launching his own political book publishing company just before the Labour Party conference.
The former editor of Labour List, forced to resign after the Damian McBride email scandal, has already sent his first book to the printers.
Derek Draper has a long history with the Labour Party, having worked as a researcher for Peter Mandelson and set up the New Labour group Progress. In 1998 he was caught on tape boasting to the undercover journalist Greg Palast that he could arrange access to government ministers.
After resigning as editor of Labour List in 2009, then taken over by Alex Smith and later Mark Ferguson, Draper retrained as a psychotherapist.
However, sources say Draper will keep a low profile this time around and avoid interviews.
His publishing venture – called Ruskin Books – will publish its first book later this month. It will be authored by the freelance journalist Rowenna Davis.
The book will look at whether ‘Blue Labour’ has anything to offer the party. Davis published a blog post recently saying:
The aim is to tell the story of the idea. How Blue Labour came about, where it’s going and what it could mean for the Labour party and the country. The book will not aim to advocate or denigrate Blue Labour ideas, but to explain them.
Sources told Liberal Conspiracy that the Guardian newspaper had bought serialisation rights. A foreword to the book is written the Independent’s Steve Richards.
Slavery in the UK: what we know so far
contribution by Louise Woodruff
The issue of slavery in the UK has made the headlines over the last few days and has thrown the UK’s ‘dirty secret‘ into the spotlight.
But what do we know about this hidden phenomenon and what can we do about it?
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Indy issues strict guidelines to hacks after Hari controversy
Journalists at The Independent newspaper have been handed a thick booklet of new guidelines in wake of the controversy surrounding its columnist Johann Hari.
Liberal Conspiracy has learnt the guidelines are so strict that some journalists at the paper are concerned it will restrict their work.
The newspaper today publishes a personal apology by Johann Hari, admitting he was “wrong” and “stupid” for misrepresenting interviews and editing Wikipedia entries.
Liberal Conspiracy has learnt the new guidelines were distributed to all journalists a week before the decision over Hari’s fate was announced yesterday.
The guidelines state journalists have to get permission from an editor even if they want to do something as simple as “blagging” over the phone.
A source lamented to Liberal Conspiracy: “What if I need to get some information over the phone by pretending to be someone else, in the public interest?”
“Do I have to call my editor every time? It’s a bit ridiculous isn’t it?” added the source. “But I suppose it was inevitable after what happened [with Johann Hari].”
What do women want from this government?
contribution by Scarlet Harris
The leaked government documents this week exposed the coalition’s fear that they are losing the support of women voters. They’re right to be concerned.
Gavin Kelly’s excellent analysis in the New Statesman shows that government policy is indeed alienating women voters, particularly working class women.
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Greens call to scrap immigration targets
The Green Party autumn conference declared its absolute opposition to the Coalition’s immigration policy this weekend. It called for the immigration cap to be scrapped and for a “real review” of this country’s border controls that “take[s] into account the full benefits of immigration”.
The Party opposes the cap on the basis that it is socially divisive. It rejects the argument, put forward by many supporting the cap, that immigration harms the economy, saying rather that it has many positive effects.
The Green Party is for liberalising our current immigration controls to help ensure that individuals are not left vulnerable to exploitation and ill-treatment by virtue of their immigration status.
I said to Camden journalist and blogger Richard Osley:
diversity is something to be celebrated rather than be constantly treated as a problem. The current muddle headed Coalition policy does not even have the backing of employers and will certainly be used to restrict the rights of those who did not happen to be born in this country. To those who argue that migrants can be used to undercut wages and divide and rule I say that the answer to exploitation is not to regulate the exploited but to regulate the exploiters.
Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, said
The immigration cap is a dishonest policy which sees migrants treated as the cause of problems they have had no part in. There are serious issues around housing, casualisation at work , and the need for improved public services but we cannot address these by blaming immigration.
The Coalition have not defined the problem that they are using such a blunt tool to solve and that’s why the Green Party is calling for a real review that takes into account the full benefits of immigration rather than simply treating migrants as a problem to be managed.”
The motion reads;
“The Green Party reaffirms its commitment to a liberal immigration policy. Everyone is equal no matter what the colour of their passport.
The Coalition’s policy of introducing an immigration cap restricts people’s rights based purely on their nationality, harms the economy and is not conducive to a free and happy society.
The Green Party is in favour of a real review of border controls that takes in the full benefits of immigration and stops treating those who are not native to the UK as a problem.”
Arms fair advertises banned torture products
Amnesty International has obtained brochures from the Defense and Security International fair (DSEi) currently taking place in London’s Docklands, which appear to clearly show illegal torture equipment advertised.
Despite explicit acknowledgments on the DSEi website that the sale of “leg irons, gang chains, shackles and shackle bracelets” are prohibited, the brochures Amnesty has obtained, advertise the products for sale from a company called CTS-Thompson on display at the Beechwood Equipment stall.
A double-page spread in the brochure clearly offers oversized leg cuffs, waist chains, lead chains and “the enhanced transport restraint system”, which combines waist chains and cuffs with leg cuffs.
Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International’s Arms Programme Director, said:
Sadly this is not the first time that DSEi has allowed prohibited torture equipment to find its way onto exhibitors’ stands, despite a public commitment to monitor compliance, and scrutinize all advertising material.
The promotion of leg restraints, waist chains and metal leads has quite rightly been outlawed in the UK and we expect both the authorities and the fair organisers to take swift action against any company in breach of the law and ban them from participation immediately.
With companies openly flogging torture equipment on one side of the counter and delegates from countries like Bahrain on the other, it is hardly the sort of matchmaking that Londoners should be proud to host.
At DSEi in 2007, researchers discovered two companies, BCB International (Cardiff) and Famous Glory Holding (China) promoting banned leg restraints. The two companies were expelled from the exhibition by organisers Reed Elsevier.
To obtain a copy of the brochure, or for further comment or interview, contact Amnesty International.
From a press release
So what is the govt’s plan for economic growth now?
On the morning that the UK saw unemployment rise by 80,000 Nick Clegg has given a speech on growth. He started by claiming that the Government’s strategy was about more than tax cuts and de-regulation.
So it seems fair to question whether the speech did in fact indicate that his Government was prepared to take any further significant action.
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