The Steeple Times

Category: EDITORIAL

Editorial comment from Matthew Steeples.

Our editor tells it like it is and he rarely minces his words

  • Bog Off Brexit

    Bog Off Brexit

    Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London

     

    Yesterday, sporting a Michael Portillo style shirt and a ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ sticker for comedy value, I joined the nigh on 700,000 people at the People’s Vote March in Central London.

     

    Though I expected to ‘march’  alongside my friends Gina and Alan Miller, we actually found ourselves in a somewhat chaotic ‘shuffle.’ Police and organisers, it seemed, could not cope with the numbers – only 100,000 had been expected – but the atmosphere was jovial yet focused on the gathering’s aim.

     

    I met people who’d traveled from places as diverse as Australia, Brussels and Rotherham and I must say some of the placards were brilliant. Ranging from the witty ‘No Deal Means Gucci Will Be More Expensive’ to the plain but clear ‘Brexit? More Like Brexshit,’ attendees got creative. Whilst a woman appeared dressed in a somewhat sexually provocative police costume with a poster claiming: ‘Political Sensitivities My Arse @MetPoliceUK Don’t Let Vote Leave Criminals Off The Hook,’ I also spotted a Boris Johnson lookalike waving and even a poor woman stranded on Park Lane in her G-Wagen.

     

    Overall, though ‘The One Armed Bandit’ did not get to actually hear the speeches from the likes of Deborah Meaden and Delia Smith, I thought the event a success. At least 670,000 – a number larger than the population of Britain’s fifth largest city – made their opinions known and it is now jolly well time Theresa May listened.

     

    #PeoplesVoteMarch #EndTheChaos

     

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    Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London. Bog Off Brexit – Matthew Steeples & Gina Miller at People’s Vote March – Matthew Steeples reports on his experiences at the People’s Vote March in London.

  • Bollocks to Brexit – Take Two

    Bollocks to Brexit – Take Two

    Matthew Steeples salutes Charlie Mullins and Pimlico Plumbers for continuing to say Bollocks to Brexit as Lambeth council attempt to force him to take his protest sign down

     

    Recently The Steeple Times saluted Pimlico Plumbers’ founder Charlie Mullins for erecting a giant ‘Bollocks to Brexit – It’s not a done deal’ sign on the roof of his Waterloo office. He was both saluted and criticised and now, in the wake of Lambeth Council trying to force him to take it down, the businessman has defiantly paid for similar signs to be erected elsewhere also.

     

    Speaking to The Guardian last week, Mullins remarked:

     

    “We had a sign there previously saying, ‘Nobody voted to be poorer’ for six months and Lambeth did not object. They say it has nothing to do with our business, but quite clearly it has everything to do with our business. If there is Brexit we won’t have a business.”

     

    “This is just bullying and the advert is not coming down. They will need to put me in prison before that comes down. I am just a business standing up for my rights.”

     

    Mullins has now funded electronic billboards to display the message at:

     

    • Kingston
    • Chiswick
    • New Kings Road
    • Fulham Broadway
    • Swanson Way
    • Clapham Junction
    • Kings Road
    • Cromwell Road (three signs)
    • Holland Road
    • Notting Hill Gate
    • Kensal Rise
    • Swiss Cottage
    • Finchley Road
    • Grays Inn Road
    • Pentonville Road
    • Shoreditch High Street
    • Bethnal Green Road
    • The Highway
    • Tower Bridge Road
    • Peckham High Street

     

    All at The Steeple Times celebrate Mr Mullins and his brilliant efforts.

     

    #BollocksToBrexit

     

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  • Outrage!

    Outrage!

    Matthew Steeples shares his views on the ‘outrage’ against Friday’s royal wedding and ‘death by Pret’

     

    People are very angry at the moment: They’re angry about Brexit and they’re angry about their sex lives, they’re angry about the cost of living in London and the price of milk. People are also very angry about the death of two people at Pret and Friday’s wedding of Princess ‘WhoGenie?’ (as they’re rather nastily now calling her) and Jack Brooksbank.

     

    Outrage, it seems, is everywhere and whilst the cost of security at the Windsor wedding should frankly be footed by the Duchess of York and her erstwhile husband, ‘Air Miles Andy,’ the nation should jolly well embrace the occasion and celebrate. Aside from ITV being the only channel willing to screen the joyous nuptials, it isn’t too late for Theresa May to do the decent thing: Why doesn’t she offer the moaners a public holiday and let them get thoroughly sloshed?

     

    Elsewhere, people continue to complain about Pret. Everyday article after article and newscaster after newscaster berates the chain over the most unfortunate death of two customers. Yes, it’s sad and yes it’s horrible but the truth of the matter is this: Pret has provided fine food to its customers for many a year and they also do something spectacular – they look after the most unfortunate people in our society, the homeless.

     

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  • Grenfell Ineptitude

    Grenfell Ineptitude

    Matthew Steeples suggests it is time to bring down the Grenfell Tower in the wake of news that £30 million has been spent on temporary accommodation for survivors

     

    Today The Independent revealed nearly £30 million had been spent on hotel rooms for surviors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Whilst this is utterly shocking – and also indicative of the fact that not nearly enough has been done to rehouse residents – it also acts as a reminder that whilst the tower remains standing, further costs rack up from bills associated with stopping it collapsing.

     

    Whilst some might argue the case for the 24-floor structure not being demolished as it serves as a ‘memorial’ to the 72 people who lost their lives there, others are, in my view rightly, calling for it now to be brought down. The possibility of replacing it with, say, a garden of remembrance seems one of the better options on offer but what should be the priority first is that the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea council do more to help the 150 households still waiting to move into permanent homes. Shame on them for their ineptitude to date.

     

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  • Bollocks to Brexit

    Bollocks to Brexit

    As Pimlico Plumbers’ founder sticks up a ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ sign on his headquarters and Gina Miller launches ‘End The Chaos!’, The Steeple Times predicts Brexit will NOT actually happen

     

    Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, is well-known for having supported Gina Miller’s successful Article 50 case at The Supreme Court.

     

    Now, in a brilliantly bold move, this multi-millionaire businessman has stuck a huge sign on his company’s headquarters in Waterloo that reads: “Bollocks to Brexit, It’s not a done deal.”

     

    Shared on Facebook by a Facebook group named ‘Pants to Brexit,’ an image of this gigantic yellow and black announcement comes just as Miller herself launched a new campaign called ‘End the Chaos!’ It also accompanied revelations of Tony Blair, Nick Clegg and Sir John Major holding “secret meetings” to establish how Britain could actually remain in the EU.

     

    We join Mr Mullins in saying: “BOLLOCKS TO BREXIT” and look forward to the imminent collapse of the mess that she who’s been too busy wandering in the wheatfields presides over.

     

    Please join those backing ‘End the Chaos’ – Let the people decide by clicking here.

     

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  • The Gamble of Greig

    The Gamble of Greig

    Will  ‘more toff than tough’ Geordie Greig take the ‘Daily Mail’ into the realm of rational? Matthew Steeples suggests that’s as likely as Jacob Rees-Mogg donning a Kappa tracksuit and dancing a jig with Diane Abbott

     

    Yesterday, in an opinion piece for The Guardian, Jane Martinson claimed new editor of the Daily Mail Geordie Greig “finds himself walking on a tightrope” as he juggles keeping Brexiteers, remainers, anti-immigrant readers and his pugnacious proprietor happy.

     

    In her overall observation, Martinson is entirely right. Greig’s arrival marks a major change at the paper in that he comes not from the world of political journalism of his “poisoner in chief” predecessor Paul Dacre, but instead is an Old Etonian who has edited “aristocrat’s favourite” Tatler magazine and written about the life of the louche father of fourteen and “unapologetically self-absorbed” portrait painter Lucian Freud.

     

    Described by The Observer in 2005 as “Britain’s most connected man” and married to a Texan, Greig, in many ways, harks back to the era of David Cameron and George Osborne’s politics. He, like them, lives in Notting Hill, is a “friend” of the “socialite” Oxford-LSE graduate wife of (the Mail’s owner) Viscount Rothermere, Claudia Clemence, and is even credited with persuading the former chancellor’s new boss, Evgeny Lebedev, to buy the Evening Standard in 2009. In this regard, I’d argue, this 57 year old is very much a key component of the establishment elite that is what I like to mockingly term: ‘The Club.’

     

    Greig comes from what can limply be termed “a nicer school of journalism” and despite his grandfather having briefly flirted with the far right when he joined the January Club, “an establishment ginger group for the British Union of Fascists,” he is himself seen to be cultural and no enemy of the postmodern era. This former fashion writer collects works by the pro-Margaret Thatcher, pro-Prince Charles collaborative artists Gilbert & George and supposedly has already “[ripped] out Dacre’s [old fashioned] panelling and chintz office and [brought] in his own [‘Notting Hill Set’ style] soft furnishings.” No doubt, the chattering classes will titter and suggest they come from OKA – the furniture emporium founded by Viscountess Astor (the mother of Samantha Cameron) that was sold to Investindustrial, the owners of Aston Martin, in January this year – but in doing so they have a point: Greig is most definitely more toff than tough.

     

    Whether “mild-mannered… by nature liberal, fiscally conservative” Greig will be able to replace Paul Dacre’s “I give my readers a daily hate” racist, homophobic, philistine, “enemies of the people” agenda at the Mail with something more liberal and tolerant remains to be seen. It does, however, seem as likely as Jacob Rees-Mogg donning a Kappa tracksuit and dancing a jig with Diane Abbott.

     

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  • Revolving Friends

    Revolving Friends

    Friendship is a ‘revolving door’ suggests Matthew Steeples; embrace the unknown

     

    One’s life, in terms of those we become acquainted with, is much like a revolving door. It is a door that operates at varying speeds dependent on some coming and staying and others coming and going more quickly than others. Sometimes, even, this door is known to repeat itself and welcome back old timers and sometimes it rightly bangs shut in such people’s very faces.

     

    Friends, alas, are often transient in how long they remain with you and last week, after reading an insightful article by Rhik Samadder of the Guardian, I got thinking about some of the most recent ‘revolvers’ to have passed through the doors of my life. Pertinently, Samadder remarked:

     

    “Seasons change, friendships fade, people die. But there are new relationships, jobs, houses, waiting to rise under the ground of your loss. Extraordinary things you know nothing about yet. That is why it’s good to make friends with the unknown.”

     

    He is entirely right and in this age where the majority have become totally absorbed by social media we must embrace just such.

     

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  • Lose the Loose

    Lose the Loose

    Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show

     

    I’ve always thought Loose Women to be nothing but gross – and in fact have even suggested there should be a male counterpoint titled Misogynist Men. Featuring an ageing bunch of blabbermouths, this lunchtime ‘chat show’ is about pandering to the lowest common denominator and allowing a set of ‘brash birds’ to ogle younger men and relive tales of their frankly unappealingly gross sex lives.

     

    Frequented by such has-beens as the ‘Inglorious’ apologist for Cliff Richard, Gloria Huninford, and the cackling cat Linda Robson, Loose Women stooped to a new low last week when Coleen Nolan made fellow panellist Kim Woodburn cry and caused her to storm off the set.

     

    In response, in her “only interview” on the incident, publicity seeking Coleen Nolan told the Mirror: “Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a bully. That would be the most hurtful thing people could call me.”

     

    Returning fire on Twitter, Woodburn stated:

     

    “Those Nolan sisters are just like the mafia, cross them and the mob are after you… fortunately I won’t let them break me, I’m much stronger than that! #loosewomen”

     

    Going further, in an interview with The Sun, the former How Clean Is Your House star added:

     

    “I was ambushed, it was disgusting. It was like a circus and I was there for some cruel entertainment. I want Coleen and her sister fired.”

     

    “They could have stopped that show. The one who had the ear mic could have stopped it. But they did nothing to curb it.”

     

    “I do go at people if they go for me. I hope I never live to see the day when a human being in her 50s and her sister could mock a lady sobbing on TV.”

     

    “They should not be on that show. And I will do all I can to get them off it.”

     

    Ofcom have received over 7,000 complaints about this debacle. They should investigate and ITV should do the decent thing: They should lose the Loose Women for once and for good.

     

    Sign a petition to have Coleen Nolan fired by clicking here.

     

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    Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle.Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle.Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle.Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle. Lose the Loose – Loose Women should be scrapped – Matthew Steeples suggests enough is enough after ‘Loose Women’s’ latest scandal; ITV should scrap this repugnantly gross TV show in the wake of the Coleen Nolan – Kim Woodburn debacle.

  • F*** Off Farage

    F*** Off Farage

    Nigel Farage’s return to “frontline politics” is going to bring nothing but division and diversion suggests Matthew Steeples

     

    Nigel Farage just can’t help himself: A failed candidate seven times in British Parliament elections and leader of UKIP twice, this bombastic brute is now “returning to frontline politics” in order to “challenge Theresa May’s ‘fraudulent’ Brexit plan.”

     

    A man of contradictions, Farage – who is anti-Prince Charles, pro-Vladimir Putin and in favour of the legalisation of handguns in the UK – wrote of his intentions in this morning’s Daily Telegraph in an article titled: “The time has come to teach the political class a lesson: I’m back fighting for a real Brexit.” In the opinion piece, he remarked:

     

    “Over the last few months, and particularly since the Chequers betrayal, scores of people have stopped me in the street to ask: ‘When are you coming back?’ Well now you have your answer: I’m back.”

     

    “Theresa the Appeaser has produced a set of ideas that are nothing more than a cowardly sell-out. With all this in mind, now is the time for action.”

     

    “It is now beyond doubt that the political class in Westminster and many of their media allies do not accept the EU referendum result. It is equally clear to me that, unless challenged, these anti-democrats will succeed in frustrating the result.”

     

    “Well, I’ve had enough of their lies, deceit and treachery. The time has come to teach them a lesson – one that they will never forget.”

     

    In response to this predictable publicity stunt, James McGrory, of the pro-remain People’s Vote campaign group, told The Guardian:

     

    “Nigel Farage has had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra, just without the success. If he was serious about making a return to frontline politics, he would stand to be an MP. I can only hope that Nigel Farage sticks to the promise he made live on TV to have a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal.”

     

    In reality, all this move shows is that Farage is nothing but self-motivated. In the past I’ve termed him a “man of the elite” but now I’ll go further: Nigel Farage is nothing but a self-serving meddler and yet again – mark my words – the insane nightmare he desires serving up to the British public will fall flat on its face.

     

    #ExitBrexit

     

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  • Falling Off The Cliff

    Falling Off The Cliff

    Matthew Steeples suggests the BBC’s decision not to appeal the Cliff Richard privacy ruling is very worrying for press freedom

     

    News that the BBC have decided not to challenge the Cliff Richard privacy ruling is not surprising but it also sets a worrying precedent.

     

    In a statement, aside from apologising yet again to the plainly strange Christian crooner, the Corporation thankfully, however, announced they would be taking its case to a higher level and stated:

     

    “The BBC is writing today to ask the Government to consider a review of the law in this important area to protect the right to properly and fairly report criminal investigations, and to name the person under investigation.”

     

    “There is a fundamental principle of press freedom at stake here and one upon which we believe Parliament, as our lawmakers, should decide.”

     

    They are quite right and given this ruling is tantamount to new legislation, this ultimately will go down in history as taking Britain down a very dangerous road.

     

    Pictured top: Convicted paedophile Rolf Harris with Sir Cliff Richard.

     

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