Ghislaine Maxwell should not be given bail given she most definitely has the means and motive to flee; the case of Carlos Ghosn is proof that people of her wealth have and will run
Given Carlos Ghosn, the former head of Nissan and Renault, managed to escape in a musical box on a private plane while on bail, it seems ludicrous that a court in America is even considering releasing Ghislaine Maxwell on bail.
Whilst lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s madam claims she is at risk of catching coronavirus in the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn and isn’t a flight risk, prosecutors should take into account that she managed to evade authorities and the media for the last year. It has this morning been revealed that she “kept [her] phone wrapped in tin foil and ran from FBI during [her] arrest.” Here, indeed is a woman who is devious and degenerate and most definitely, as was the case also with her conman father ‘Bouncing Bob,’ not to be trusted.
Whilst Maxwell is offering £4 million ($5 million, €4.4 million or درهم18.4 million) in assets as a bond, prosecutors are right to point out that she is an “extreme risk” because of the possible long prison term she faces, her wealth, her multiple passports and her multiple citizenships. She has, as they rightly point out, “absolutely no reason to stay.” On that basis, this mucky madam should be kept in jail and she must also be kept away from anything that would give her the ability to “do the convenient thing” for the likes of Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and others and end her life.
Matthew Steeples questions why Alan Dershowitz is getting so enthusiastic in his defence of the vile paedo procurer Ghislaine Maxwell
Those of us that knew the late Claus von Bülow (1926 – 1929) and those that watched Reversal of Fortune – the superb film portrayal of his two trials in connection to his alleged attempted murder of his heiress wife Sunny in 1980 (she eventually died after having been in a coma for over 27 years in 2008) – will of course recall his association with the rookie lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
In that film, Dershowitz is portrayed as a man who fights for the underdog; he’s a hero (in spite of whom he is defending), in fact. Now, years after morphing into a fully-fledged member of the establishment, it seems, this civil libertarian has sadly moved to the ‘dark side.’
In an article for the Spectator USA, published on Thursday, titled: “The Ghislaine I Know,” Dershowitz enthusiastically droned on about how he and his wife were “introduced to Ghislaine Maxwell by Sir Evelyn and Lady Lynne de Rothschild.” He continued: “We subsequently met her… generally in the presence of prominent people such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, presidents of universities, and prominent academic and business people” (thus hinting that this made the paedophile procurer actually ‘respectable’).
Dershowitz – himself a man accused, but not convicted, of offences linked to Epstein and Maxwell – demanded ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ daughter be “like every other arrested person, she must be presumed innocent” (which is fair enough), but then proceeded to trash victims the monster Epstein had already been convicted of abusing.
Continuing with his “everyone should keep an open mind about Maxwell” angle, the lawyer illustrated himself to be utterly out of touch. As the financier Euan Rellie, described as “a British investment banker who knew Maxwell in both London and New York” in a Vanity Fair article about Thursday’s arrest, tweeted Friday: “This guy @AlanDersh is protesting way too much.”
Pictured top: Ghislaine Maxwell with Prince Andrew at Royal Ascot in 2000; Alan Dershowitz with Jeffrey Epstein at Harvard in 2004.
Another friend coming to the ‘Murky Mucky Madam Maxwell’s’ defence – Ghislaine Maxwell’s “friend” Christopher Mason told the ‘New York Post’ on Saturday: “Do I think she’s in danger. Yes. In a way, I can’t imagine her ever giving up Prince Andrew, but if it’s life imprisonment with no hope of parole, it might be tempting. She of all of those people knew who slept with whom and [which young girl] was assigned to whom.” Mr Mason – who has performed songs in honour of Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian’s arse – continued: “I’m sure she has access to the videos. A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried. I hope [Maxwell won’t] end up like Epstein. I’m a little worried about that. I think she’s in danger. There is too much power involved if she really talks.”Fresh from being interviewed by ‘Vanity Fair’s’ Mark Seal about Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday, Eton and Cambridge educated financier Euan Rellie took to Twitter on Friday in the wake of Alan Dershowitz’s ‘Spectator’ article. He quite correctly observed: “This guy @AlanDersh is protesting way too much.”A Rolodex like no other – Ghislaine Maxwell’s tentacles reached everywhere. This octopus like woman is pictured here at a dinner in Miami Beach, Florida hosted by the controversial New York real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen (centre) with the fashion designer Calvin Klein (left) amongst fellow guests.
Alan Dershowitz was played by Ron Silver in the 1990 American drama film ‘Reversal of Fortune’ with Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow and Glenn Close as Sunny von Bülow. The 111-minute film grossed £12.3 million at the box office and was lauded for its “exceptional performances” and “cunning script.”
Matthew Steeples urges fans of ‘The Archers’ to forget the BBC’s revised coronavirus version; until normality returns, give ‘The Pargetter Triptych’ a try
The BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers has, frankly, lost its way. Gone are the great episodes where gin soaked Lillian Bellamy fooled around with her conman lover Matt Crawford (AKA ‘Tiger’) and gone even is the excitement of mundane muddler Helen Archer stabbing her then husband, Rob Titchener, after a row about a dropped tuna bake.
Coming in the form of a three-part podcast titled The Pargetter Triptych, old stalwart Nigel Pargetter – last heard of shrieking as he fell (or was he pushed?) off the roof of his ancestral pile, Lower Loxley, in 2011 while trying to untie a flapping ‘Happy New Year’ banner – has returned as a ghost.
Described as “a gem” and “much funnier than what’s currently pretending to be the real thing” by Gillian Reynolds in The Sunday Times, Nigel (played by actor Graham Seed) explores stories old and new and gives us what we’re currently missing: A bit of good cheer.
Listen to the three-part podcast ‘The Pargetter Triptych’ by clicking here.
Graham Seed played Nigel Pargetter for 27 years in the popular radio soap ‘The Archers’ on BBC Radio 4. He was surprisingly killed off for the 60th anniversary of the programme much to the chagrin of dedicated listeners. ‘The Steeple Times’ interviewed him in September 2013.
Matthew Steeples highlights how the ‘Mandelson Media Method’ is very much in play in both the case of the Prince Andrew-Jeffrey Epstein connection and the renewed interest in the Madeleine McCann disappearance
As Andrew Marr pointed out in his History of Modern Britain – screened on BBC Four last night – in his example, highlighting the case of the senseless murder of the innocent toddler Jamie Bulger by two truly evil teenagers during John Major’s premiership – Madeleine McCann’s disappearance occurred just a month before Blair left office and Gordon Brown took over. News of it dominated the media during the transition period.
Defining the Brown years – during which Peter Mandelson was a government minister from October 2008 until May 2010 – in terms of the vast acres of pages devoted to the case and garnering disproportionate attention from government thus, as Murray pointed out: “British diplomatic staff were under direct instruction to support the McCanns far beyond the usual.”
Mandelson had his finger on the pulse with the McCann story then and today the proof of its usefulness is still in the pudding by way of the fact that it wiped other ‘bad news’ stories off the front pages in the last week. Equally, as has been the case with the renewal of interest in Prince Andrew’s “has he or hasn’t he” cooperated with the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein in the last 24 hours, here are matters that show that the Mandelson style of media management haven’t moved on.
One rather conveniently unavailable person who links the ‘players’ in these matters is still apparently missing in action. Again, this morning, we again join those asking: “Why doesn’t Ghislaine Maxwell finally come forward?”
Peter Mandelson pictured trying on a belt whilst Jeffrey Epstein looks on in St Barts in 2005. They are said to have been introduced by their mutual friend Ghislaine Maxwell and there is no suggestion that Lord Mandelson knew anything of Epstein’s criminal activities.In 2009, private investigators for Gerry and Kate McCann issued an E-FIT to the media of a woman they believed could be “potentially significant” to their investigation. She has never been found, but, speculation online (entirely unproven as accurate thus far) has regularly included: “She looks remarkably like Ghislaine Maxwell.” There is no suggestion that this is one and the same woman, but it would be ever so helpful if Miss Maxwell came forward and cleared this up for once and for all.The no-longer so “grand old Duke of York” Prince Andrew poses for a picture with the “master of spin” and king of media relations Lord Mandelson.Peter Mandelson worked with PR spinner Matthew Freud, the late Sir Clement Freud’s son, on the Millennium Dome. The pair have partied together on many occasions – including at Freud’s then marital home, Burford Priory, and most famously with George Osborne, Oleg Deripaska and Nat Rothschild in Corfu.Pictured top: Paedophile Sir Clement Freud (right) lunched with Gerry (left) and Kate McCann in Praia da Luz in Portugal in July 2007, two months after their daughter’s disappearance. Mrs McCann later praised the risotto as “the best she’d ever tasted.” Pictured below: Ghislaine Maxwell pictured at the launch of a book about Sir Clement’s brother, Lucian, titled ‘Breakfast With Lucian’ in 2013 by Geordie Greig. Also in the image are Nicholas Coleridge, Piers Morgan, an unknown child, Geordie Greig and Ariadne Calvo-Platero.
Matthew Steeples suggests devious Dominic Cummings might actually be the best asset bungling Boris Johnson has got left; the king of distraction has made Jennifer Arcuri go away
Aside from consoling himself with the weak warblings of morose ministers who’ve been drafted out to lackadaisically laud him, most would suggest Dominic Cummings is the loneliest man in politics this Sunday. Instead, in reality – though no one’s got around to publicly saying it (yet) – this modern day Mandelson could still prove to be Boris Johnson’s most useful asset.
Hidden away somewhere deep in Downing Street in his beanie hat, this lookalike of Compo from Last of the Summer Wine crossed with Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper in the House of Cards has achieved one very important thing this weekend: Cummings has made the tawdriest elements of the Jennifer Arcuri story disappear from Sunday’s front pages.
Whilst Cummings’ wife, Mary Wakefield, certainly didn’t help the initial narrative with her clearly confused and contradictory account of how the pair had lived during their time with coronavirus in The Spectator, she certainly set in place curiosity as to where and in the company of whom the PM’s closest henchman had been sleeping. Then, when this Oxford graduate went “off on one” with his arrogant utterings as he clambered into his Land Rover Discovery yesterday, Cummings actually pulled a blinder.
Subsequent revelations as to whether the senior adviser to the Prime Minister attempted a rendition of Theresa May’s “wandering in the wheat fields” and boogied in the bluebells are surprisingly neither here nor there. Aside from quite rightly exciting anger from the public due to his hypocrisy, Cummings, in true Machiavellian fashion, has instead just shifted the news agenda away from BoJo’s very own bedroom behaviour.
In a clear example of the ‘distraction technique’ coming into play, Cummings’ travails have made everyone forget the sordid sexual relations ‘Bonking Boris’ had with the American founder of Hacker House. According to a most reliable source close to Downing Sttreet, Arcuri – a woman whom believes she has “been thrown under a bus” by her former lover – was about to give a “kiss-and-tell,” but has now retreated to her bunker. For now, ‘Bungling Boris’ can stay home and stay safe; the blabbering bird has (for now) been belted-up.
Pictured top: The finest examples of modern day distraction technique spinners in politics (both in reality and in fiction) have to be Dominic Cummings and Doug Stamper.
(Not So) Sexy Time with Jen and Dom – Jennifer Arcuri’s alleged attempt to kiss-and-tell about her indoor activities with Boris Johnson were supposedly put on hold this weekend due to the outdoor antics of Dominic Cummings dominating the news.
Elsewhere on social media and taking a break from sharing his enjoyment of Vimto and dislike of Jeremy Clarkson, the “laureate for our fractured times” turned Pan Macmillan published novelist Brian Bilston shared a poem he’d prepared about Mr Cummings. It follows.
Tweedle Deviant and Tweedle Deviant – Is Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson’s brotherhood of bumbling balls-ups about to be brought to an end? The public are most definitely braying for blood.
Matthew Steeples suggests BBC Radio 4 has truly let itself down in having run out of episodes of ‘The Archers’ during the COVID-19 lockdown
Closet fans won’t admit it, but The Archers is an essential part of life for many in Britain and beyond. Be it tuning in for 15 minutes with a G&T before guests arrive for supper on a week night or splurging with the omnibus edition on a Sunday whilst preparing a hearty roast, this is a radio show that in April even had one of its many fan clubs “invaded by Nazis and pornography.”
Whilst it is understandable for the makers of television soaps – programmes that, after all, require all manner of social interaction in their creation – to have run out of episodes, one would have thought that the producers of The Archers would have had a plan to see themselves through a crisis.
Sadly, they didn’t and from the 3rd to 24th May no new episodes of the world’s longest running drama are being broadcast. Whilst the BBC think it perfectly acceptable to play reruns, many ‘Archers Addicts’ (myself included) have been left despondent and feeling like ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.’ After all, where’s Peggy Woolley and her wartime spirit when we most require this soapland matriarch?
As Nigel Farage ludicrously suggests Britain is “a country of doubtful democratic legitimacy” (in spite of it giving him the Brexit he so desired this very year), we join those suggesting that this furious Firestarter is still very welcome to leave
“This incident has confirmed my worst fears about the country Britain is becoming” wrote Nostradamus-like Nigel Farage in The Telegraph on Tuesday evening. The same Farage, that is, that was celebrating Boris Johnson and Brexit on 31st January in Parliament Square; the same Farage who finally had the Darling Buds of May mixed with Last of the Summer Wine pastiche version of Britain he has for so long dreamt of.
Farage, at that moment, was “optimistic” and “celebrating the free world” and whilst braying about his dream having finally come true, boldly went as far as to state: “This is the greatest moment ever in the history of our great nation.”
Now, it’s all gone so horribly wrong. After having a visit from the police as a result of breaching lockdown restrictions that ordinary people have willingly obeyed, Farage angrily proclaimed of the police: “I was astonished and, although I remained polite, incredulous. I replied: ‘I’m not going to take that.’”
Continuing his diatribe about what he calls the “new police state” run for the “sneerocracy,” hypocritical Farage – whose two children have German passports (which allows them continued free movement in Europe) – concluded: “I don’t know if I will be stopped and fined if I attempt to do my job again. However, I will look at the shipping forecast. Without question, on the next calm day they will come again, and I will be there to cover this scandal.”
Perhaps, instead, of meddling at a time of pandemic lockdown when his interventions are most definitely not required, this berk could just adapt the advice of Norman Tebbitt and get in a boat. Nigel Farage could sail away to somewhere he’s actually wanted – that being his very own mecca, Trumpland. There, in the manner of Dick Whittington, this fervent Firestarter might even find the streets paved with currency to replace that that he used to take in very, very generous EU expenses.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in stoking a new war with the press (but strangely not including ‘The Sunday Sport’) just prior to the commencement of their case against Associated Newspapers, have yet again proved themselves as nothing but ridiculous attention seekers suggests Matthew Steeples
In a way you can’t blame the “tone death wastrels” that are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their latest move. In announcing they’ll childishly be ignoring the likes of the Daily Mail and The Sun completely henceforth, one can fathom that they think that such a strategy will make their ‘problems’ go away. Frankly, these entitled brats will very deservedly find quite to the contrary.
In a statement that appears to have been written by someone with no grasp or command of common sense or correct use of grammar, sent at the height of a global pandemic killing thousands each day, attention seeker ‘MeGain’ has achieved exactly what she wants: A return to herself garnering acres of press attention each and every moment. This mendacious madam has utterly no shame – after all, for her, it’s always just been the “me, me and more about bloody me” show – and in calling her out Andrew Neil is quite right. In a tweet, the veteran broadcaster remarked: “Their solipsism is amazing. Can’t they just consign themselves to oblivion for a while? Or at least hire someone who can write a press release in clear, decent English” and now this wicked wench will find to her cost that the silent majority will agree. We have all heard enough and more and more sympathy is switching to poor old Thomas Markle – a father who has been treated utterly abysmally by a deviant who’d put herself in the White House if she thought it might get herself just a bit more fame.
On Friday, the first hearing relating to Associated Newspapers publishing ‘The Modern Day Mrs Simpson’s’ correspondence to her father is due. Plainly, thus, this badly advised move is related to stoking the media up as part of a strategy to fight that case. It won’t work as the public are not as stupid as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex think, but most amusingly as one Dr Midd pointed out on Twitter: “Notice that Meghan and Harry haven’t included the Sunday Sport in their blacklisting, a victory for quality journalism.”
The full statement from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex:
As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now settle into the next chapter of their lives and no longer receive any publicly funded support, we are writing to set a new media relations policy, specifically as it pertains to your organisation.
Like you, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex believe that a free press is a cornerstone to any democracy – particularly in moments of crisis. At its best, this free press shines light on dark places, telling stories that would otherwise go untold, standing up for what’s right, challenging power, and holding those who abuse the system to account.
It has been said that journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex agree wholeheartedly.
It is gravely concerning that an influential slice of the media, over many years, has sought to insulate themselves from taking accountability for what they say or print – even when they know it to be distorted, false, or invasive beyond reason. When power is enjoyed without responsibility, the trust we all place in this much needed industry is degraded.
There is a real human cost to this way of doing business and it affects every corner of society.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have watched people they know – as well as complete strangers – have their lives completely pulled apart for no good reason, other than the fact that salacious gossip boosts advertising revenue.
With that said, please note that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be engaging with your outlet. There will be no corroboration and zero engagement. This is also a policy being instated for their communications team, in order to protect that team from the side of the industry that readers never see.
This policy is not about avoiding criticism. It’s not about shutting down public conversation or censoring accurate reporting. Media have every right to report on The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, good or bad. But it can’t be based on a lie. They also want to be very clear: this is not in any way a blanket policy for all media.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to working with journalists and media organisations all over the world, engaging with grassroots media, regional and local media, and young, and up-and-coming journalists, to spotlight issues and causes that so desperately need acknowledging. And they look forward to doing whatever they can to help further opportunities for more diverse and underrepresented voices, who are needed now more than ever.
What they won’t do is offer themselves up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion.
We are encouraged that this new approach will be heard and respected.
The publications that the couple will not engage with not engage with henceforth are:
As #SaveTheSunNewspaper trends on Twitter, an analysis of the sorry state of the British press should act as a wake-up call to our nation suggests Matthew Steeples
Yesterday, ‘Save The Sun Newspaper’ was all over Twitter. Those clicking the hashtag were not taken to a page bemoaning the fact that the Rupert Murdoch owned paper has lost £68 million in the last year alone, but to a Go Fund Me campaign that has raised over £16,500 that will be donated to the Essex Coronavirus Action Urgent Food Bank Appeal.
Set up by an Essex based food bank campaigner named Simon Harris, #SaveTheSunNewspaper garnered support because of the intense dislike for a newspaper that some claim is “not fit to wipe their arse with” whilst others (especially the people of Liverpool, a city where it is mostly banned due to their crass reporting of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster) condemn it for its “lies” and “bigoted” reporting.
Whilst the ‘fake’ hashtag was about helping foodbanks, on Sunday night, the Guardian’s Roy Greenslade highlighted a genuine problem for the British press. In an article titled: “Why our newspapers might not survive the contagion of coronavirus,” the media commentator observed: “It is the bleakest of ironies: the biggest news story in a lifetime is killing off the very industry that exists to report it. Coronavirus is destroying newsprint newspapers across Britain, delivering the coup de grace to businesses that were already in the process of dying.”
Whilst it has been for long known that traditional media has struggled to cope and find a way to exist and maintain revenue streams in a period where online and social media have battered it, coronavirus, it appears, will be the death knell for many a print newspaper.
Just like, for example, the restaurant sector, which will likely see many establishments fail to reopen once this pandemic is over due to them not having the resources to get their staff back and pay their rent and suppliers, many print newspapers – most especially local titles – will not weather the storm. As Greenslade points out, “it seems inconceivable that publishers, already struggling to fund journalism, will return to the previous status quo.” Going further, he remarks: “That’s because the status quo was, itself, one of perpetual fragility in which publishers were engaged in the delicate task of managing newsprint decline while, in parallel, seeking to create a digital journalism business model.”
Here comes an epoch of change and with newsrooms across Britain currently completely empty, publishers will indeed start to rationalise when so-called “normality” returns (in whatever form that takes). Expensive city centre offices will be shut and like cancer, profitless titles will most likely be permanently closed down. This will not be a loss that should be glorified and it will not be something that should celebrated; without good journalism, we’ll all be the poorer. Those thinking we can rely on the Twitterati for news are in for an era of the emperor’s new clothes and they’re in for a future where fake news will quite wrongly reign.
The Duchess of Sussex will be deservedly slammed if she takes £1 million to give a “warts-and-all” tell-everything interview on ‘Oprah’ suggests Matthew Steeples
Things have not quite gone to plan for the former Meghan Markle of late. A major annoyance appeared in the form of a petulant pandemic and it having taken her off the front pages, bang has gone this murky money-grabber’s ability to rake in as much moolah she felt she justifiably deserves.
Now, set for big bills thanks to Donald Trump announcing (quite rightly) that the US will not be paying her and her dimwit, “helpless plus one” husband’s security bill, ‘The Modern Day Mrs Simpson’ has found herself in a bit of a quandary. Thankfully for her, in typical style of a woman who threw her own poor father under the bus, it seems, a billionaire ‘bestie’ has charged in and is likely set to provide the perfect solution.
In this morning’s Mirror, it was reported that ‘MeGain’ is disgracefully “about to drop a bombshell on the British royal family” and will be giving a £1 million “warts-and-all interview” to the “US telly powerhouse Oprah Winfrey.” They rather ambitiously term it “the biggest interview of the decade” and suggest that now “she’s very much her own boss,” the ex-turned-wannabe-famous again actress is viewing it as her chance to make her “stunning move.”
In response, we join those suggesting that the Duchess of Sussex has yet again proven herself to be nothing but self-centred and self-serving. Of course she won’t be, but this meddling mazuma-absorbed madam should be utterly ashamed of her sorry self; we expect her efforts to deservedly go down the same way as Sarah, Duchess of York’s car crash interview on 60 Minutes in 2011.
