A Marxist defence of Page 3 girls

January 25, 2012 by 12 Comments

Brendan O’Neill

Image © Kip Voytek

Proving that the Leveson Inquiry has become a magnet for every campaigner who wants to tame or censor the tabloids, yesterday’s line-up before his lordship included a bevy of feminists angrily railing against Page 3 in The Sun.

For some women’s rights activists, Page 3, with its scantily clad ladies making philosophical comments in speech bubbles, represents everything that is wrong with tabloid culture.

It is sexist and offensive, they say, and it contributes to a climate in which women are looked upon as fleshy objects to be ogled by goggle-eyed blokes. It must be banned, they demand.

Harriet Harman has joined this shrill chorus calling either for the outright banning of Page 3 or for The Sun at least to be put on the top shelf in newsagents, next to porno mags. And yet in her next breath, Harman has the gall to declare: “I am going to be a champion of press freedom.”

That she cannot see any contradiction between campaigning to crush Page 3 and claiming to be a defender of freedom of speech not only highlights the severe irony deficit in New Labour – it also says a lot about the weird politics of the anti-Page 3 lobby.

The fact is that shutting down Page 3 would be an assault on press freedom. If you are committed to true freedom of the press, to the age-old idea that newspapers should be free to publish what they believe to be true or interesting or fun, you can’t then add the caveat “Oh, except for Page 3 in The Sun – that page has got to go.” Read more of this post

Filed under Children and families, Culture, Media Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Racist but not entirely wrong

January 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

Frederick Cowell

Image © Alkan de Beaumont Chaglar

The first reaction to Diane Abbott’s twitterati missive should be, as several commentators have already and wisely said; why are we getting so angry? The desire for mass outrage as the only appropriate response to every supposed outrage committed by a public figure is positively North Korean; whereas they prostrate themselves with grief, we are expected to coalesce our anger. Abbott’s statement was profoundly stupid but has also been taken profoundly out of context and the reason to keep talking about it is that the shadow of race over politics is lengthening. The London riots were racialised pre-emptively by the political classes, a phenomenon exacerbated by the crass remarks of David Starkey projecting a distinctly racial dimension onto the riots.

The tweet should be split in three to achieve an adequate response. Firstly ‘white people love.’ This is foolish and what Abbott should apologise for. The idea that pigmentation can involuntarily form political identity is as dangerous as it is disgusting. The crude picaninny plantation working blacks, loyal Indian servants, and placidly ferocious oriental warriors: all racist caricatures are based on politically collectivising individuals on the basis of immutable characteristics. All of her anti- Racism activism should have taught her this and for the sake of those she has fought for, and not the imaginary ruffled feathers of the unnamed offended, she should apologise. Read more of this post

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Using Twitter makes you cleverer

December 10, 2011 by Leave a comment

Heron Smith

Facts and figures speak volumes. They prove and they disprove. They are both the weight behind an argument and the wedge between substance and conjecture. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a fact or figure is worth ten thousand, for whilst a picture can be disingenuous and lifted from context, a fact cannot. Or can it?

As a journalist and writer, I’m someone who relies upon a broad spectrum of supporting evidence to illustrate a point, and in order to persuade my readers that the argument I present is worthy of their time. Eyewitness accounts and testimonies- whilst subjective and unreliable- are emotive at their base. Facts and figures, on the other hand, are typically interpreted as neutral. Indeed, there exists a popular perception that statistical correlation is conclusive, and that such supporting evidence is, by nature, a trump card of sorts when balanced against opposing views. However, this is not always the case. Read more of this post

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Why the left shouldn’t defend Cuba

November 23, 2011 by 5 Comments

 Peter Bolton

Heroes of the Left? Image © a-birdie

Since the 1959 communist revolution in Cuba, several left-wing commentators have spoken favorably about the Castro regime. In the world of entertainment, for instance, Oliver Stone, Sean Penn and Michael Moore have all made gestures of praise toward the island’s political leadership. Moore’s 2007 film Sicko showered praise onto the Cuban healthcare system while both Penn and Stone have commended the Castro regime and visited the island to meet with Communist Party officials, in Stone’s case to research for a documentary film.

Details of Cuba’s authoritarianism have come back into the public consciousness recently following news reports about the decision by Raul Castro to liberalize the island’s property laws. The move might be taken by some to be evidence of the regime’s reform-minded tendencies but though the policy changes are to be welcomed, reading the details about the plight of the Cuban people shows how misguided it is to defend Cuba as a bastion and exemplar of left-wing ideas.

  Read more of this post

Filed under Democracy, Economy, Education, Liberty, Media Tagged with , ,

Not easy, but right?

September 24, 2011 by Leave a comment

(c) Alex Folkes/Fishnik Photography

Tom McGuire

‘Not easy, but right.’ These were the buzzwords in Nick Clegg’s keynote speech to end the Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon. They underline the determined mood that has gripped his party of late, as they visibly gain confidence with time and experience in office.

There is no hint of an apology for what has happened but there was a stark admission that ‘no matter how hard you work on the details of a policy, it’s no good if the perception is wrong.’ This does not work well for a party previously accused of being unfit for government and not ready for power, it all makes Clegg seem hugely naïve. Read more of this post

Filed under Conservatives, Democracy, Labour, Lib Dems, Media, Parties Tagged with

A cruel, cynical stunt in the name of ratings and grim entertainment

September 20, 2011 by 1 Comment

(c) Beacon Radio

Georgia Lewis

It is timely that I have been reading a book about the history of Bedlam, London’s notorious mental institution. It was here that in the dark days of patient care for the mentally ill, Bedlam was a particularly ghoulish tourist attraction. People would pay to stare at the inmates, to mock, to marvel, to laugh and point. It was horrific and cruel.

But have we moved on from those days? If the last episode of The X Factor is anything to go by, probably not. People do still mock the vulnerable, the afflicted, the different, the unfortunate and the deformed. Indeed, we have so many more forums to do this now with Twitter, Facebook, blogs, readers’ comments on newspaper websites and so on.  Read more of this post

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We need real answers, not screaming redtops and ranting broadsheets

August 11, 2011 by 4 Comments

(c) hozinja

Georgia Lewis

Coverage of the past week’s riots has made armchair tutters of most of us. It has been a week where a lot of us have had our values and beliefs challenged, a week where people of all political persuasions have qualified comments with prefaces such as “At the risk of sounding like a Daily Mail reader…”

But amongst the predictable screaming headlines of the remaining redtops, the coverage has been peppered with incidents that have been truly bizarre. By the second day, one Sky News reporter was talking about extensive damage in Enfield while standing over what looked like a spilled strawberry milkshake. Read more of this post

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Jonnie Marbles’ sentence was fair for a counterproductive crime

August 4, 2011 by 2 Comments

(c) alanconnor

Tom Bailey

Jonnie Marbles was sentenced on the 2nd of August to three weeks in prison and compelled to pay £265 for his pie foam attack on Rupert Murdoch. I entirely agree with Marbles’ view that ‘it’s not difficult to find reasons to dislike Rupert Murdoch’. Murdoch’s journalism is objectionable to many of the British public and perhaps anyone who views Left Central (do watch this funny old Fry and Laurie sketch). I can also understand the frustration felt by commentators in regard to highlighted examples that suggest that the justice system is inconsistent in its treatment of other apparently criminal acts. However, the attack remains puerile and counterproductive. It was assault and, in the words of Chris Bryant MP, ‘no way to treat any witness, let alone someone over the age of 80.’ Read more of this post

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Rebekah Brooks quits News International

July 15, 2011 by Leave a comment

LeftCentral has just found out that Rebekah Brooks has resigned as chief executive of News International. The move follows numerous campaigns and a growing public sentiment that her position had become untenable with the phone-hacking scandal.

Read the full story here courtesy of The Independent. We’re interested in hearing your views on this – do you think it was bound to happen, or are you shocked by her resignation? Feel free to comment below.

Filed under Media

Opinion: Take that, Murdoch

July 13, 2011 by Leave a comment

(c) dfarber

Georgia Lewis

Nick Ferrari, a former News of the World journalist, has been ranting on Sky News about how wonderful Murdoch is, how he has provided employment for thousands of media professionals and how the blocking of his attempt to take over BSkyB is just unfair.

True enough, Murdoch has created jobs galore for journalists. It’s just a shame that it seems that among these journalists were those who saw fit to break the law to get stories or just run stories that cannot be upheld with the public interest defence such as Steve Coogan’s personal life or Gordon Brown‘s seriously ill child. Read more of this post

Filed under Democracy, Media

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