It has been noted that Britain lacks the equivalent of the Drudge Report, a US site that consistently broke stories during the scandal-ridden Clinton White House. Several of the more mischievous bloggers in Britain are certainly aiming for that level of influence. Commons insiders, such as Guido Fawkes and Recess Monkey, often suppliers of diary stories to Fleet Street, have been having a field day with the cash-for-honours scandal.
April 22, 2006 at 2:58 PM
Anonymous
said...
Be sad if MI5 hadn't a copy of these files - in Peter Wright's day they were burgling their way across London.......hard to imagine Lord Levy isn't in the sights of MI5, Mossad, CIA, FSB
April 22, 2006 at 7:30 PM
Anonymous
said...
Guido's a cynic.
April 23, 2006 at 12:06 AM
Anonymous
said...
Technically they're loans, because donations would have to have been declared. That's how they slipped under the radar so long. But nobody, NO! BO! DY! expects them to be paid back, regardless of what's on paper.
April 23, 2006 at 3:37 AM
Anonymous
said...
Perhaps someone can explain for an American reader why it's called "loans" for lordships? Which is it? Are they donating to the party, or lending?
Do you remember CREEP back in 1972 with John MItchell ? How the Nixon campaign team had raised money outside the Republican Machine to re-elect Nixon, and how that money had funny accounting ? How some of that money was siphoned off into private hands ?
Well that is what this scandal is about. A Prime Minister raising funds from rich men without using proper channels, and that these men believed they would be given a title and seat in the legislature (remember the US Senate was not elected until 1913) and possibly deals were available for those seeking govt contracts.
Now the US uses PACs to feed money, but also corporates feed executives money so they can make "individual" donations. Unlike the Us however candidates here do not need/are prohibited from buying airtime.
April 23, 2006 at 7:56 AM
Anonymous
said...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking
Let's see now if Blair used this money to pay for the mole in Conservative Central Office during the 2005 Election - ratfucking
April 23, 2006 at 8:00 AM
Anonymous
said...
I can't find the article, but I recall that this fire was the final straw to propmt Westminster Council to act on complaints that the property was being used as an office instead of the official designation as residential. Is that investigation still ongoing?
As for paper trails, he may have lost his, but various restless NULabour ermine wannabes will have kept theirs as insurance. Plus the loan documents themselves.
Too little, too late....
April 23, 2006 at 1:43 PM
Anonymous
said...
This kind of recalls the old joke.
Levy and Rubenstein were sitting on the bench on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. During a lull in pretty topless girls their conversation turns to their business sucesses.
"So how did you make enough cash to retire here?" asks Rubenstein.
"Well," replies Levy. "I had this massive clothing factory. It made ghood money, but I was getting tired of the work and the wife wanted me to retire. The problem was I really couldn't face all the hassles of selling the place."
"So what did you do?" asks Rubenstein.
"Well, I was really lucky. One morning I got to work and the whole place had burnt to the ground. Two weeks later the insurers coughed up and here I am."
Rubenstein nods sagely and says: "My story's very similar. I had a serious beach resort in Thailand. All the film stars and millionaires used to come and I was coining it. But like you, the wife was fed up and so was I quite frankly. Then one day there was this terrible tidal wave. Wiped the whole place out." He shrugged. "It was sad to see a whole life's work wiped out in seconds, but the insurance more than compensated."
Levy nods and sits silently for a moment. Then he turns to his old freind. "So how do you make a tidal wave?"
Laugh? I nearly did.
RM
April 23, 2006 at 2:01 PM
Anonymous
said...
Please note the implied religious affiliation of the protagonoists does not denote any anti-semitic intent. It's how the joke was told to me and I didn't change it because the names are so apt given the the news story.
RM
April 23, 2006 at 2:06 PM
Anonymous
said...
One reason is that Levy is a charity fundraiser - that is a key factor. There are only small groups that have a really effective fundraising mode. Didn't the Tories once use Drucker ?
Jewish Charities are big business as Gerald Ronson knows; where a lot of other fundraisers operating below the public radar are ineffectual.
I wonder how far Levy has now destroyed himself with the rolodex he retains for Jewish Charities by pumping them for Labour dollars ?
April 24, 2006 at 7:14 AM
Anonymous
said...
"Hey, Mikey, so sorry to hear about the tragic fire!"
"Keep your voice down, for Torah's sake! That's next week."
23 comments:
No need to credit me for the tip in the LibDem thread, Guido... ;)
Hannibal,
All credit is due to you to drawing Guido's attention to it. Many thanks.
You are in the running for this month's "Co-Conspirator" t-shirt prize.
No fire without smoke, huh?
Well, at least he's "not going to be anyone's fall guy..."
mmm, that sounds convenient
All this was in Private Eye aaaages ago
Was it? Never read it myself.
Of course all of their word processed documents will have been backed up...
Ermmm, did the insurance broker get an Honour for not finding the ashes of the used bank notes in the debris.
So what's the prison time for arson these days?
A rather simple-minded question:
How would a member of the public find out whether or not an insurance claim had been filed following the fire?
And, very, very theoretically of course, we could be talking obstructing the course of justice.
Meanwhile, you are getting props (of sorts) over at The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1758745,00.html
It has been noted that Britain lacks the equivalent of the Drudge Report, a US site that consistently broke stories during the scandal-ridden Clinton White House. Several of the more mischievous bloggers in Britain are certainly aiming for that level of influence. Commons insiders, such as Guido Fawkes and Recess Monkey, often suppliers of diary stories to Fleet Street, have been having a field day with the cash-for-honours scandal.
Be sad if MI5 hadn't a copy of these files - in Peter Wright's day they were burgling their way across London.......hard to imagine Lord Levy isn't in the sights of MI5, Mossad, CIA, FSB
Guido's a cynic.
Technically they're loans, because donations would have to have been declared. That's how they slipped under the radar so long. But nobody, NO! BO! DY! expects them to be paid back, regardless of what's on paper.
Perhaps someone can explain for an American reader why it's called "loans" for lordships? Which is it? Are they donating to the party, or lending?
Do you remember CREEP back in 1972 with John MItchell ? How the Nixon campaign team had raised money outside the Republican Machine to re-elect Nixon, and how that money had funny accounting ? How some of that money was siphoned off into private hands ?
Well that is what this scandal is about. A Prime Minister raising funds from rich men without using proper channels, and that these men believed they would be given a title and seat in the legislature (remember the US Senate was not elected until 1913) and possibly deals were available for those seeking govt contracts.
Now the US uses PACs to feed money, but also corporates feed executives money so they can make "individual" donations. Unlike the Us however candidates here do not need/are prohibited from buying airtime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking
Let's see now if Blair used this money to pay for the mole in Conservative Central Office during the 2005 Election - ratfucking
I can't find the article, but I recall that this fire was the final straw to propmt Westminster Council to act on complaints that the property was being used as an office instead of the official designation as residential. Is that investigation still ongoing?
As for paper trails, he may have lost his, but various restless NULabour ermine wannabes will have kept theirs as insurance. Plus the loan documents themselves.
Too little, too late....
This kind of recalls the old joke.
Levy and Rubenstein were sitting on the bench on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. During a lull in pretty topless girls their conversation turns to their business sucesses.
"So how did you make enough cash to retire here?" asks Rubenstein.
"Well," replies Levy. "I had this massive clothing factory. It made ghood money, but I was getting tired of the work and the wife wanted me to retire. The problem was I really couldn't face all the hassles of selling the place."
"So what did you do?" asks Rubenstein.
"Well, I was really lucky. One morning I got to work and the whole place had burnt to the ground. Two weeks later the insurers coughed up and here I am."
Rubenstein nods sagely and says: "My story's very similar. I had a serious beach resort in Thailand. All the film stars and millionaires used to come and I was coining it. But like you, the wife was fed up and so was I quite frankly. Then one day there was this terrible tidal wave. Wiped the whole place out." He shrugged. "It was sad to see a whole life's work wiped out in seconds, but the insurance more than compensated."
Levy nods and sits silently for a moment. Then he turns to his old freind. "So how do you make a tidal wave?"
Laugh? I nearly did.
RM
Please note the implied religious affiliation of the protagonoists does not denote any anti-semitic intent. It's how the joke was told to me and I didn't change it because the names are so apt given the the news story.
RM
One reason is that Levy is a charity fundraiser - that is a key factor. There are only small groups that have a really effective fundraising mode. Didn't the Tories once use Drucker ?
Jewish Charities are big business as Gerald Ronson knows; where a lot of other fundraisers operating below the public radar are ineffectual.
I wonder how far Levy has now destroyed himself with the rolodex he retains for Jewish Charities by pumping them for Labour dollars ?
"Hey, Mikey, so sorry to hear about the tragic fire!"
"Keep your voice down, for Torah's sake! That's next week."