Is The Daily Mail's Editor A Coward?

[Gromit]

The Editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, has been accused of being a coward because he did not agree to be interviewed over the Ralph Milliband debacle on Newsnight

Instead, he sent a deputy, Jon Staefl, who Alistair Campbell wiped the floor with.

// The Daily Mail's deputy editor Jon Steafel was invited on to BBC Newsnight on Tuesday evening to defend his paper's decision to accuse Ed Miliband's father Ralph of “hating Britain”. He faced Alastair Campbell, who accused the paper's editor, Paul Dacre, of being a “bully and a coward” for not appearing himself, sending his deputy instead. //

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/01/daily-mail--jon-steafel-alastair-campbell_n_4026312.html

Do you think it was a mistake to send a minion to defend the paper?

Do you think he chickened out when he knew he would be on with Campbell?

[Zeuhl]

Much as I dislike AC, I did like his line about The Daily Fail:

'the worst of British values posing as the best'

[jno]

The Englishman is a rabid nationalist

Bit of a jump from that to hating Britain. I mean, what did he think of Scots? Probably thought they were lovely people, as I do.

[ichkeria]

The Mail article is nasty, vindictive nonsense. Naturally it contains fact: no one denies Ralph Miliband was a Marxist: the lie is that he 'hated Britain' and the point of the lie is to smear Ed Miliband and his Labour Party as somehow the heirs of unreconstructed Stalinism.
Alistair Campbell summed up the Mail very well: claiming to stand for all that is good about Britain while actually standing for all that is bad.

[FredPuli43]

Let's have some respect and hold off the Daily Mail, shall we? Insulting it is like insulting someone's religion. There are one or two devout believers on here, who accept, without analysis or criticism, everything it says. That it sells many copies might be a cause of concern, but, like religion, it may have many who pay lip service to the beliefs but, in truth, accept it as a matter of form only. It's what a certain section of soiety, mostly elderly, do In fact, reading it sounds more like church going, the more that is reflected upon.

And anyway,it has a very good women's section.

[FredPuli43]

On the most recent full figures I could find :Average age of DM solus [take only one paper daily] readership:67 years

41.8% are 65+, that's 1,707,000 readers. 18.35% are 55-64. 63.4 % are social class ABC1. And 52 % of its readers are female [Source NRS Readership survey, 2012]

[humbersloop]

at least a couple of //the elderly// do feel free to demur though Fred

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/02/thatcher-ally-daily-mail-ralph-miliband-lies


loved Campbell's parting shot "I hope you get the job" to Steafel

[FredPuli43]

Ah, yes, humbersloop, but they are men of intelligence and political understanding, at least one of whom speaks to fact from personal knowledge. The Daily Mail writer lacks those qualities.

Have just noticed tha the Sun sells 500,000 more copies than the Mail does. Plainly more people are swayed by, or interested in, the philosophical musings of, say, Tracey, age 23, from Birmingham, than by the Daily Mail. This is quite cheering. And she has always got two good points, whatever your opinion

[humbersloop]

...and happily Tracey, 23, is unlikely to to turn up to events uninvited. The Mail's really surpassing itself with this one

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/03/mail-on-sunday-gatecrashes-miliband-memorial-ed

[anotheoldgit]

Ellipsis

/// However, unfortunately for the Mail, one commonly accepted British value is the freedom of somebody else to have an opinion different to yours - i.e. tolerance. The "British value" of tolerance is something that the Mail seems to consistently lack. ///

That is pure diamond coming from those who never apply 'Tolerance' ie the freedom of someone else to have an opinion different from theirs.

[jno]

when has humbersloop ever failed to show tolerance to anyone??

She has always disagreed with me in the most pleasant fashion.

Please do not make such foolish accusations.

[jno]

sorry, I meant Ellipsis... same comment applies, however.

[Ellipsis]

Except I'm a he :)

> That is pure diamond coming from those who never apply 'Tolerance' ie the freedom of someone else to have an opinion different from theirs.

If there's one thing that tolerant people have trouble tolerating, it's intolerance ...