Fuck you Guido. Personally I've never had time for the man's politics, but there is no way you can call him a hypocrite on the basis of that press release.
January 21, 2006 at 11:41 PM
Anonymous
said...
Woah James! Has Guido touched a nerve?
January 21, 2006 at 11:52 PM
Anonymous
said...
I can only assume that Oaten had privatised the bed and been charged by the hour....
January 22, 2006 at 12:00 AM
Anonymous
said...
Nice scoop and don't know / care about Oaten but I don't see that the press release is hypocritical either?
January 22, 2006 at 12:03 AM
Anonymous
said...
Wasn't Oaten in charge of the porn at 16 policy as well?
January 22, 2006 at 12:15 AM
Anonymous
said...
I may not have been witty enough to have my comments posted about the podcast but this proves it should now become an institution.
Hypocrisy?
"While the Government is right to highlight the abuse involved in on-street prostitution, this new strategy is a missed opportunity. It will do very little to reduce the number of prostitutes on the street, to improve the appalling conditions they work in, or to tackle health problems."
I guess you all think the rent boy hasn't been abused because he played hide the sausage with a person in power (a representative of the people, no less).
James, your picture says it all: you're a pussy man or a pussy, man.
All the press reports seem to be saying "A long term relationship with a rent-boy" -- perhaps Oaten was trying to save the rent-boy, Lloyd-George style.
And I think Porn@16 came from our friends in LDYS, before being recycled into the censorship policy paper. But I don't think you can point the finger at Oaten for that one.
January 22, 2006 at 1:07 AM
Anonymous
said...
Chiltern Hundreds for Oaten?
January 22, 2006 at 1:22 AM
Anonymous
said...
and the shitting in the (female?)nickers story...2/3 aint bad...
Well done, Guido. You've joined the big boys. Don't get too big though, you might have somebody rooting through your bins one day.
What the fuck has Oaten's private life got to do with you other than as means to feather your own ego?
January 22, 2006 at 9:01 AM
Anonymous
said...
When do we plebs get to hear this podcast?
January 22, 2006 at 1:09 PM
Anonymous
said...
Mark Oaten's career is wrecked for ever, his family life has been devastated and might not recover. Obviously, this is something to be smug about, isn't it? Has it crossed your mind for one moment what he's going through now, or for that matter what his wife's going through? Or, indeed, the pleasant experience his two young children will surely have when they go into school on Monday? No, I don't expect it has.
Just out of interest, Guido, how many skeletons have you got in your fucking closet? Perhaps you might enlighten us.
Mark Oaten's career is wrecked for ever, his family life has been devastated and might not recover
Perhaps he should of thought about that before he decided to have "a long-term affair" with a gigolo.
Oaten lies to his wife and children; does he also lie when representing us in parliament?
DK
January 22, 2006 at 1:26 PM
Anonymous
said...
Jawbox. Guido's big secret was that he had a certain fireworks display under Parliament - you could say that his career was wrecked forever as well...
January 22, 2006 at 2:04 PM
Anonymous
said...
DK - Oaten has certainly displayed appalling judgement, for which he deserves a good kicking. That doesn't make it less of a private tragedy (and like Kennedy's alcoholism it's a personal weakness - it likely had no bearing on his parliamentary conduct). I am simply saying that Guido's style of talking about it here is highly unpleasant and very crass, showing a complete lack of sensitivity for both Oaten and his family. He made a serious mistake. That's it.
Anonymous - "Guido's big secret was that he had a certain fireworks display under Parliament - you could say that his career was wrecked forever as well..."
Be in no doubt, cruel and inhuman treatment of the political class in the form of mockery is the raison d' etre of this blog.
Any readers guilty of seeking earnestess, even-handedness or fair-mindedness don't deserve to be allowed to read this blog.
Tittle tattle together with cruel and unusual treatment is what is on offer here.
Oaten was paying prostitutes whilst simultaneously advocating policies to reduce prostitution.
That amuses me, "unpleasant and very crass", probably, but why then are you here?
Hypocrites. Fuck off and read the Indy.
January 22, 2006 at 2:54 PM
Anonymous
said...
"Hypocrites. Fuck off and read the Indy."
I'm a Guardian reader, actually. I won't post any more comments here. It's obvious that your attitude to politicians is pretty much that of Kelvin McKenzie: They're entitled to no empathy or sympathy, they cannot have weaknesses and if they do, they deserve to be put through a meat processor. I personally take the approach that they are human, generally better than those they represent, and if anything should be cut a little slack from time to time.
You think I'm a hypocrite, I think you're a heartless tosser. Impasse.
Actually, a UK blogger (albeit an, ahem, American based in the UK), was the first UK blogger to claim a scalp - Scott Burgess of The Daily Ablution is the chap in question, and the scalps in question were those of Dilpazier Azlam and Albert Scardino, both late of The Grauniad. Turns out The Graun had a paid-up Jihadist writing for them, with the knowledge of a senior exec., tsk, tsk. Google for the names if you want the whole story.
January 22, 2006 at 5:13 PM
Anonymous
said...
I think you can't be cavalier with the intense suffering caused to Oaten's wife and little girls. Nobody exists in a vacuum, Guido. If you were going to broadcast this, how about a letter to Mrs. Oaten first? Did you in fact even consider what his little girls would feel? Does their pain not bother you?
You run a good blog but this is beneath you. And I'm a Telegraph-reading Tory, fwiw.
January 22, 2006 at 6:04 PM
Anonymous
said...
Pain and suffering is relative - compared to domestic abuse in the UK this is a drop in the ocean. This on the otherhand is an affair involving a public figure. When Mellor did it we laughed, when Archer did it we laughed - and I personally am laughing about Oaten now. This will blow over and he will start afresh.
January 22, 2006 at 6:19 PM
Anonymous
said...
This is fantastic, and you just know that if this had been a Labour or Tory frontbencher then we wouldn't have any of these comments.
Who would have thought this time last year that Lib Dem politics would become such a blood sport.
Andrew: Yeah, I remember that - knocking a trainee journalist off his perch, wasn't it? Me and my mates talked about nothing else for months.
January 22, 2006 at 6:43 PM
Anonymous
said...
6:19, anon, I'm guessing you're a bloke. To you this may be nothing. To me as a woman, it's the sort of thing that would have wife and children (as the earlier commenter said, facing the playground on Monday morning) on suicide watch.
I just think the exposure here and the 'sod the Oatens' attitude is demoralising and depressing. And fundamentally unkind. In omnis caritas, Guido, I just hope you're not Catholic, mate.
January 22, 2006 at 6:48 PM
Anonymous
said...
A good old fashioned politcal sex scandal - I glad it happened now as I was fed up with all the news coverage of that fucking whale in the Thames.
January 22, 2006 at 6:55 PM
Anonymous
said...
Justin: As far as I can remember Albert Scardino is a former Pulitzer Prize winner and husband of Marjorie Scardino (CEO of Pearson). So in part he was a scalp.
While accepting that this little scandal may disqualify him from leading the party, why reveal it after he's dropped his leadership bid? The blackmail's worked, surely? Wouldn't it be more useful to hang onto it to get more later?
And as for the whole him advocating certain prostitution policies thing, Lib Dem policy is not set by their shadow cabinet, but by the massed ranks of the party, so Oaten surely had very little to do with it.
And besides all that, he's a Lib Dem - he was never going to achieve high office, and most people have never heard of him. Might as well go after a County Councillor for all the power he has.
Yes, it's a story, but hardly one that's important enough to potentially ruin the lives of not just Oaten but also his entire family, surely? If he was in the Cabinet, fine, but he's a Lib Dem no mark - a tautology, but evidently one that needs stressing.
Nosemonkey, It was, indeed, important for a Lib-Dem to bite the dust. Any reversal for the LDs is a gain for the Tories. Cameron's strategy at the moment is to persuade Liberals to come over.
I'm curous... how does Mark Oaten being bisexual stop him from suing you for suggesting (twice) in the podcast that he is a paedophile?
January 23, 2006 at 11:45 AM
Anonymous
said...
Can I have the last word here?
What planet are some of these people whining about Oatens treatment on?
Example "I think you can't be cavalier with the intense suffering caused to Oaten's wife and little girls."
This is the best example of the liberal minds warped world view that pervades all our lives now that I've seen. This whole issue isn't Oatens fault for being a liar and a hypocrite no, no, no...it's Guido's and the NotW's fault for exposing it!
Remember kids you can't get caught out if you're doing no wrong - simple really!
January 23, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Anonymous
said...
No you can't Steve b, that comment was mine.
Mrs and the Misses Oaten did not know about this. If Guido knew, and if he were any kind of a decent human being (and yes, Guido, I am about to lay the smackdown on you) he would have written to Mrs. Oaten to inform her this was known and was about to come out so she could protect her children. Guido has blogged before that he has children. Would he like them to be bullied at school for something like this? Doesn't he, as a father (I am a mother) give a damn about the impact on the Oaten girls? Apparently not. Furthermore, if there are suggestions that the man is a paedophile then it is a moral imperative to make a report to the police in order to protect children, not to sit sniggering in Westminster about the wreck of a human life.
The Oaten girls are innocent. Not to care about the impact on them is beyond low and worse if you are yourself a parent.
January 23, 2006 at 1:11 PM
Anonymous
said...
No this is fun - no-one can have the last comment. Oaten screwed up end of story. From the morality viewpoint the abiding theme appears to be hysterically screaming: 'Think of the children!'. I can't stand that sort of lecturing - in all likelihood his wife would have found out sooner rather than later and the impact would have been the same on a personal level. By standing as a prospective leader of a party you will be scrutinised; if he didn't have the foresight to see that happening then that reflects badly upon him.
38 comments:
Fuck you Guido. Personally I've never had time for the man's politics, but there is no way you can call him a hypocrite on the basis of that press release.
Woah James! Has Guido touched a nerve?
I can only assume that Oaten had privatised the bed and been charged by the hour....
Nice scoop and don't know / care about Oaten but I don't see that the press release is hypocritical either?
Wasn't Oaten in charge of the porn at 16 policy as well?
I may not have been witty enough to have my comments posted about the podcast but this proves it should now become an institution.
Hypocrisy?
"While the Government is right to highlight the abuse involved in on-street prostitution, this new strategy is a missed opportunity. It will do very little to reduce the number of prostitutes on the street, to improve the appalling conditions they work in, or to tackle health problems."
I guess you all think the rent boy hasn't been abused because he played hide the sausage with a person in power (a representative of the people, no less).
James, your picture says it all: you're a pussy man or a pussy, man.
Tory MP in waiting?
All the press reports seem to be saying "A long term relationship with a rent-boy" -- perhaps Oaten was trying to save the rent-boy, Lloyd-George style.
And I think Porn@16 came from our friends in LDYS, before being recycled into the censorship policy paper. But I don't think you can point the finger at Oaten for that one.
Chiltern Hundreds for Oaten?
and the shitting in the (female?)nickers story...2/3 aint bad...
Well done, Guido. You've joined the big boys. Don't get too big though, you might have somebody rooting through your bins one day.
What the fuck has Oaten's private life got to do with you other than as means to feather your own ego?
When do we plebs get to hear this podcast?
Mark Oaten's career is wrecked for ever, his family life has been devastated and might not recover. Obviously, this is something to be smug about, isn't it? Has it crossed your mind for one moment what he's going through now, or for that matter what his wife's going through? Or, indeed, the pleasant experience his two young children will surely have when they go into school on Monday? No, I don't expect it has.
Just out of interest, Guido, how many skeletons have you got in your fucking closet? Perhaps you might enlighten us.
Mark Oaten's career is wrecked for ever, his family life has been devastated and might not recover
Perhaps he should of thought about that before he decided to have "a long-term affair" with a gigolo.
Oaten lies to his wife and children; does he also lie when representing us in parliament?
DK
Jawbox. Guido's big secret was that he had a certain fireworks display under Parliament - you could say that his career was wrecked forever as well...
DK - Oaten has certainly displayed appalling judgement, for which he deserves a good kicking. That doesn't make it less of a private tragedy (and like Kennedy's alcoholism it's a personal weakness - it likely had no bearing on his parliamentary conduct). I am simply saying that Guido's style of talking about it here is highly unpleasant and very crass, showing a complete lack of sensitivity for both Oaten and his family. He made a serious mistake. That's it.
Anonymous - "Guido's big secret was that he had a certain fireworks display under Parliament - you could say that his career was wrecked forever as well..."
Er, yes. Your point being?
Jawbox and all you newbies,
Be in no doubt, cruel and inhuman treatment of the political class in the form of mockery is the raison d' etre of this blog.
Any readers guilty of seeking earnestess, even-handedness or fair-mindedness don't deserve to be allowed to read this blog.
Tittle tattle together with cruel and unusual treatment is what is on offer here.
Oaten was paying prostitutes whilst simultaneously advocating policies to reduce prostitution.
That amuses me, "unpleasant and very crass", probably, but why then are you here?
Hypocrites. Fuck off and read the Indy.
"Hypocrites. Fuck off and read the Indy."
I'm a Guardian reader, actually. I won't post any more comments here. It's obvious that your attitude to politicians is pretty much that of Kelvin McKenzie: They're entitled to no empathy or sympathy, they cannot have weaknesses and if they do, they deserve to be put through a meat processor. I personally take the approach that they are human, generally better than those they represent, and if anything should be cut a little slack from time to time.
You think I'm a hypocrite, I think you're a heartless tosser. Impasse.
Hypocrites. Fuck off and read the Indy.
If this episode earns British bloggers their first stripe ("UK bloggers claim their first scalp"), it will have been drawn with a turd.
Actually, a UK blogger (albeit an, ahem, American based in the UK), was the first UK blogger to claim a scalp - Scott Burgess of The Daily Ablution is the chap in question, and the scalps in question were those of Dilpazier Azlam and Albert Scardino, both late of The Grauniad. Turns out The Graun had a paid-up Jihadist writing for them, with the knowledge of a senior exec., tsk, tsk. Google for the names if you want the whole story.
I think you can't be cavalier with the intense suffering caused to Oaten's wife and little girls. Nobody exists in a vacuum, Guido. If you were going to broadcast this, how about a letter to Mrs. Oaten first? Did you in fact even consider what his little girls would feel? Does their pain not bother you?
You run a good blog but this is beneath you. And I'm a Telegraph-reading Tory, fwiw.
Pain and suffering is relative - compared to domestic abuse in the UK this is a drop in the ocean. This on the otherhand is an affair involving a public figure. When Mellor did it we laughed, when Archer did it we laughed - and I personally am laughing about Oaten now. This will blow over and he will start afresh.
This is fantastic, and you just know that if this had been a Labour or Tory frontbencher then we wouldn't have any of these comments.
Who would have thought this time last year that Lib Dem politics would become such a blood sport.
Andrew: Yeah, I remember that - knocking a trainee journalist off his perch, wasn't it? Me and my mates talked about nothing else for months.
6:19, anon, I'm guessing you're a bloke. To you this may be nothing. To me as a woman, it's the sort of thing that would have wife and children (as the earlier commenter said, facing the playground on Monday morning) on suicide watch.
I just think the exposure here and the 'sod the Oatens' attitude is demoralising and depressing. And fundamentally unkind. In omnis caritas, Guido, I just hope you're not Catholic, mate.
A good old fashioned politcal sex scandal - I glad it happened now as I was fed up with all the news coverage of that fucking whale in the Thames.
Justin: As far as I can remember Albert Scardino is a former Pulitzer Prize winner and husband of Marjorie Scardino (CEO of Pearson). So in part he was a scalp.
Quick Devil's Advocate thing:
While accepting that this little scandal may disqualify him from leading the party, why reveal it after he's dropped his leadership bid? The blackmail's worked, surely? Wouldn't it be more useful to hang onto it to get more later?
And as for the whole him advocating certain prostitution policies thing, Lib Dem policy is not set by their shadow cabinet, but by the massed ranks of the party, so Oaten surely had very little to do with it.
And besides all that, he's a Lib Dem - he was never going to achieve high office, and most people have never heard of him. Might as well go after a County Councillor for all the power he has.
Yes, it's a story, but hardly one that's important enough to potentially ruin the lives of not just Oaten but also his entire family, surely? If he was in the Cabinet, fine, but he's a Lib Dem no mark - a tautology, but evidently one that needs stressing.
You must be so proud, Guido. Really nailed him.
Nosemonkey,
It was, indeed, important for a Lib-Dem to bite the dust. Any reversal for the LDs is a gain for the Tories. Cameron's strategy at the moment is to persuade Liberals to come over.
As opposed to "come out"?
*ba-dum tish* etc.
I'm curous... how does Mark Oaten being bisexual stop him from suing you for suggesting (twice) in the podcast that he is a paedophile?
Can I have the last word here?
What planet are some of these people whining about Oatens treatment on?
Example "I think you can't be cavalier with the intense suffering caused to Oaten's wife and little girls."
This is the best example of the liberal minds warped world view that pervades all our lives now that I've seen. This whole issue isn't Oatens fault for being a liar and a hypocrite no, no, no...it's Guido's and the NotW's fault for exposing it!
Remember kids you can't get caught out if you're doing no wrong - simple really!
No you can't Steve b, that comment was mine.
Mrs and the Misses Oaten did not know about this. If Guido knew, and if he were any kind of a decent human being (and yes, Guido, I am about to lay the smackdown on you) he would have written to Mrs. Oaten to inform her this was known and was about to come out so she could protect her children. Guido has blogged before that he has children. Would he like them to be bullied at school for something like this? Doesn't he, as a father (I am a mother) give a damn about the impact on the Oaten girls? Apparently not. Furthermore, if there are suggestions that the man is a paedophile then it is a moral imperative to make a report to the police in order to protect children, not to sit sniggering in Westminster about the wreck of a human life.
The Oaten girls are innocent. Not to care about the impact on them is beyond low and worse if you are yourself a parent.
No this is fun - no-one can have the last comment. Oaten screwed up end of story. From the morality viewpoint the abiding theme appears to be hysterically screaming: 'Think of the children!'.
I can't stand that sort of lecturing - in all likelihood his wife would have found out sooner rather than later and the impact would have been the same on a personal level. By standing as a prospective leader of a party you will be scrutinised; if he didn't have the foresight to see that happening then that reflects badly upon him.
Think of the children!
Shhhh! We're not mentioning children any more. Didn't you get the memo?
anon:"Guido has blogged before that he has children. Would he like them to be bullied at school for something like this?"
I'll give Guido some advice - if you don't use male prostitutes for sexually deviant practices your kids won't get bullied about it!
How easy was that? Ohh obviously too hard for Mr Oaten.
Dog eat dog, end of...(An obscure reference from last years Big Brother there for you all.)