Tag: campaign

Arcuri Attacks App

Boris Johnson’s alleged ex-mistress Jennifer Arcuri slams NHS coronavirus tracking app and suggests: “There is no way I would download that!” … but she is set to go on Channel 4’s ‘Hunted’

Just when Boris Johnson believed the Dominic Cummings travel scandal had (quite literally) been put to bed the press talking about his own nocturnal antics with his American “technology teacher,” the meddling minx Jennifer Arcuri has started to get her own back.

In a very short ‘exclusive’ interview buried deep in the Mirror, Arcuri – whom promotes herself on social media as someone “with more brains and drive than two or three British politicians put together” – told the paper:

“There is no way I would download [the NHS coronavirus tracking app] app. The government can say they’re doing the best to keep it secure, there’s just no guarantee it’s 100 per cent secure or the data is going to be kept secure, encrypted and used only for this. I don’t think people should give away their freedoms.”

“Anything like your personal health data in a government database being used in some obscure app just raises all kind of flags for me. It became very apparent that the NHS was ill-equipped for a cyber attack. I don’t think tracking Covid-19 is an effective way of using tech money or trying to cure one’s health. I do not believe it is an acceptable use of government time, energy or money.”

Elsewhere, on her Twitter account, Arcuri recently retweeted a December 2019 feature about herself by Techcrunch editor-at-large Mike Butcher for the New Statesman. In it, the author referenced how the far-right “Trumpsexual” paedophile apologist Milo Yiannopoulos used to attend the Hacker House co-founder’s parties [Note: We’re not sure why anyone would be proud of having that lunatic on their premises] and beneath that she retweeted a post by The Sunday People. It linked to a feature announcing she’ll supposedly be “starring” in a “special celebrity version of hit Channel 4 show Hunted.”

With his alleged lover no doubt set to be plied with booze on a tacky reality television show, ‘Bosie The Clown’ must be delighted; it’s time for ‘Deviant Dom’ to “Fire Up the Quattro” and head off on another road trip. This time though, Dom, just don’t go via Barnard Castle.

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Boobs out – Jennifer Arcuri pictured out campaigning with Boris Johnson.

How twee – Boris Johnson snapped having a cup of tea with Boris Johnson.

She’s having a laugh – Jennifer Arcuri’s Twitter account handle. She describes herself as: an “entrepreneur” and “fearless” and claims to have “more brains and drive than two or three British politicians put together.” She directs the media to contact her at [email protected]

May 31, 2020
Barbara Smoker (1923 – 2020)

A promoter of “causes many of us now take for granted,” Catford born campaigner and humanist activist Barbara Smoker believed in surviving “on her wits” and “making an extra bit on the horses.” She once “embark[ed] on a crusade around the neighbourhood, telling all the kids that there was no Santa Claus… [so that she could prove to them] they were being made fools of, and I was only saving them from this indignity” and amongst her many other pronouncements was to announce that “an eternity in heaven – that would be hell.” Pro-alphabet reformist Smoker also claimed to have manufactured the first ‘Make Love, Not War’ badges and in 2013 gave the following advice in The Oldie: “Don’t always be obedient. Obedience is overrated. You’ve got to work out your morality for yourself, not do everything you’re told. Obedience can be more of a vice than a virtue.” Amongst her written works were My Godforsaken Life and Good God! A String of Verses to Tie Up the Deity.

April 24, 2020
Hero of the Hour – The Duke of Westminster

Criticism of the 29-year-old Duke of Westminster for quietly giving £12.5 million to the UK’s coronavirus response is most unfair; any anger should instead be directed at bailout demanding billionaires like Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green

The richest under thirty in the world, 29-year-old landowner, Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster has shown generosity in giving £12.5 million to “provide support to NHS staff, key workers and their children and families.”

Quietly announcing his move without seeking any fanfare through his Westminster Foundation on Twitter, the seventh Duke – known to his friends as ‘Hughie’ and like his prison reform campaigner sister, Lady Edwina, credited for being both “low key” and “down to earth” – commented:

“On behalf of my family and everyone at the Grosvenor Estate, I want to say a huge thank you to all our amazing NHS staff and everyone providing critical frontline services. We are all humbled and incredibly grateful that you are working tirelessly to keep us safe and keep the country functioning.”

“NHS staff and key workers don’t work in isolation. They have children and families whose health and wellbeing will also be highly impacted by this crisis. As they keep us safe, I want to help provide as much support to them and their families as we can. Our donation will help create a Family Fund within NHS Charities Together to provide food, respite, rehabilitation and positive mental health support to NHS staff and their families.”

“While the impact of this crisis is being felt immediately, the virus will sadly also affect people’s lives long into the future. That’s why I’m keen to support the longer-term scientific and socio-economic response to the epidemic. Through these donations, my Foundation will work with a range of fantastic charities and organisations who are able to help vulnerable people in the difficult months ahead.”

We join those saluting the Duke of Westminster for his laudable donations and suggest others with similarly large bank balances follow suit. It is now time for the likes of the greedy pigs Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green to take heed of this generous young man’s actions and put a stop to their nefarious demands for government bailouts; instead, they too ought to dip their hands into their very deep pockets and finally put their money where their almightily large mouths are.

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April 16, 2020
Save The Free Press

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.

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April 13, 2020
Nissan IS Leaving

Crowdfunded advert van campaign used to illustrate the lies told by Brexiteers to those working at Leave.EU’s headquarters

The Vote Leave campaign used its bus to tell lies about the NHS and Brexit and now a crowdfunded advert van campaign is returning their untruthful allegations to them.

Sharing their message loud and large, Remain supporting @ByDonkeys parked the vehicle outside Lysander House – the headquarters of many of Arron Banks’ businesses and the registered address of Leave.EU – on Catbrain Lane in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol and displayed tweets from Nigel Farage amongst others.

Led By Donkeys, a grassroots campaign group that launched three weeks ago, has already raised over £99,000 and plans to use the money to display embarrassing tweets by Brexiteers across the land.

To support Led By Donkeys, click here.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0uuDBp_ujY

February 7, 2019
A Victory for Babar

IFAW secure a ban on the sale of most items of ivory in the UK with the assistance of Michael Gove MP and ‘Fake or Fortune’s’ Philip Mould

Elephants love Wednesday, and so will you.

Elephants remember Wednesday as if it was only Tuesday.

Anthony T. Hincks, author.

Last week, the International Fund for Animal Welfare announced that the Ivory Bill had been approved in the House of Commons and will now go for Royal Assent.

Superb news for elephants in the regard that this will close most elements of the UK ivory market, The Steeple Times has long supported this cause. Prior to Theresa May’s pointless election in 2017, Matthew Steeples, editor-in-chief, wrote to Lady Borwick – then the MP for Kensington. This bizarre woman, who was also President of The British Antiques Dealers’ Association and spoke frequently in the House of Commons in support of the ivory trade, responded with the bizarre comment: “[Doesn’t everyone enjoy] tinkling the ivories – playing the piano?”

Of the news, David Cowdrey, UK head of policy and campaigns at IFAW told The Steeple Times:

“This amazing news means we can give the best present ever to elephants this year; namely that another ivory market is closing and increasing pressure for all countries to do the same and help make the killing of elephants for ivory a thing of the past.”

“The Bill’s passage through Parliament was not easy and at times worrying. There were a number of attempts by the antiques lobby to water down the Bill, putting forward amendments that would have created more loopholes than a sieve full of water, but IFAW was on the case and briefed hundreds of supportive MPs and Lords throughout the Bill’s passage through Parliament. The end result was that all of those bad amendments were either withdrawn or voted down and we will now have one of the toughest ivory bans in the world, with a few very limited exemptions, which we put forward and supported.”

“The resulting Ivory Act will now ban the sale of most ivory items in the UK, which is fantastic news and we could not have done this without you. With elephant populations in crisis and an elephant poached every 26 minutes for the illegal ivory trade, it is vital to shut down the legal markets as urgently as possible so that they can no longer be used as a smokescreen for illegal killing and trafficking.”

“IFAW would like to congratulate everyone involved, especially our supporters and the UK Government for taking such swift action since pledging to introduce a ban. It has to be said that the Ivory Bill must be one of the quickest pieces of legislation to pass through Parliament in recent years and this reflects the importance that the Government attached to it.”

“I have to personally congratulate The Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, who has championed this Bill from our very first meeting and also the Ivory Bill team at Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for their amazing support and work in delivering a balanced and excellent piece of legislation. It is also important to note that all political parties supported this Bill and without their support it would not have succeeded.”

“When IFAW stepped up its campaign for an ivory ban in earnest about three years ago, we were starting from a bleak place. Though it had been included on manifesto documents little had been done politically, it was not a priority and was even dropped as a manifesto pledge by the Government at the last election. IFAW crafted a campaign that would create real change and brought in some vital players we needed to reassure and have on side, such as the Musicians’ Union, Music Industries Association and Association of British Orchestras to really understand their issues and work together as partners.”

“We spoke to museums and fine art dealers like Philip Mould and took their concerns on board, worked with them and built strong relationships that would shape the campaign and achieve real positive change for elephants. I also spoke to enforcement officers to understand what would work and what would not work, because at the end of the day any new legislation has to be enforceable and we want the people behind the illegal wildlife trade to be brought to justice. We lobbied hundreds and hundreds of MPs, Lords and civil servants. We wrote letters, IFAW published reports, gave evidence to select committees, conducted surveys, signed petitions and kept up a constant pressure, advocating real joined up solutions to the Government and all of our suggestions were taken on board.”

“As a public element to the campaign, we ran another UK ivory surrender, our fourth in the UK, where members of the public were encouraged to give up any unwanted ivory to be put beyond use and ensure it would not be traded. We continue to be overwhelmed by the huge public response to this, with hundreds of ivory trinkets and tusks donated to IFAW over recent months. The majority of donated ivory is passed to the relevant Government agency to destroy, and just a few items are retained for education work and publicity purposes.”

“Our partnership approach was supported and echoed by other NGOs and we all worked together to deliver one of the best and strongest ivory bans in the world. We now hope this will be replicated by the European Union and that they will act as courageously as the UK Government did to close down the EU to ivory and produce equally strong legislation. Our job will not be done until all ivory markets are closed and people only value ivory on a living, wild elephant.”

“It has been a hard, long and successful campaign thanks to all of your support and I hope has delivered a great Christmas present and one that we can all celebrate. The elephants won’t forget, and neither will we.”

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December 17, 2018
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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September 17, 2018
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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August 18, 2018
Bumbling Bucketheads

Theresa May’s decision to appoint Andrea Leadsom is indicative of where her bumbling bag of bilge government is headed

Last Thursday, at the count in her constituency, the rival candidate to attract the most attention to Theresa May was undoubtedly Lord Buckethead. Though it was his outfit that stood out, his ability to interest the electorate to his cause was actually far more impressive than a Prime Minister who’ll now go down as the “Weakest and Wobbliest” in modern history.

Yesterday, in appointing Andrea Leadsom as Leader of the Commons, May made her worst move since being allowed to form a minority administration. Incapable of coming up with suggestions other than “Brexit will bring a better deal for teaspoons”, Leadsom is known for exaggerating her CV, stating that men shouldn’t be allowed to look after young children as they might be paedophiles and receiving donations to her campaign via companies connected to British Virgin Island based tax havens. She is an extreme Brexiteer, widely disliked and generally considered “a little stupid” and given Mrs May needs to unite rather than divide, her appointment seems an especially curious choice.

As we head into even rockier waters with Brexit negotiations on the horizon, Leadsom is not what the Conservative Party let alone the country needs. She is not a woman who’ll unite her party and she’s not a woman who’ll bring harmony to our divided nation. And nor is Theresa May. It is time these bumbling buckethead imposters departed.

#BringHerDown #MakeJuneTheEndOfMay

Pictured above: Image 1 – Andrea Leadsom with a combine harvester – it is not clear how many wheat fields were naughtily damaged in the taking of that photograph; Image 2 – Prime Minister Theresa May with fellow candidate Lord Buckethead in Maidenhead, Berkshire on 8^th June – ‘Team Buckethead’ later captioned the image: “Space Lord meets woman who used to run through fields of wheat”.

Andrea Leadsom, plainly afraid of being asked questions, has blocked The Steeple Times’ editor Matthew Steeples on Twitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=182&v=hKjGaTytWM4

June 12, 2017
The Peoples’ Republic of Kensington

As Kensington turns red, ‘The Steeple Times’ reflects on the defeat of a woman nicknamed ‘#LazyBorwick’ , a win by a hard-left Labour blogger and a need for an MP who’ll now represent all constituents

Last night, in frankly the biggest shock of a shambolic and wholly unnecessary General Election, Kensington replaced one flame haired harridan with another and a Conservative majority of nearly 7,500 votes with a wafer thin Labour majority of just 20.

That a seat, where someone once commented: “Even a pig in a blue rosette would win here”, turned red shocked many but given the apparent laziness of the incumbent Member of Parliament, Lady Borwick, the result was a reflection of the constituency’s dissatisfaction with a woman whose reply rate to constituents was listed as just 18% on the website TheyWorkForYou.com.

Victor Emma Dent Coad represents something that many in the seat will not, however, want. Hard-left, and a Momentum supporter, this blogger undoubtedly can be credited as a dedicated councillor but her tangible lack of anger towards Brexit will come to disappoint the 69% of constituent supporters of ‘Remain’.

After the result was announced, Dent Coad, who was backed to the chagrin of a number of locals by Gina Miller’s ‘Best for Britain’ campaign, told those assembled:

“This constituency is a microcosm of everything that is wrong in this country after seven years of incompetent and uncaring coalition and Tory government”.

“I will do everything in my power in the next five years to make ‘One Kensington’ an example of the finest qualities of common humanity, mutual respect for all our communities and social justice to create a thoughtful, kind, co-operative and tolerant society where we can all prosper and thrive”.

Ousted Lady Borwick spoke briefly and added: “I wish Emma every success, but please be assured, as far as I am concerned, tomorrow I start the fight back for Kensington and the Conservatives”.

On Twitter, actor and local resident John Cleese responded: “Metro, The Mirror and the Evening Standard are blaming me for helping Labour’s chances in Kensington and Chelsea [sic]. Delighted my trick worked…”

Elsewhere, in response to an article published in April in The Steeple Times, a reader and associate of Lady Borwick going only by the name “Daniel M.’ remarked:

“You stupid, stupid people. You have destroyed Victoria Borwick’s majority and you should realise the impact that will have on the area. We do not suit Labour representing us and as someone who has worked with Victoria and knows her well I will tell you this: Shame on you Matthew Steeples. I am disgusted by your vendetta and demand you apologise”.

Ignoring this bitter Tory’s diatribe, Matthew Steeples concluded:

“Annabel Mullin deserves a worthy mention for having increased the Liberal Democrats’ share of votes cast from just 6.6% to 12.2% in spite of having no party structure behind her. Unlike machined up to the hilt Borwick and Dent Coad, she campaigned throughout the electoral area and now, as before, we have a constituency divided between the richer Tory south and the poorer Labour north”.

“Kensington might be perceived as the land of supercars and £120 million houses, but in fact, this is an area with a rife problem of homelessness and an area where people ‘buy-to-leave’ rather than to ‘buy-to-let’ let alone ‘buy-to-live’. Independent, locals businesses are being wiped out here and nowhere is it clearer that ‘money park London’ just cannot be allowed to continue unabated”.

“Emma Dent Coad, undoubtedly, secured an amazing win but it now remains to be seen whether she’ll represent ‘the many’ throughout Kensington or just ‘the cleverly focused few’ she so successfully targeted to secure her victory last night”.

Results (with percentage change from 2015 General Election):

Electorate – 60,594

Turnout – 38,677 (63.8%)

Majority – 20 for Labour (previously 7,361 for the Conservatives)

Emma Dent Coad, Labour Party– 16,333 (+11.1%)

Lady Borwick, Conservative Party – 16,313 (-10.1%)

Annabel Mullin, Liberal Democrats – 4,724 (+6.6%)

Jennifer Nadel, Green Party – 767 (-3.1%)

James Torrance, Independent – 393 (+1%)

Peter Marshall, Independent – 98 (+0.3%)

John Lloyd, Alliance for Green Socialism – 49 (-0.2%)

Pictured above: Ex-MP Lady Borwick with Theresa May; Emma Dent Coad after her victory on Friday

June 10, 2017