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| Fair is foul, and foul is fair |
Alas (despite yesterday's foul weather up here in Morecambe), there's a good deal less hurly-burly these days than there used to be.
Senior BBC editor (and blog favourite) Rob Burley seemed to have pulled back dramatically from confronting the far-left/#FBPE crowds who constantly deluge his timeline with senseless fury every Sunday.
I don't blame him. I suspect he's exhausted. And they never stop.
Senior BBC editor (and blog favourite) Rob Burley seemed to have pulled back dramatically from confronting the far-left/#FBPE crowds who constantly deluge his timeline with senseless fury every Sunday.
I don't blame him. I suspect he's exhausted. And they never stop.
Still, at least he felt up to replying to The Lordly Adonis about this morning's Andrew Marr
Rob's right.
Lord Andy Adonis had been complaining about the published guest list for today's programme.
Who did it consist of?
Well, for starters there was a leading, like-minded Blairite pro-People's Vote MP, Chuka Umumma.
(One for Lord Adonis there.)
And there was a leading ultra-pro-EU MEP from the Netherlands, Sophie in't Veld - assistant to M. Barnier no less.
(Another one for Lord Adonis there).
Both are 'important' people of a similar mind to Lord Adonis, so you'd think Lord Adonis, as a non-impartial, anti-Brexit partisan, would be overjoyed and full of praise for the BBC for featuring them.
Who did it consist of?
Well, for starters there was a leading, like-minded Blairite pro-People's Vote MP, Chuka Umumma.
(One for Lord Adonis there.)
And there was a leading ultra-pro-EU MEP from the Netherlands, Sophie in't Veld - assistant to M. Barnier no less.
(Another one for Lord Adonis there).
Both are 'important' people of a similar mind to Lord Adonis, so you'd think Lord Adonis, as a non-impartial, anti-Brexit partisan, would be overjoyed and full of praise for the BBC for featuring them.
Plus Lord Adonis presumably witnessed the Guardian's Anushka Asthana and the newly pro-Mrs May Daily Mail's political editor Jason Groves on the paper review with Ms. in't Veld, so what would genuinely trouble him there? Not Anushka obviously, nor anything she said. But maybe Jason is still a little too tainted with the fading scent of Paul Dacre for his refined tastes?
So what on earth was Lord Adonis moaning about then?
Well, the two other guests were International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne.
I'm guessing His Lordship was principally moaning because pro-Mrs May cabinet minister Liam Fox is a known Brexiteer and The Andrew Marr Show was brazen enough to invite him on.
Evidently, even pro-Mrs May (and her EU deal) Brexiteers are far too much for His Lordship's delicate sensibilities - even if they are the view of the currently-serving International Trade Secretary.
Evidently, even pro-Mrs May (and her EU deal) Brexiteers are far too much for His Lordship's delicate sensibilities - even if they are the view of the currently-serving International Trade Secretary.
And Labour's Andrew Gwynne, a willing servant in his party leader's shadow cabinet who voted Remain in the referendum, might also have offended him too for sounding a bit too Jeremy Corbyn-like over Brexit, for Mr. Gwynne wasn't wholly singing from the Lord Adonis hymn sheet.
This is, of course, classic 'complaints from both sides' nonsense.
It's 'textbook' actually:
Lord Adonis tweets complete nonsense, Rob rebuts him, and Rob's rebuttal is correct. But, on inspection (beyond their discussion), it turns out that Lord Adonis is actually, if anything, 'proving' the other side's point:
Where was the 'hardline Brexiteer' opposing Mrs May's deal? Nowhere to be seen.
It's 'textbook' actually:
Lord Adonis tweets complete nonsense, Rob rebuts him, and Rob's rebuttal is correct. But, on inspection (beyond their discussion), it turns out that Lord Adonis is actually, if anything, 'proving' the other side's point:
Where was the 'hardline Brexiteer' opposing Mrs May's deal? Nowhere to be seen.
The BBC, as per Rob Burley, will doubtless keep on contending with outlying, Establishment, dead-wrong, doubtless deeply, deeply disingenuous critics like Lord Adonis. And Lord Adonis's woolly followers will doubtless bleat and wag their fleecy tails in rage at the BBC at his every belch. And life will go on. And the BBC will go on...
But Lord Adonis was talking complete and utter bullocks (or heifers) here. And no 'hardline Brexiteer' was present. And the evidence, if anything, goes in a completely opposite direction to that falsely asserted by Baron Adonis, of Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden.
As Alastair Campbell might say, I come, Graymalkin! Paddock calls. Anon.
But Lord Adonis was talking complete and utter bullocks (or heifers) here. And no 'hardline Brexiteer' was present. And the evidence, if anything, goes in a completely opposite direction to that falsely asserted by Baron Adonis, of Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden.
As Alastair Campbell might say, I come, Graymalkin! Paddock calls. Anon.
I looked up the Dutch MEP with the intriguing name and yes, she's fervently EU with a particular interest in immigration and refugees but I didn't pick up the Barnier connection.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found interesting were some comments she made about the EU and legality with regard to immigration when the EU was making arrangements with other countries for processing centres in e.g. Africa:
'...Despite all the talk of “our values” and respect for our legal system, the plans on the table lack any form of legal basis. Moreover, the EU Treaties do not allow for any self-standing national policy initiatives in areas of EU competence, such as asylum and migration policies. These extra-legal measures also mean that the transparent democratic legal procedures involving Council and Parliament are circumvented. That the EU fundamental rights no longer apply, that there is no judicial oversight by the European Court of Justice, as the Court refused to do in its judgement on the EU-Turkey statement, and no effective scrutiny of policies and expenditure by the Court of Auditors. ...'
https://www.facebook.com/sophieintveld/posts/10155960709172732
It's funny how legality comes and goes in the EU, depending on circumstances and cases. (See Frau Merkel and refugees or 'refugees'.)
Yes, for a few days before the May vote we were being treated to a nice bit of fiction about how important it was for the EU to abide by laws and that was why we had to have this web of legal checks on our sovereignty as part of the Withdrawal Agreement (more accurately "the Abject Surrender Document") and why the agreement couldn't now be amended (before May decided it could). Such BS we have served up to us! As you suggest, when Merkel decided to invite in a million undocumented migrants she trampled on a whole set of laws. But it's not just that. They allow a state that murdered a journalist to remain in the EU. They allow France to close the border with the UK causing chaos in the south of England - no penalty at all. They allow French farmers to flout all sorts of agricultural laws. The EU is not "a nation of laws" it is a "mish mash of laws of convenience and power politics".
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