Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is right to speak out against those of the belief that social media trolls should simply be ignored suggests Matthew Steeples
As someone subject to daily abuse on social media at the hands of mostly deranged, aged right-wing trolls, I was truly impressed that the author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter this week to speak out against those of the belief that “it is best simply to ignore them.”
“I’m tired of this ‘don’t feed the troll’ advice,” remarked Rowling in one tweet. She continued: “Ignoring racist abuse leaves targets feeling isolated and unsupported. Hate loves silence, which it takes for consent” before adding: “|The overwhelming majority of people whose focus is ‘what the troll wants’ have never personally experienced abuse or threats. How about we focus on what the victims want? My experience is that most of them would really like the rest of us not to look the other way.”
Ms. Rowling is entirely right. After my involvement in a case that ultimately resulted in the jailing of the racist bigot Viscount St Davids last summer, I have since been targeted by a number of his supporters. These dangerous oddities have posted up to fifty offensive messages about me per day, harassed those close to me publicly and made threats to my person also. I will, like J.K. Rowling, not remain silent and I urge others facing such vile abuse to follow our lead.
Featuring 9 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, ‘The Owlwood Estate’ or more simply 141 South Carolwood Drive is described as “easily one of the city’s most iconic and historically significant properties.” Built in 1937 to the designs of Robert D. Farquhar in a “classic European Italian Renaissance” style, the estate was owned by Tony Curtis and Sonny Bono and Cher in the 1960s and has also been home to Joe Schenck, the first president of United Artists and a chairman of 20th Century Fox.
Now offered with designs for redevelopment by Bob Shapiro, the head of Sturmer Pippin Investments and CEO of Woodbridge Luxury Homes, the property offered also includes a sunken tennis court, a swimming pool and two guest houses.
Adam Rosenfeld of Mercer Vine is the realtor handling the sale.
The Owlwood Estate – The Numbers
July 2017 – Placed on the market for £136 million ($180 million, €153 million or درهم661 million).
September 2016 – Sold for £68 million ($90 million, €76 million or درهم331 million) to developer Bob Shapiro.
July 2012 – Placed on the market for £114 million ($150 million, €127 million or درهم551 million) by Dawn Arnall, “the widow of subprime mortgage profiteer Roland Arnall.”
2002 – Sold for £25 million ($33 million, €28 million or درهم121 million).
1999 – Listed for sale for £44 million ($58 million, €49 million or دره213 million) by Ghazi Aita complete with an adjacent property.
1978 – Sold to a “shadowy businessman” named Ghazi Aita for £3.2 million ($4.2 million, €3.6 million or درهم15 million).
1970 – Sold to Sonny and Cher for £568,000 ($750,000, €636,000 or درهم2.8 million).
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Farhad Neda rescued his disabled mother from the 23rd floor of the Grenfell Tower; they are the only survivors from the penultimate level of the building
Whilst others headed upwards tragically wrongly thinking a helicopter would rescue them, 23rd floor resident of the Grenfell Tower 24-year old Farhad Neda realised the best course of action was to get his disabled mother out.
Ignoring the advice of his neighbours, Neda – a mechanical engineering graduate and former hotel receptionist originally from Kabul, Afghanistan – hoisted his mother above his shoulders and completed a 240-foot descent to safety. He had to negotiate bodies in the stairwell and on reaching safety, both he and his mother lapsed into comas.
Neda – whose father sadly died after jumping from the burning inferno – told Channel 4 News last night that it was a “miracle” that he and his mother were the only people to survive from the level of the 24-floor building where they lived. He is a genuine hero and should be saluted as such.
Matthew Steeples visits Boisdale of Mayfair with restaurateur Nicky Kerman – and samples a marmalade infused gin cocktail (or three)
Though most will recognise Boisdale for its tartan décor, traditional cuisine and fine malt whiskies, this live music restaurant group’s most recent opening, Boisdale of Mayfair, is a place as well suited to afternoon drinking as anywhere in a locality stuffed to the brims with many a salubrious spot.
An afternoon visit late last month with the legendary restaurateur Nicky Kerman – himself involved in Boisdale of Canary Wharf but best known for his involvement in the heydays of both Drones and Scott’s in the era of Nigel Dempster and the late Diana, Princess of Wales – was a revelation. Whilst I rightly anticipated the most civilised of times, Nicky promised something he knew I’d love nearly as much: The email suggesting our meeting place, in red, enlarged capital letters was accompanied by the caption: ‘GIN’.
On arrival, we were guided to a most pleasant terrace outside this converted stable building just off Park Lane and there followed not only gin and tonics made with gins from Scotland and the South Coast but also a cocktail, pictured above, named the ‘Lady Marmalade’ (£9.50). This mix of marmalade infused Beefeater 24, Solerno blood orange liqueur, Mandarine Napoleon liqueur, fresh lemon juice and sugar was described to us as a “belting summer cocktail oozing fruity deliciousness” and boy indeed it was.
Boisdale of Mayfair, 12 North Row, London, W1K 7DF. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3873 8888.
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.
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’sStephanie 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 31st 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
‘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.
Enough is finally enough with press coverage about the late Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales has been dead twenty years. It is thus ludicrous that her family continue to have to put up with an endless barrage of articles raking over outdated nonsense about her and though it most definitely suits our government as they can bury yet more bad news about Brexit, the media truly should realise that enough is finally enough.
Whether the late royal said or did one thing or another is quite irrelevant to anyone alive today and though the history books may take note for the future, daily news reporting should move its focus to issues that actually affect our daily lives. The time to stop over-reporting on this saga passed surely in 2007; that it is still going in 2017 is simply outrageous.
Billionaire founder of Netscape has failed to sell his Palm Beach mansion in a year; it remains on the market for £105 million (or 754% more than he paid for it in 1999)
Four times married, a father of four and a collector of rather large gin palaces, Texan James H. Clark founded Netscape in 1994 and earnt $2 billion (the equivalent of $3 billion, £2.3 billion, €2.6 billion or درهم11 billion today) from that project when it was sold to AOL in 1998.
Clark paid just $11 million for a Palm Beach mansion named ‘Il Palmetto’ in 1999 (the equivalent of $16.2 million, £12.3 million €13.8 million or درهم59.5 million today) and spent four years renovating the 5.46-acre property. He placed it for sale for $137 million (£105 million, €117 million or درهم503 million) last August but has plainly failed to attract a buyer.
Built to the designs of the Swiss architect Maurice Fatio (1897 – 1943) as an “Italian Renaissance-style palazzo” in 1930, the house – which is also known as 1500 South Ocean Boulevard – is described by selling agents Sotheby’s International Realty as “without peer in Palm Beach.” The building was subjected to a four year renovation by Mr Clark, reportedly extends to around 44,200 square foot and aside from including 10 bedrooms, 14 full-bathrooms and 12 partial-bathrooms, also comes with a 20,000 bottle wine cellar and a second cellar for an additional 1,000 crates.
Architecturally “a series of pavilions connected by cloisters,” the main house is dominated by formal entertaining areas with 16th century carved ceilings and accessed from a private tunnel underneath the road is a 2-bedroom beach house with an infinity pool that “blends into the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean.” To the other boundary, on Lake Worth, is a boathouse with motorised launches for two vessels and a 2-bedroom apartment above.
Grosvenor Square apartment for sale; it comes with access to a private residents’ ballroom and will appeal to any fan of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’
Built circa 1958 on the site of an earlier house damaged during the war, a ground floor apartment within 17 Grosvenor Square in London’s Mayfair has gone on sale for £3.75 million ($4.9 million, €4.2 million or درهم18.1 million).
Offered on a lease with 40 years remaining, the 1,481 square foot property includes not only an impressive 29-foot by 17-foot drawing room but also two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It does require but modernisation but comes with a bonus in the form of access to a private residents’ ballroom measuring 55-foot by 22-foot.
That space supposedly can accommodate upto 350 people for a cocktail party and though said to be “rarely used,” it certainly could be the perfect space for any fan of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing to practice the Samba.
