Well done Ed Miliband for speaking out about the Daily Mail's article on his father

[claig]

The Daily Mail used a low tactic of accusing Ed miliband's father of hating Britain.

I think it was a nasty thing to do. Just because someone is a Marxist and may criticise some aspects of the country or its instiutions does not mean that they hate Britain.

It was written in 2010.

In 2011 he wrote a book raking muck about the private life of the er, um,

Miliband family.

He sold the rights to the book to a certain newspaper:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002624/War-Milibands-Full-extent-brothers-feud-exposed.html

'I could therefore write pieces for the Mail critical of Labour and the left, from “inside” Labour and the left (as the senior political editor at the New Statesman).'

That's charming.

You reckon?

Anyway, claig and others, saw this and thought of you:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/04/neil-kinnock-interview-ed-miliband

Like him or not, some very interesting comments from a been there, done that and got the tee shirt.

Will save that to read for tomorrow PatPig . Thanks.

"I believe you once told sports columnist Des Kelly that he should “make them laugh, make them cry, or make them angry”. That’s something I believe I could do for you, and for your readers, on the pages of the Mail."

I think he is a man of his word. He has certainly done that.

'You reckon?'

Petite, it's not just me. These are the words of Mehdi on the Mail

'I admire your relentless focus on the need for integrity and morality in public life'

Good night, PetiteRaleuse.

What more revelations will tomorrow bring?

Are they so politically naive that they fail to realise that one messes with the Mail at one's peril?

'Are they so politically naive that they fail to recognise that one messes with the Mail at one's peril,'

claig that is not a good thing.

Anyone know who leaked the letter?

To be honest it doesn't change much. He sucked up to Dacre in a letter to get a well paid job. The Mail is no doubt happily gloating about it today. I assume they leaked the letter. I don't think that reflects well on them. Doesn't particularly reflect well on him either, but really not on them.

Petite, you are right.

I think Mehdi may not recover from this. His credibility is shot. This line in particular is devastating.

'I could therefore write pieces for the Mail critical of Labour and the left, from “inside” Labour and the left (as the senior political editor at the New Statesman).'

There is such a thing as honour and loyalty and trust and some Labour people may have doubts about him now.

I am not too surprised, because I have long thought that he was not for real.

He is very clever and he talks a good game and can whip himself into a frenzy, but there was always something about his delivery that made me doubt his sincerity and believe that he was acting. He seened to lack the key ingredient the public looks for - conviction.

I looked at twitter about this yesterday and Mehdi is obviously trying to play it down and Louise Mensch is tweeting and she tweeted Campbell, and therefore I looked at Campbell's replies etc.

I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing on Campbell's twitter. It is like a macho schoolyard bully trying to shout down Dacre and challenge him to a fight and calling him a coward. It is pathetic and not very smart at all, and this comes from what we have been told was a good spin doctor.

He is challenging Dacre, he is challenging the Mail. Is he stupid? He is dealing with Dacre and the paper of the people. I said thy should have quit while they were ahead. They should listen to the much smarter spin doctor, McBride, but they seem to have shunned the man who worked for them for years. These are his wise words.

"He should take it out of the Mail and make it more of an issue of how we do our politics in Britain and elevate it to that level. The more it becomes a war the more it is corrosive because it is very difficult to restore those relationships."

Some of the commentators on Guido's site are saying that they think the BBC will try not to mention or cover this Mehdi letter in the hope that the public won't find out about it.

But the Mail has already put an article on it in its paper and it is all over twitter.

It is in fact possible that Mehdi Hassan would have been willing to work for the Mail three years ago, but not now. The tempo of vileness has certainly increased recently, eg the Le Pen support

I doubt they would report on it because it is irrelevant to the main issue. They aren't mentioning the situation at all today. Guardian doesn't seem to have mentioned it either, and they have been following this quite closely.

It's just the Mail throwing its toys out of the pram and bullying an ambitious individual. Storm in a teacup.

'Guardian doesn't seem to have mentioned it either'

This is only the beginning. As the Titans clash heads, the public will find out things about some of the players that we have never been told.

What will be the next revelation? The Mail must know lots about some of the players, but will they tell us the public?

Will the public demand an end to the attempts of the Establishment to regulate the public's free press?

Will the public back the Establishment or will it back the Mail?

There is no contest. We know the outcome already, all the public have to do now is grab the popcorn and watch the show and demand the right to know.

Actually I think this is the end of it. We'll move on to press pregulation this week as the Privy Council meets. I wouldn't brag about the power of the Mail claig it abuses its power on a regular basis. This is not a good thing.

Looking at the comments on their bragathon this morning the letter doesn't appear to have turned the tide too much.

He doesn't actually say anything that bad in the letter; he wanted to write socially conservative stuff for the Mail . Probably thinks he's going to make a better job of it than Melanie Phillips.

And apparently they do pay well for the industry; hence why most of the people who work there don't believe the crap they print.
Particularly when they know they've made it up. Integrity my arse

Petite, this is a vital battle for the public.

When the Mail campaigned against the Liverpool Care Pathway, the Establishment tried to shout them down and there was talk of reporting them to the Press Regulator for daring to question the Establishment orthodoxy while some elderly people were being placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway without even informing their relatives. The Mail didn't give up then and it won't give up now over press freedom, and the public will back the Mail over the Establishment when they begin to realise what is really at stake.

I think the Mail will refuse to sign up to the politicians' charter and as the election approaches, the battle for press freedom will heat up, and some of the Establishment may no longer be able to hold the Establishment line, and may break ranks and join the people, the Mail and the communes behind the barricades of freedom.

And when the battle is finally over, there will be rejoicing in the land and people will applaud the Mail's stand.

'Looking at the comments on their bragathon this morning the letter doesn't appear to have turned the tide too much.'

Yes, you are right there. That is surprising. But over the coming weeks I think it will begin to change as people realise what this battle is really all about.

They misreported the LCP though. They twisted and misrepresented facts to create hysteria. Again.

Hassan is an extreme conservative Islamist, who has been caught on camera at a private Muslim-only event condemning us "kuffar" as animals. I'm not massively surprised he wanted to write anti-abortion and anti-women articles for the Mail. I still enjoyed his QT rant, though I suspect it stuck in his throat to be on the side of the gays and Jews...

Quentin Letts is still digging a hole, saying 'well, yah, but at least we didn't go through Ed's bins'. If your best defence against slandering a dead man is that the tacky Daily Mirror stole Ivan Cameron's soiled nappies for a story in 2007, then you really are screwed. Just shows that all the downmarket press has been completely out of control for years.

Errol - thank you for that link. I referred to the petition earlier but didn't think to put an actual link to it. Just chekced it and there are over 76,000 signatures on it. How that compares to other polls on Change.org I don't know.

Whatever your (general your) opinion about Alistair Campbell..and I don't think he would deny being a bully...he did help Labour win 3 elections, one with an overhwhelming landslide. So like it or not he is, or was, an influential figure.

I didn't know much about Mehdi Hassan...interesting to read his background. Hmmm. Still haven't seen the QT clip, must watch it.

*checked .

Just finished reading that interview with Neil Kinnock Petite, thanks for the link. Bought back some memories of the 1992 election, which I was slightly too young to vote in.