Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[butchersapron]

Slightly off-topic: can you remember the name of that website where you could look up a company or, I think, think tank, and it would say where the funding came from, who runs it, etc? I'm sure it used to get posted a lot on here, but I don't remember seeing it for years. Perhaps it doesn't exist anymore.

The one that i postd a month or so back Shut down now i'm afraid - if that's what you mean. Or maybe you (in fact, pretty sure you do) mean the sourcewatch site

 

[Buckaroo]

no worries! the NS piece just referred to it. i think i might properly explode if she'd published the original

Me too! That's if it exists. Something very creepy about all of this.

 

[SpineyNorman]

Similar, aye, but I think neither of them.

You could look up studies that were published by think tanks, and see which companies had sponsored them...and which politicians served on directorships etc.

Mind is completely blank.

Sounds like a really useful site that Fez, if you do find it can you let us know?

 

[butchersapron]

Er, Geoffrey Robinson?

Why do you say that?

 

[nino_savatte]

Why do you say that?

He's got lots of large. Doesn't he own the New Statesman? I would have thought Left Foot Forward would be right up his street.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

From whom?

Have you got your application in?

Donations from all sorts of people - certainly I think some TUs have given wodges in the recent past, though not as much as to Labour List.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

He's got lots of large. Doesn't he own the New Statesman? I would have thought Left Foot Forward would be right up his street.

No he doesn't own the NS any more

 

[nino_savatte]

No he doesn't own the NS any more

I should have said "didn't" instead of "doesn't".

 

[butchersapron]

He's got lots of large. Doesn't he own the New Statesman? I would have thought Left Foot Forward would be right up his street.

He hasn't owned the new statesman for years now, and LFF forward have publicly attacked him a number of times.

 

[articul8]

Have you got your application in?

Donations from all sorts of people - certainly I think some TUs have given wodges in the recent past, though not as much as to Labour List.

Happy where I am ta but looking for funds for red pepper

 

[BigTom]

From whom?

Isn't Left Foot Forward Will Straw's (son of Jack Straw) thing? I should imagine that he has quite a lot of connections to wealthy people who are happy to chuck money towards a coolish seeming lefty think-tank cum new media thing. Also they probably do a reasonable amount of commissioned research type things.

 

[Bakunin]

interesting that it's only stated that they were involved in the editing of the article. @bakunin - do you know anything more about the process? i'm assuming that editing goes on after the piece is written, but before it's published - am i being too simplistic here?

no mention as to whether they were consulted when she sent a personal response to the reader (afaics, that was forwarding 'helplines'. so everything will be fine).

She put out an appeal on Twitter and recieved a great deal of advice from people in the mental health field and support workers which told her to refer them to support and advice agencies and not to publish. She ignored that advice and published anyway.

I'll refer you to one Twitter feed in particular for openers (relevent tweets start from the 14th of December):

https://twitter.com/onthecouchagain

 

[articul8]

He left a while ago to go to ippr, and is trying to get parliamentary for Hyndburn seat near his old man's

 

[The39thStep]

This forum is infested with middle-class no-marks. They know who they are.

Missed this in between the teleprinter like frenzy of this thread last night and a Guinness and brandy chaser session in the pub Xmas quiz. What is all this about?

 

[tufty79]

She put out an appeal on Twitter and recieved a great deal of advice from people in the mental health field and support workers which told her to refer them to support and advice agencies and not to publish. She ignored that advice and published anyway.

I'll refer you to one Twitter feed in particular for openers (relevent tweets start from the 14th of December):

https://twitter.com/onthecouchagain

cheers! (i've seen her original twitter post, and a fair few of the responses along those lines, but thanks for the onthecouchagain link - i'm nodding fervently at him!)
i actually wanted to clarify whether i'd understood what 'the editing of the article' meant

 

[Bakunin]

cheers! (i've seen her original twitter post, and a fair few of the responses along those lines).
i actually wanted to clarify whether i'd understood what 'the editing of the article' meant

Editing is done between a writer submitting a piece and the publication running the story. I often have a little email ping-pong with my editors as I actively encourage them to send me any questions, suggestions and so on and when I get their feedback I then add whatever clarifications they want, expand whatever points they've suggested and generally fulfill any requests or suggestions that they make. It's standard practice for me to do that whenever and however an editor decides they want it done. Once a piece is fully edited and accepted, then it's published.

 

[tufty79]

ok, that makes it a lot clearer! thanks!

 

[Buckaroo]

Good post. As to what they'd do? Depends what they can gain from it. More suicides means that they were "first to highlight the issue" rather than a catalyst. Fewer means they "brought the issue out to the public" and their actions possibly saved lives.

Can be spun any way they want to.

It's gonna be hard to spin this. Suicides caused by austerity cuts had already been highlighted. If she'd written a general piece fair enough but this ammounts to intervention and that can't be done in a casual manner and definitely not in public. And the fact that 'M' asked her to write about his/her suicide for political reasons makes this even more sordid. She went public with 'M''s predicament, now she is professionally and morally obliged to go public with the outcome of her intervention.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Isn't Left Foot Forward Will Straw's (son of Jack Straw) thing? I should imagine that he has quite a lot of connections to wealthy people who are happy to chuck money towards a coolish seeming lefty think-tank cum new media thing. Also they probably do a reasonable amount of commissioned research type things.

Perhaps Benji Wegg-Prosser, former batman to Lord Mandelson and latterly a Russian oligarch, has bunged a few quid over.

 

[SpineyNorman]

She put out an appeal on Twitter and recieved a great deal of advice from people in the mental health field and support workers which told her to refer them to support and advice agencies and not to publish. She ignored that advice and published anyway.

I'll refer you to one Twitter feed in particular for openers (relevent tweets start from the 14th of December):

https://twitter.com/onthecouchagain

She'll definitely find it easy to dismiss what that bloke's saying judging by the rest of his twitter feed

 

[Badgers]

What did she do before journalism? Just curious as to what coalface experience she has. I am pretty ignorant of this topic so just want some balance.

 

[Bakunin]

She went public with 'M''s predicament, now she is professionally and morally obliged to go public with the outcome of her intervention.

If I was inclined to gamble on this (which for reasons of decency I'm obviously not) I'd say that the odds of her doing that unless she's forced to are considerably smaller than the odds on her avoiding the subject entirely in the hope that it will simply go away.

 

[Fez909]

The one that i postd a month or so back Shut down now i'm afraid - if that's what you mean. Or maybe you (in fact, pretty sure you do) mean the sourcewatch site

That's the one I was thinking of, sourcewatch. Thanks!

@SpineyNorman FYI

 

[Badgers]

If I was inclined to gamble on this (which for reasons of decency I'm obviously not) I'd say that the odds of her doing that unless she's forced to are considerably smaller than the odds on her avoiding the subject entirely in the hope that it will simply go away.

No claims of any prior work, work experience or volunteering? Guess she does not need the money but surely some life/work experience would give her some basis for writing?

 

[ViolentPanda]

I just watched that video with David Starkey. My God, what a hideous woman! The rest of the people in her school must have been pretty stupid if she was one of the brightest.

Just goes to prove the old saw about how being clever doesn't mean you've actually got any sense, though.

 

[el-ahrairah]

He want's to be a victim.

That is all.

I apologise if I have offended one eyed people but his shite stinks.

i can't speak for all one-eyed people but you're fine, don't worry.

 

[Firky]

Oh FFS, another ten plus pages.

Give it a rest.

 

[tufty79]

No claims of any prior work, work experience or volunteering? Guess she does not need the money but surely some life/work experience would give her some basis for writing?

i'm going to be interested as to her justification for publishing when she was apparently advised not to..

 

[ViolentPanda]

in fairness, most people see a criticism of multiculturalism as ray cyst unless they look at the analysis. Which just goes to show you can't read a title of a link and make judge cos else you end up making a cunt out of yourself

Yep, they see the criticism as of the concept of multiculturalism per se, rather than a criticism of how a particular (state-directed) "take" on multiculturalism has played out.

 

[Firky]

He'll be back.

Hopefully he'll return with a name which doesn't sound like an 80s soft porn star.