Tag: Daily Mail

United in Plastic

‘Bride of Wildenstein’ Jocelyn Wildenstein reunites with her lover Lloyd Klein; the plastic faced couple will marry at some point in the future

Yesterday, the world’s ugliest woman announced she is to marry the world’s vainest man in an exclusive feature in the DailyMail.com.

According to the paper, Jocelyn Wildenstein – a New York based billionairess by divorce commonly known as the ‘Bride of Wildenstein’ and ‘Catwoman’ due to her hideous feline-like face – will not actually marry her on-off fashion designer boyfriend, Lloyd Klein, until next year and also revealed: “You never know if you’re ready for a relationship.”

In the frankly ghastly interview with someone named Ben Ashford, Klein – whose startled looks also are also no doubt the result of a few visits to surgeons and scalpels – declared he himself designed the multi-million dollar 32-carat diamond ring he gave to Wildenstein and revealed he gave it to her at the Miami home where Gianni Versace was murdered on the twentieth anniversary of his death last month. He commented: “I said: ‘Jocelyn this was the day Versace died and this the day we will live.’”

Pictured above: Jocelyn Wildenstein looking her normal scary self and Lloyd Klein after he had his now fiancée’s fingers dug into his skin.

August 1, 2017
Public vs. Private

Matthew Steeples suggests respected actor George Clooney and publicity desperado Karen Danczuk provide contrasting examples about the ethics of paparazzi intrusion and media manipulation

Paparazzi intrusion and media manipulation are interlinked hot potatoes that look unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. Two very different examples emerged in recent days of very different behavior by so-called ‘personalities’ – yet each gives indication that something is not quite right with the situation as it stands.

Whilst ‘ordinary individuals’ – and such should include, for example, successful business people who do not choose to put themselves on any kind of public pedestal – unquestionably deserve privacy from press intrusion unless they do something criminal or opt to share details of something considered newsworthy, the issue of where is the line of public and private was importantly raised by George Clooney late last week. The actor promised to “prosecute to the full extent of the law” a magazine named Voici after they scaled the fence of his Lake Como home to take unauthorised pictures of his young twin babies, Ella and Alexander, and he is right to do so.

Whilst undoubtedly a public figure himself (and one whose fortune stems from such), Mr Clooney has a point. His offspring, through no fault of their own, have only become part of a media circus because of their parentage and the dangers that could result from their images being featured in the press are great. Stronger restrictions against unauthorised photography are indeed required internationally – especially in the domain of minors – and California, for example, was right to issue laws in 2013 that protected children from paparazzi cameras.

Elsewhere and though such publications as the Mail Online may thrive due to their enthusiasm for incognito shots, on Sunday that paper illustrated another type of shoddy journalism. In publishing a ‘story’ – if it could even be called such – about the tawdry ex-wife of the disgraced Labour MP Simon Danczuk, 34-year old Karen Danczuk, cavorting on a Spanish beach with her 26-year old “Spanish toyboy lover” as he proposed to her, that paper opted to mislead its readers.

Featuring images taken by an agency named Flynet Pictures, it is plain that Ms Danczuk – listed as a “current client” by Louise Clifford, the daughter of the jailed nonce and convicted sex offender Max Clifford, on the website of her Borne Media PR agency – staged the images contained in that article and that the Mail Online’s Stephanie Linning was, at the very least, complicit of playing along with what is nothing other than a moment of media manipulation. The public, however, did not fall for this and of the 320 comments on the article most were in the negative. One, which received 1,184 likes, remarked: “So it was a big surprise for her then with a camera on standby? Fixed photo opportunities!”

Shame on the Mail Online for falling for the desperado Karen Danczuk and her representatives and shame on Voici also for invading the Clooney children’s privacy. Such activities must cease and the sooner, the better.

Update: 8:30am, Monday 31^st July 2017 – Karen Danczuk has now blocked @SteepleTimes on Twitter. Something about ‘heat’ and ‘kitchens’ comes to mind.

Paedophile Max Clifford pictured with his daughter Louise Clifford prior to being jailed for 8 years in 2014 for abusing victims as young as 14 years old; Louise Clifford is now the PR of amongst others such greats as Karen Danczuk, Chloe Sims and Lauren Goodger and shockingly purchased her father’s “goodwill” in November 2015

July 31, 2017
Moron of the Moment – Milo Yiannopoulos

‘Trumpsexual’ paedophile apologist Milo Yiannopoulos stands on a radiator as Simon & Schuster reject his £7.6 million lawsuit

On Saturday, Milo Yiannopoulos shared a picture of himself standing on top of a radiator on Facebook. Whether he simply wanted to warm his shoes or actually believed such a move would create awareness about his recently released rant, a book named Dangerous, he again made himself appear as nothing but an idiot.

Yiannopoulos – a self-confessed “coalburner” due to his liking for “black guys for my love life, straight white males as employees, and girls as drinking buddies” – had received news Friday that his former publisher, Simon & Schuster, were “firing back at his £7.6 million ($10 million, €8.5 million or درهم36.7 million) lawsuit” for dropping publication of his work and urging a court to “throw out his meritless publicity stunt.”

In documents submitted to a court in New York, Simon & Schuster argued: “A publisher shall not be obligated to accept or publish the Work if it is in sole good faith judgment the Work is not acceptable to it.” They added:

“Yiannopoulos accepted [an advance] payment without protest, thereby sealing the accord and satisfaction and barring this lawsuit as a matter of centuries-old law… That should have been the end of this contractual matter. Instead, Yiannopoulos waited approximately five months to file this lawsuit, in a naked attempt to drum up publicity for the publication of his book, released days earlier, amidst baseless public statements that Defendant attempted to censor and silence him.”

In response, Yiannopoulos – whose suggestion that abuse of 13 year olds is not paedophilia caused outrage earlier this year – told The Hollywood Reporter:

“[Here in Simon & Schuster is] a client doomed to failure… I’ve hired Jeffrey Weingart and Stephen Meister. Stephen has represented Daddy himself – that’s my pet name for the president, in case you didn’t know – and we all know daddy picks winners.”

As with Trump and his ever-revolving set of staff, we’ll see about that but separately Saturday, this self-obsessed bore shared news by email of a “quick meet and great” in Florida. Yiannopoulos announced: “I will be in a makeshift swimming pool in the back of a pick up truck on a beach chair with my squad.” Charming.

July 30, 2017
Enough is Enough

Funding for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann must cease; £11 million spent with no result is evidence that enough is enough

Over £11 million has been spent in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann since the then 3-year old disappeared on 3^rd May 2007. The result? Absolutely no progress and a lot of unanswered questions.

Now, with the last round of public funding given to the element of the search known as Operation Grange by Theresa May in March set to run out in September, is the time to end the search. Enough is enough and in spite that some would suggest that the chances of finding the disappeared child is still there, the fact of the matter is that in ten years of following leads that have led nowhere resources that could have been allocated to other missing people have been squandered.

Last week, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Sun:

“A lot of potentially significant images and material were captured on previous trips to Portugal and we are still working on all leads…. The investigation continues with focus and determination. It is not winding down, it is not grinding to a halt. It is on going.”

Such sentiments will no doubt leave such people as Kerry Needham – whose 21-month year old son, Ben, disappeared in Greece on 24^th July 1991 – spitting feathers. As of 2015, a comparative sum of just £700,000 had been spent on attempts to find him and thus one is left asking why the child of two middle class medics is worth 93% more than the son of an ordinary working class woman.

In 2015, Ms Needham, after supporters of the McCanns cruelly suggested those backing her in her search for her child were “toxic”, remarked: “I have never criticised the McCann family. I have only every criticised the authorities for the way the two cases have been handled so differently.”

Kerry Needham

Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers

Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:

Why did the McCanns refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?

Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?

Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappear?

Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?

Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?

Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?

July 23, 2017
Enough is Enough

Funding for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann must cease; £11 million spent with no result is evidence that enough is enough

Over £11 million has been spent in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann since the then 3-year old disappeared on 3^rd May 2007. The result? Absolutely no progress and a lot of unanswered questions.

Now, with the last round of public funding given to the element of the search known as Operation Grange by Theresa May in March set to run out in September, is the time to end the search. Enough is enough and in spite that some would suggest that the chances of finding the disappeared child is still there, the fact of the matter is that in ten years of following leads that have led nowhere resources that could have been allocated to other missing people have been squandered.

Last week, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Sun:

“A lot of potentially significant images and material were captured on previous trips to Portugal and we are still working on all leads…. The investigation continues with focus and determination. It is not winding down, it is not grinding to a halt. It is on going.”

Such sentiments will no doubt leave such people as Kerry Needham – whose 21-month year old son, Ben, disappeared in Greece on 24^th July 1991 – spitting feathers. As of 2015, a comparative sum of just £700,000 had been spent on attempts to find him and thus one is left asking why the child of two middle class medics is worth 93% more than the son of an ordinary working class woman.

In 2015, Ms Needham, after supporters of the McCanns cruelly suggested those backing her in her search for her child were “toxic”, remarked: “I have never criticised the McCann family. I have only every criticised the authorities for the way the two cases have been handled so differently.”

Kerry Needham

Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers

Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:

Why did the McCanns refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?

Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?

Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappear?

Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?

Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?

Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?

July 23, 2017
The Sound of Theresa

In taking three weeks off for a holiday with her ‘Garden Gnome’ hubby, Theresa May has shown where her priorities lie

Whilst orchestrating the most appallingly run election campaign in recent history, Theresa May waxed lyrical about her naughty moments wandering in wheat fields. Now, our Prime Minister, at a time when most would consider themselves lucky to get even a few days off, is jetting off a three-week jaunt with her beloved ‘Garden Gnome-like’ husband, Philip.

Described by the Mail Online as an opportunity to “help her recover from the election disaster”, the couple’s trip will take in northern Italy and the Swiss Alps. No doubt Mrs May will release her inner Heidi and yodel as she wanders and no doubt the hills will come alive to her rendition of The Sound of Music.

July 21, 2017
Canvassing a Con

After a Chelsea chef who came out of nowhere named Michael Riemenschneider is revealed to be a “conman” in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, readers tell of his past form

As can only be expected of a paper that loves a bit of sensationalism this week’s Mail on Sunday’s ‘YOU’ got rather carried away in an interview with a “wealthy widow” named Flora Mascolo – a woman who claims to be a victim of, mind the magazine’s gushingly cringeworthy description, a “delicious romance soon turned sour” with a Michelin starred chef named Michael Riemenschneider.

Bizarrely, that Riemenschneider – a man whose first London restaurant, we noted in February 2014, was literally covered with images of his face and captions referencing his name – is lauded as a “handsome celebrity chef” in the feature by Margarette Driscoll is somewhat ambitious given several locals we contacted remember him as “podgy” and a “little bit greasy.” A well-known Chelsea restaurateur – where the Swiss born chef opened a replacement restaurant that few ever even got to hear of just months after opening and nigh on immediately closing his original Marylebone premises in summer 2014 – recalls an individual whose “ability to talk about himself and his achievements made me immediately question the truth of his claims.”

That Driscoll lauds this individual as “talented and dynamic” is perhaps fair given his “experimental cuisine” most definitely had many merits, but that she describes a man Mascolo herself calls a “coward of a man” and “somebody who was a lie, from the beginning” as “destined for similar success” to Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay is nothing but far fetched. Here was someone who opened in bizarre off-piste locations, insisted diners fitted into limited time spots and ridiculously thought he could limit customers to a set menu priced at £275 per head or a ‘cheaper’ one at £95 per head.

Riemenschneider, a man whose exploits are reported to have cost the widow of the co-founder of the Toni & Guy hairdressing empire some £2.27 million, is now supposedly bankrupt and living in Austria. Cars bought by him including a Mercedes-Benz GTS have reportedly been seized and of him Mascolo comments: “If you wrong me, you will remember my name. He didn’t know who he was messing with.”

A wealthy female reader of The Steeple Times contacted us to share her thoughts on the interview. She did not wish to be named but stated: “This strange, anything but handsome individual, pestered me on social media. He messaged me one day out of the blue in 2013 and he told me that we had friends in common. I am glad I did not fall for his attempts to lure me. Plainly, Mrs Mascolo did and I am sorry for her.”

She continued:

“This man wasn’t a ‘celebrity chef’ but, in fact, a Facebook stalker of ladies he thought had a bit of cash. In his messages to me, I quickly realised he was an individual who’d come out of nowhere and brought with him an ego the size of Harrods.”

“The journalist [Margarette Driscoll] gets rather carried away about his restaurant. It was in a sub-basement off Sloane Square and it didn’t even have a website. Nobody went there because nobody even knew about it. Where there’s money, there’s muck.”

Michael Riemenschneider will no doubt reemerge someday. He was certainly a good cook, but sadly he turned out to be an even better conman.

July 16, 2017
Viscount Porridge

Thrice bankrupt bigot Viscount St Davids banged to rights and set to be jailed Thursday; he blames Gina Miller as “untruthful” and Matthew Steeples as “an eavesdropper” and accepts utterly no blame for what he did

On Thursday, if he doesn’t turn up at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on time, justice will come knock, knock, knockin’ on Baron Strange of Knockin’s door.

Donald Trump supporter and serial bankrupt Rhodri Philipps (AKA 4^th Viscount St Davids, Lord St Davids, Baron Hungerford, Baron de Moleyns, Baron Strange of Knockin and, to the public and no doubt his new jailbird chums, plain old Mr Philipps) – a bigot whose insistence on being called anything other than Mister sealed his fate as the real life representation of Paul Whitehouse’s Rowley Birkin QC – was found guilty Tuesday of two counts of sending menacing messages on a public electronic communications network. After convicting him, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot warned the aristocrat: “The first port of call will obviously be a prison sentence.”

She added:

“I have no doubt the first post was menacing, you were offering money to have [Gina Miller] killed. A reasonable person reading the post would have felt a sense of apprehension at least, if not fear.”

“I don’t accept you didn’t understand the post could be shared. On Facebook users share and have shared any number of others’ posts – nothing is private about a Facebook post.”

“They were not funny, not a joke, they were sent when Lord St Davids was infuriated – they were not meant to be light-hearted comment, they were intended to cause apprehension among some of your Facebook acquaintances, not all as some clearly shared his views.”

“I find you knew when you posted these messages they might create apprehension in a reasonable person reading them in the multi-racial country we live in.”

Represented initially by a chubby dimwit American and Conservative councillor for Kensington (yes, one of them, a member of the worst council in Britain) named Andrew Rinker – a curious creature commonly known as ‘Rinker The Stinker’ in even the most polite circles – Philipps proved himself nothing but a nasty piece of work and a fool in the dock. He tried to blame me for “stalking” and “trolling” him and referenced me “a professional eavesdropper.” He claimed his trial was “political” and motivated because of his multiple titles and whilst his scumbag chum and cohort Tariq Siddiqi targeted me also via social media throughout the period, he was ultimately convicted simply because the Crown was able to prove he is nothing but an inept racist incapable of covering his own vile tracks.

Of the result, Kate Mulholland of the Crown Prosecution Service commented:

“This threat caused extreme concern to Gina Miller and although Lord St Davids claimed his Facebook friends would have been tolerant of his views, they were open to the public.”

“No-one should have these kind of menacing comments made to them or about them and where there is evidence of an offence the CPS and police will bring a prosecution.”

As I said previously, the law must now change: What goes on social media, doesn’t stay on social media. We must all be held accountable for whatever we post.

July 12, 2017
The Lady is a Snob

Lady Meyer makes snobbish remarks on Twitter; in doing so she again proves she’s herself nothing but ghastly

The infamously “Chanel clad” wife of Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain’s former “red socked fop” ambassador to America, is known for her curt manner and finger pointing ways, but recently on Twitter, she opted to again illustrate her true persona.

In a tweet late last month, Lady Meyer CBE – a woman whose insistence to point out the letters after name on her account also shows her obsession with social status – remarked:

“Righ [sic] vs left; Labour vs Con. It’s insane. Sadiq Kahn [sic] at a Chanel party tonight – now that is insane!”

Aside from providing evidence of her inability to spell, Theresa May supporter Lady Meyer’s disrespectful remark about Mayor Sadiq Khan PC tells all anyone needs to know: It simply proves this ghastly woman to be nothing but a snob.

July 9, 2017
Sandra Howard – What’s on your mantelpiece?

A 20-question interview with Sandra Howard – novelist, former model and wife of Conservative politician The Rt. Hon. Lord Howard of Lympne

The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

Seeing the upside of life and what’s to laugh at.

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

Perseverance pays.

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

Kim Kardashian’s bottom.

Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

Talking to my mother – She was a sage and a wonderful rock.

What might you swap all your wealth for?

A continuing, happy, healthy marriage.

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

That’s too taxing for my ‘small bear’ financial brain. Well above my pay grade.

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“At the end of the day” and I’m not mad about: “You know what?” (Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite phrase).

In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

It should begin at home and continue overseas. I’d hate to see our foreign aid budget cut. I support Addaction (to help people off drugs), Youth Epilepsy and Hospice UK.

The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

They rule our lives, sometimes for better and frequently for worse.

If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

All my closest (bridge-playing and witty) friends.

If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

Fresh crab, Dover sole, some delicious smelly cheese and a ripe mango. I’d eat it on Grand Anse Beach in Grenada, slipping in a last swim in that glorious clear sea.

What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

A Buck’s Fizz at breakfast isn’t a bad start to the day.

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

A cup of tea.

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

Other peoples’ – I’m a mess of nerves when giving one of my own.

Who is the most positive person you know?

My husband – Most of the time.

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

A day (or more) entirely to myself to write in peace and privacy, not doing any of all the stuff, emails etc. that gets in the way.

If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

A black cat – I think I’ve had lots of luck in my life.

If you were a car, what marque would you be?

A Mini Cooper is about my marque – fast, but I hope not flashy.

Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

I’m a passionate supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

Family photos, a pair of china cockerels and a vase of lovely lavender freesias.

Sandra Howard has quickly established herself as a successful author and journalist. She has written six novels; her latest, ‘The Consequence of Love’, is published on 13^th July. She was, in the 1960s, a leading photographic fashion model and lives in London and Kent.

Follow Sandra Howard on Twitter at @howardsandrac and like her page on Facebook at @sandrahoward76.

July 6, 2017