How our MSM work ….

Scanning this morning’s papers, I am seriously concerned – not just for the mental wellbeing of the Westminster MSM’s ‘political correspondents’ but also for the general political wellbeing of our nation. Remember how the combined MSM went into overdrive when a few uninvited journalists were shown the door of No10 as they wanted to crash a special, technical briefing – and the whole lot of the ‘big names’, from the BBC down, left ‘in solidarity’? Remember how editors wrote about Freedom of the Press, quoting Thomas Jefferson? 

What these journalists and editors always forget to mention is that a Free Press is needed because the sovereign, the people, must be informed. However, looking at today’s papers our right to know has become the right of the MSM to keep us uninformed. Instead of reporting on issues, they report what is gossip plain and simple. In addition, this gossip-reporting is driven by the agenda of those who edit and write for the MSM, most of whom, being Westminster Village dwellers, are Remainers. 

It suits their agenda to follow Johnson’s dictum not to use the expression “Brexit” any longer because that frees them from having to report about what goes on in Brussels, which will still affect us and the Trade Negotiations. There are two outlets only who keep us informed. One is a newspaper (The Express), the other is facts4eu, run on private donations. 

I respectfully suggest that reports such as these:

“A Top Brussels boss was last night accused of splurging taxpayers’ cash on spreading propaganda amid an escalating row over the European Union’s €1trillion war chest.” (link)

And:

“Britain paid a staggering half a million pounds on travelling to Brussels for Theresa May’s failed Brexit negotiations, it has emerged.” (link)

might conceivably be of more interest to us than Downing Street gossip. And what about the report on how the EU ‘folded’ in their trade negotiations with the South American trade organisation Mercosur (link) or this one about ‘Galileo’, which we paid for but aren’t ‘allowed’ to access (link)? One would have thought that this might be of interest even to Remainers! 

Then there’s the report on the EU Parliament’s session, where MEPs voted on those draft guidelines for M Barnier’s talks. You’ll find this in facts4eu but it should have been at least worthy of a brief report in the Remain MSM along the lines: we’re a poor lonely country without Brussels and it’s all going to be far too difficult for us to stand up to the EU.

Please follow the link and read the bullet-point summary! It is, you will agree, of interest to our nation and our negotiators and it is something we all should know about, not just us Brexit nerds!

Instead we get to read about the fears of a journalist that Cummings is becoming too powerful (link), or that – shock-horror! – the new Chancellor Rishi Sumak might ‘splurge’ billions on infrastructure projects (link). Goodness me! It seems constant wailing about “Toreee cuts” is fine when it’s about keeping people in their welfare hammocks, but spending our money on creating work: that’s just too awful!

The ‘political correspondents’ are treating Westminster and No10 as if it were akin to Hollywood, reporting that – gasp! – the PM’s girlfriend has been seen in public ‘for the first time in two months’ and that she had ‘grown fond’ of Mr Javid (link).

That is important, don’t you know, especially as the ‘paper of record’, formerly known as ‘The Thunderer’, has again dedicated space to their object of hate, Dominic Cummings. This latest piece  is delicious though, illustrating the priorities of our esteemed paper-of-record. File this under ‘it wasn’t us, guv’:

“Sajid Javid’s friends have blamed No 10 for hostile leaks from internal budget discussions before his resignation. Proposed cuts to pension tax relief for higher earners and a new property tax on the most expensive homes were briefed to the media days after they were outlined by Mr Javid’s team to Boris Johnson. Allies of the prime minister cited the stories as evidence of why Mr Javid’s “naive” and “over-promoted” advisers had to be sacked as the price of him keeping his job.” (link, paywalled)

This next one demonstrates even better how, in their Remain blindness, quotes from ‘allies’ are deemed to be of national importance:

“Mr Javid’s allies also suspect that No 10 was behind an incendiary claim that Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s partner, was battling Dominic Cummings, his senior adviser, over the reshuffle. A Daily Mail article cited “Treasury sources” but the former chancellor and his team insist they had nothing to do with it and suspect it was part of a “dark arts” operation to undermine them.” (link, paywalled)

Did nobody tell those ‘allies’ about the ‘First Law of Holes’? Are the squabbles of subalterns, of courtiers, more important than actual events in Brussels? And then there’s this – you really couldn’t make it up:

“Dominic Cummings was confronted over his “unkindness” at last night’s weekly meeting of ministerial aides. Boris Johnson’s senior adviser had appalled some at last week’s gathering, held before the reshuffle, by remarking at the end: “I’ll see some of you next week.” It is claimed that he “picked on” aides to Theresa Villiers and Andrea Leadsom, who were both sacked on Thursday, during that meeting by asking them “really detailed questions he knew they wouldn’t be able to answer”.” (link, paywalled)

Oh dear! How terrifying for those poor aides who apparently were not in command of their brief. These are the people who are allegedly helping to shape our nation’s policies, but they behave like schoolchildren who haven’t done their homework! There’s more:

“He was challenged last night by Lynn Davidson, a former Sun journalist who is media adviser to Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, according to one witness who said that she took Mr Cummings to task for his behaviour. It is understood that she told Mr Cummings he had been “out of order” and that he had to show more consideration to people, many fairly young, who were “doing their best in incredibly difficult circumstances”. Mr Cummings is said to have issued a partial apology for his remark which, he said, others had told him was ill-judged.” (link, paywalled)

What brilliant command of the English language …! And of course: apologise! Don’t be hard on poor snowflakes who are ‘fairly young, after all! After the event, tell ‘friends’ who can then go to RemainCentral, being ‘concerned’ about that dreadful Cummings.

But don’t worry – ‘EUrosceptics’ have also got something to moan about which of course delights RemainCentral. It’s the fact that Johnson won’t be visiting President Trump this month as planned, and this is what concerns the likes of Steve Baker:

“Mr Johnson has said repeatedly that he wants to hold negotiations with the EU in parallel with America. Ministers believe that such an approach would give the UK “leverage”. There is mounting fear, however, that the deals will be negotiated by two separate teams. David Frost, who is leading the trade talks with Brussels, is understood to have made clear that he does not want any involvement with the US negotiations.” (link, paywalled)

Why should one man alone bear the burden of talks here and in the USA? He’s only human, isn’t he! Apparently, it’s unheard of that two or three negotiators might exchange briefing notes. Since  the MSM report as if we’re still living in medieval times where only courtiers are important and we peasants just have to stand and gape and take it all in, I wonder if these reporters still live in the times where letters were written on parchment and delivered by pigeon post …! 

And I do wonder how come that trade negotiations with other, non-EU countries, went ahead under the aegis of e.g. Ms Liz Truss without complaints that these are different teams? Steve Baker is ‘concerned’:

“The apparent lack of co-ordination has alarmed Eurosceptics, who fear that the government will “prioritise” talks with Brussels. Steve Baker, chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPs, said: “We need to be negotiating with the US now. I’m concerned that our negotiating mandate isn’t already out there. Time is running out with our best ally as we head to a presidential election. There’s a danger of failing to co-ordinate and excessively prioritising the trade deal with the EU. I am concerned to understand why the prime minister is not there [in the US] already.” (link, paywalled)

Conceivably a reason might be that the PM thought the cabinet reshuffle was of more importance. The result seems to show that he was correct. Getting rid of Remainers in high office must surely carry weight, even for the ERG?

Perhaps Mr Baker et al might also focus their razor-sharp minds on the question of the Commonwealth and the replacement of that Secretary-General who is accused of favouritism and who reportedly is now campaigning amongst African nations to keep her job because such accusations are ‘racist’, coming from the likes of Australia and New Zealand (link, paywalled).

Isn’t the Commonwealth supposed to be one of our best assets during our non-EU trade negotiations? Isn’t it an issue then that the Secretary-General is under a huge cloud, that she should not be allowed to keep her post? Strange, isn’t it, that this is of no apparent concern for the ERG. 

At the end of this week it’s fair to say that our MSM have sunk to the level of gossip-promoters, one-sided gossip at that. Forget the EU, forget the fact that Barnier is again lurking on the horizon, and forget the fact that this reshuffle was about more than sparing the ‘hurty feelz’ of those who loved their apparent position of power, of their ‘importance’, of being on speed-dial of the Remain journalists. Let’s hear it from ‘friends’ of ‘allies’? No – demand that journalists do their job properly and report ‘what is’. Gossip isn’t ‘it’!

KBO!