Tag: singing

  • Hero of the Hour 2023 – Oscar Award Winning Actor James Martin

    Hero of the Hour 2023 – Oscar Award Winning Actor James Martin

    As the modest ‘An Irish Goodbye’ actor James Martin wins an Oscar, we join those celebrating his truly deserved success and his becoming the first star with Down’s Syndrome to win at the Academy Awards

    Many readers of The Steeple Times are big fans of the North Yorkshire born television chef James Martin and one of our readers, Gary Hazell, is involved in distributing his eponymous gin. 50-year-old farmer’s son Mr Martin brings joy to many every Saturday on ITV1 and his “silky smooth, flavor rich gin” most definitely goes down a treat; his passion for cars both classic and modern is also clear and he is most certainly just the kind of role model the nation needs.

     

    After winning a BAFTA in February for his role in the short film An Irish Goodbye and last night – on the very day of his 31st birthday – adding to that with an Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards, another James Martin is now also making waves. Here, indeed, is a Northern Irishman most definitely headed to becoming one of the best-loved and most deserved luminaries of 2023.

     

    This particular James Martin is a rising star actor whose career began when he was a guest on his father Ivan Martin’s U105 radio show on Father’s Day and Christmas Day in his youth.

     

    Of this in December 2014, the radio presenter remarked of his son: “I never look at my son James and think: ‘There’s James and he has Down’s Syndrome.’ I just think: ‘There’s James.’ It has always been that way… James is a remarkable young man and I admire him so much. He has never let his disability hold him back. He is an ambassador for Mencap and he has spoken at the European Parliament and to the Assembly at Stormont.”

     

    Responding about his father in the same interview for the Belfast Telegraph, the undoubted star of last night’s ceremony in Los Angeles added: “My dad and I are very close… We have great craic and a lot of banter… Dad is also supportive of my acting… I love to act and want to be a good actor.”

     

    The 23:29-minute film was the second collaboration between co-directors Tom Berkeley and Ross White. It was released on 4th March 2022 and of his son’s success winning an Oscar for it, Ivan Martin today told BBC Radio Ulster: “All I ever wanted was for James was that he’d be happy and, I tell you what, he’s happy now… It’s been a journey. You get to the Oscars and everybody keeps saying the prize is getting there, but, truth to tell, you want to win and I had my doubts about it because one of the opposition films was a Disney film and they had it in the last week… They had really been ramping up the promotion for it, but, calm heads win the end… A film we can all be proud of… It’s just crazy. There were a few tears shed, but what an achievement. Just delighted.”

    Subsequently James Martin appeared in the BBC’s Ups and Downs and starred opposite Anna Friel in ITV’s Marcella and last night he was well and truly celebrated. Speaking ahead of An Irish Goodbye being named the Best Live Action Short, Martin shared:

     

    “The timing of it has been just perfect. You know, you can’t plan somebody’s birthday to be on the Oscars. So, it’s a big day, [but] I just want to enjoy it really, just enjoy the experience.”

     

    “I was just in the airport going down the escalator and [I heard some say:] ‘Well done An Irish Goodbye.’ ‘I’m just thinking to myself: My God this is amazing.’”

     

    “I always say to people, never judge a book by its cover. Not just getting a BAFTA, but going to LA is a big deal… It’s just nice to be included.”

     

    Later, after his win and having had the 3,000 audience sing Happy Birthday to him, the modest-to-his-core actor told BBC News: “We’re just so proud to be representing Northern Ireland. To be on that stage in front of all of our cinematic heroes – it was a special moment.”

     

    An Irish Goodbye – which was written and directed by Tom Berkeley and Ross White and also stars Seamus O’Hara, Paddy Jenkins and Michelle Fairley – has been described as a “black comedy following the reunion of estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan following the untimely death of their mother.”

     

    Going further in an 18-page press notes release, the 23:29-minute film’s production team added:

     

    “Under the watchful eye of odd-ball parish priest Father O’Shea, the brothers’ pained reunion is worsened by the fact Turlough must now make new care arrangements for Lorcan, who has Down Syndrome.”

     

    “A robust and dedicated farmer, Lorcan’s dream of continuing to work the land he grew up on is thwarted when Turlough decides he’s sending him to live with their aunt on the other side of Ireland.”

     

    “But when the brothers discover an unfulfilled bucket list belonging to their late mother, Lorcan senses an opportunity: he’ll only agree to leave the farm once he and Turlough have themselves completed every single wish on their mother’s list… All one-hundred of them.”

     

    Today, we join all those saluting the actor James Martin and urge readers to join us in raising a glass to his latest award with a snifter or two of the chef of the same name’s London Dry Gin. Cheers!

     

    The full film can be watched on BBC iPlayer by clicking here.

     

    Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party.

     

    Oscars 1
    ‘An Irish Goodbye’ is a short film written, produced, and directed in 2022 by Tom Berkeley and Ross White. The film stars James Martin, Seamus O’Hara, Paddy Jenkins and Michelle Fairley and is set on a farm in Northern Ireland.
    James Martin and Ivan Martin
    The award-winning actor with his radio presenter father, Ivan.
    Oscars 2
    On-stage to collect their award; the team behind the film used their acceptance speech to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the star-of-the-show. Co-director Ross White also stated: “Deary me, thank you so much the Academy for this incredible, incredible honour. Thank you to our fellow nominees, all the nominees for your work, and your work it inspires us so very, very much. Thank you to everybody back home and Northern Ireland who helped us make this film. We wish we had the time to list you all here, but you know who you are.” He then continued: “There’s something very important we’d like to speak about as well. This award is actually the second most important thing about today, because it’s this man’s birthday. He’s out here in Hollywood, wearing a leopard print suit jacket. We’d love to use the rest of our time up here to sing for James.”
    James-Martin-Motors-Into-Gin
    The actor’s English namesake… ‘The Steeple Times’ reviewed ITV1 ‘Saturday Morning’ presenter James Martin’s London Dry Gin in January this year and lauded it as showcasing “tradition with a twist.” To purchase a bottle, click here and do join us in urging the pair to team up for a joint tellybox appearance; it’d make for great viewing.
  • Not Rockin’ Sir Cliff Richard – Creepy, Christian Crooner’s Christmas 2022 Album Panned

    Not Rockin’ Sir Cliff Richard – Creepy, Christian Crooner’s Christmas 2022 Album Panned

    One-time friend of paedophile Rolf Harris gets panned for his ‘rendition’ of ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’; Sir Cliff Richard gets called out as a “dinosaur” singing “boring rubbish” reports Matthew Steeples

    “It’s Cliffmas time” cringeworthily croaked The Scotsman’s Fiona Shepherd before giving the latest from “seasonal specialist” Sir Cliff Richard just two out of five stars for his Christmas With Cliff album. She opined: “One doesn’t like to speak ill of a legend but the eternal teenager is now sounding his age.”

     

    During an appearance on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen last week as part of his PR peddling rounds, an over-Botoxed berk this publication has often branded a “creepy Christian crooner” (the Christian part is included because he continually bangs on about his religious tendencies and not because I have any anti-Christian bias), predictably yet again raged that he doesn’t receive enough airtime. “Pathetic,” he later raged to Newstalk Breakfast of the royalty payments he rakes in and then moaned that younger, fresher talent gets too much attention.

     

    Going further on Saturday Kitchen, the ever boastful 82-year-old shared also that John Lennon had once told him that he was “the best thing ever to happen to British music.” Sadly, as has been the case since the Beatle’s December 1980 assassination, the late Mr Lennon has not been available to confirm or deny Sir Cliff’s ridiculous claim that “before [me] there was nothing worth listening to in British music.”

     

    Online, unsurprisingly, this laughable loon was called out over his latest nonsense. On Twitter, one suggested Sir Cliff looked “disturbed” whilst another added “his rockin’ is ridiculous.” If you do decide to join the 45,000 who’ve watched the ‘official video’ on YouTube, as they used to say on the BBC’s Crimewatch, “don’t have nightmares, do sleep well.”

     

    Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party.

     

    Pictured Top – Sir Cliff literally, as one observer remarked, “killing” the song ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.’ He “crucified it,” they quite rightly concluded.

     

    Screeching
    Scaring the public seems to be on the agenda for Sir Cliff Richard this Christmas. With a face destroyed by Botox and an overexposure to sunbeds and Bajan beaches, here is a sight that would be enough to have put even the Bernard Matthews off his turkey nosh-up.
    Cilla Black funeral
    Scaring the public at is something he’s done regularly and repeatedly before; an example comes in the form of his August 2015 rendition of ‘Faithful One’ at Cilla Black OBE’s funeral. The faces of the priests to the left of him (as he attempted to ‘sing’ in a manner more suited to an appearance on ‘Top Of The Pops’) are telling of their disgust at his discourteous behaviour in a house of worship.
    The shocking moment this one-time friend of the paedophiles Rolf Harris and Sir Jimmy Savile wrecked a funeral was captured in video and will horrify anyone who ever watches it.
    Topless
    In the past, Harry Rodger Webb, as he was born, has spared no chance to get his top off. Clearly believing himself to be a sex symbol, the ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ and ‘Saviour’s Day’ singer finally, to the relief of the public, decided to spare the world from any more sights of his Botoxed body in 2021 and we hope he will keep it that way.
    Loose Women
    In November 2016, “Peter Pan of Pop” Sir Cliff Richard revealed that he “cried on his kitchen floor” and announced: “I was weeping, it was just like a deep well. And I got a message from someone that said no hole is deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” In the same year, of his calendar sales, he pompously prattled: “Mine leaves David Beckham standing” and makes Kylie Minogue’s look “meagre.”
    Wine Gordon Ramsay
    Sir Cliff’s associations with the wines he produces have not always proved fruitful either. In 2006, appearing on Gordon Ramsay’s ‘The F-Word,’ the then 75-year old had a meltdown during a blind tasting. After sipping one unnamed offering, the crackpot Christian crooner announced: “That’s rubbish. I wouldn’t pay for that. It’s tainted, it’s insipid, it tastes like vinaigrette. I’d never buy that.” Ramsay, then 49, responded by remarking: “Cliff, that’s your wine.” The singer is said to have answered: “Young man, go f**k yourself.”
    Jimmy Savile
    Sir Cliff Richard with the late paedophile Sir Jimmy Savile.
    Sir Cliff Richard Lord Boothby
    Sir Cliff Richard with the late paedophile Lord Boothby.
    Rolf Harris
    Sir Cliff Richard OBE with his ‘friend,’ the convicted, sadly still living paedophile Rolf Harris.
    John McElynn
    Sir Cliff Richard with his “long-term companion,” a former Roman Catholic priest named John McElynn. In his 2009 autobiography, the ‘singer’ remarked: “It has been so rare for me to find friends I know like me for myself, I am not always the best judge of character.” Going further, the goody-two-shoes added: “I’ve never wanted to trash a hotel room. My band always used to say, Cliff never trashes a hotel room. When he goes in, he usually cleans up, hoovers, checks the curtains are straight. I can’t imagine anything more childish than trashing things, which is what a lot of rockers did.”
    One of Sir Cliff Richard’s worst attempts at making ‘music’ – which one critic slammed more accurately as “nauseous noise” – came in the form of ‘Rise Up’ four years ago. It was universally panned and in response the “star” complained that radio stations were being “unfair” in not giving him airtime. He’s not given up repeating that rant ever since.
  • The Nonsense of One Britain, One Nation

    The Nonsense of One Britain, One Nation

    Nikolay Kalinin joins those mocking the “godawful silliness” of the One Britain, One Nation campaign and slams it as anything but true patriotism

    It seems that because five years have passed since Brexit, the government has decided that the only problem that now needs solving is the public’s supposed lack of patriotism – and so they have decided to make muscular unionism an official government policy.

     

    The first hellish component of this ‘plan’ is the One Britain, One Nation day, named after the campaign group of the same name, which according to its website aims to “create a strong, fair, harmonious and a proud British Nation – celebrating patriotism and respect for all our people.”

     

    The campaign has even produced a song which was performed by schoolchildren, which was so disturbing that even GB News host Kirsty Gallacher stated: “I don’t want my children singing that”, even going as far as calling the tune “propaganda”.

     

    The campaign promoted much-expected backlash on social media, with many comparing the campaign to something from the Hitler Youth, while LBC host James O’Brien said on air: “If I played you (the song) before Brexit and said that the Department of Education is encouraging all children in the country to sing this song at school, I don’t think you would have believed me.”

     

    It seems that the government haven’t learnt their lesson, because American-born Tory MP for Beaconsfield Joy Morrissey announced recently on Twitter that she will be campaigning alongside the British Monarchist Society to “put a portrait of Her Majesty in every home, company, and institution that would like one” adding: “It is time to rediscover our pride in being British!”

     

    As expected, the response on social media was dominated by condemnation, with many calling out the campaign as pointless at a time when the pandemic is the issue that needs focusing on. Journalist Ian Dunt responded: “If these people had the slightest idea what there is to be proud of about Britain, they’d not be coming up with this godawful silliness.”

     

    The indy100 meanwhile wrote in their article about the issue: “The Tory party are almost becoming post-ironic. Perhaps Morrissey is angling for the Queen to bestow some sort of honours upon her, to which we say – nobody likes a teacher’s pet.”

     

    I am not against the idea of putting up pictures of the monarchy in one’s home; we all have the personal freedom to do that, and I respect it. However, when an MP from the ruling party starts a campaign aiming to put up pictures in every person’s home, this begins to look like an act of utter ridiculousness and an attempt at indoctrination.

     

    Morrissey also seems to have forgot to read the room, because a recent YouGov poll revealed that only 4% of the people in the UK have a portrait of the Queen in their house, which means that the public is simply not interested in the idea of having a picture of the monarch put in their sitting rooms. What Morrissey has done here is fail the most important task for an MP – to know, understand and react to what her electorate wants and needs.

     

    Regarding the One Britain, One Nation campaign, I am not against teaching children about their country. Obviously, children should learn about their country and the communities within it, but why should the government force the schools to teach this romantic image of the nation to the children, when they could just give them all of the knowledge and let the children decide how they feel about their country? That would be much better, because not only does it reflect the idea of personal freedom, but it also allows children to strengthen their critical thinking.

     

    I also find it extremely ironic how these ludicrous announcements were made at the same time when Savanta ComRes published a poll revealing that even five years after the EU referendum, the people in this country are still divided over the issue, with the results showing that 51% of the people would vote remain if the referendum was conducted in 2021.

     

    If the government truly cares about uniting the people of this country, why not try harder to fix the divide between the more prosperous parts of the south and the less well off parts of the north? Why not, also, instead, give more money to local councils as opposed to spending it on a ‘royal yacht’ that will be nothing but a showboat for Boris Johnson’s ego? That would be true patriotism.

     

    Gavin Williamson
    Education secretary and “Tory love rat” Gavin Williamson’s decision to back the “brainwashing” One Nation, One Britain campaign has been described as “hyper-creepy” and “stomach churning.” The campaign is supported by, amongst others, “dandruff disaster” Sir Malcolm Rifkind and “get on yer’ bike” Lord Tebbit.
  • The Madness of #FindMaddie

    The Madness of #FindMaddie

    As #FindMaddie trends once again on Twitter for no apparent reason, ‘The Sun’ rehashes a stupendously stupid story about a psychic claiming the ‘missing’ child will become a famous singer in 2022 or 2024

    Aside from a crackpot psychic named Michael Schneider ludicrously suggesting he “knows” that the body of Madeleine McCann is somewhere in a forest six miles from where she ‘disappeared’ – information he miraculously gathered with the help, supposedly, of God and Google – there’s nothing new to report in the case of a child ‘disappeared’ after its parents left it alone so they could live-it-up with their tapas munching mates.

     

    This morning, however, yet again, The Sun thought it relevant to share that the continually discussed since 2007 topic was again trending on Twitter. They did not report of the £12.5 million in public funds so outrageously misallocated and wasted on a search for a poor bairn with a wonky eye that would have been found by now if it could have been found at all given the huge rewards offered, but instead returned to the tale of yet another psychic.

     

    This time, the red-topped rag commented:

     

    “Last year US police psychic Fia Johansson said Maddie was alive and living in Koln, Germany.”

     

    “She said: ‘She’s alive, I can see that she is in Germany. She has no clue about her other family. She was very little, she doesn’t remember anything about the family.’”

     

    “Johansson claimed the missing girl may be reunited with her family in 2022 or 2024 when she will become a famous singer.”

     

    One is simply left asking: “Is this a good use of journalistic resources and why, instead, doesn’t The Sun devote their energies to helping other families of missing people in their searches for their lost loved ones?”

     

    The time has come for this pointless search to be ended and it is time for the Metropolitan Police officers assigned to a case they’ve failed to solve to be reassigned to other tasks.

     

    Madeleine McCann sightings
    A Freedom of Information request by ‘The Sun’ in October 2016 led to British police revealing that they had followed up on 8,685 alleged sightings of Madeleine McCann in 101 countries. Goodness only knows how many more bogus sightings have attracted their attention since. Now is the time to put a stop to this fruitless search and to instead dedicate precious resources to the search for missing people who there genuinely is a prospect of actually being found.
    Madeleine McCann sighting TikTok
    Elsewhere on Twitter, one user claimed that an image of a child they believed to be a remarkable likeness for Madeleine McCann had been shared on TikTok. @EmoEmms moaned: “This dude on TikTok literally has proof that Madeleine McCann is still alive and in Portugal and people aren’t doing sh*t, I’ve got chills down my spine, that is definitely her same chin nose cheeks everything.”

    Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL 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 Kate McCann 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 7’?

     

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

     

    • 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?

     

     

     

  • Batty Fox

    Batty Fox

    Nikolay Kalinin analyses Laurence Fox’s decision to pull out of the Batley and Spen by-election and suggests this batty man’s days in politics are nearly numbered

    As if Labour hasn’t had enough losses this year despite numerous revelations regarding the Conservative government’s utter incompetence, their retention of control over the Batley and Spen constituency is under serious jeopardy.

    One of the reasons for this – you may be surprised – is the withdrawal of Reclaim Party candidate and leader Laurence Fox and independent candidate Paul Halloran from the contest, which they justified by saying: “We cannot in good conscience stand and risk splitting the vote and condemning Batley and Spen to any more years of Labour control.”

    Fox also mentioned in his statement that a major reason for his decision to withdraw is the events at the Batley Grammar School, where a teacher was suspended and received death threats after showing a cartoon of Muhammed from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which Fox called “a blight on our free, tolerant, fair and democratic society.”

    Nevertheless, Fox also mentioned in his statement that he would be inviting both Conservative and Labour candidates to a meeting with the citizens of the constituency “very soon to discuss tolerance in the UK.”

    It’s very hard to understand how Reclaim could have split the vote had it stood in the election, but most likely they would have successfully capitalised on the grammar school incident. They would have probably have painted it as an oppression of freedom of speech, thereby convincing more right-wing people to vote and preventing the Conservatives from winning the seat.

    One thing we can conclude from this episode however is that Fox is not intending to go anywhere anytime soon. Even though this loony was humiliated by YouTuber Niko Omilana at the recent London mayoral elections, he is showing great determination to make his party successful.

    Still, we have to keep in mind that much of the reason why Reclaim is known by many people is because of Fox’s utter insanity and because the very, very wealthy financier Jeremy Hosking is strangely not yet tired of funding his operation. The people will eventually move on to better politicians, and Hosking will realise that his large investments into Fox’s party of clowns has not proved beneficial. All in all, the days of Laurence Fox’s political career are quite deservedly numbered.

    Laurence Fox tweets about football
    Yesterday, seeking yet more attention, 43-year-old Laurence Fox took to Twitter to condemn the England squad as “millionaire woke babies” for taking the knee. He continued by suggesting he hopes England will lose in the first round of the Euros and added: “I’m embarrassed to be British.”
    In spite of wasting a huge amount of Jeremy Hosking’s money – said to be upto £5 million – Laurence Fox’s 2021 London mayoral election campaign was an utter disaster. He won 47,634 votes, achieved just 1.9% of the vote and thus effectively spent £104.97 for every vote the Reclaim Party received. As a result, Fox lost his £10,000 deposit paid to London Elects, the Greater London Authority team responsible for organising the election of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly as he failed to achieve the 5% of votes or higher required to retain the deposit. The public, however, may now find themselves in a worse situation – Laurence Fox might return to making awful music condemned as “more Chelsea Travelodge than Chelsea Hotel.” Of it, in January 2020, the ‘Guardian’s’ Michael Hann observed: “Laurence Fox’s music doesn’t sound as if it had to exist. It sounds as if it exists because he had the wherewithal to make it, and because his name meant there would always be people willing to give it a plug. The very definition of privilege, really.”
    Jeremy Hosking
    Aside from being the co-founder of Marathon Asset Management, University of Cambridge educated Jeremy Hosking is a shareholder in Crystal Palace F. C. as well as the owner of the Gravetye Manor hotel in Sussex. He previously funded the Conservative Party, Vote Leave and the Brexit Party prior to becoming financially involved with Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party.
    Batty Laurence Fox
    In September 2020, ‘The Steeple Times’ suggested Laurence Fox had “morphed from a much loved tellybox treasure into a tedious twerp.” In the time since, he’s got even worse.
  • Crackpot Cliff Can Still Breathe

    Crackpot Cliff Can Still Breathe

    ‘The Daily Mail’ gets over enthusiastic in sharing news of creepy crackpot crooner Sir Cliff Richard’s new album, ‘Music… The Air That I Breathe’ whilst only 18 fans react on YouTube

    A year after bouncing around cryptically announcing “they’re never going to take me down” with his disastrous Rise Up album, creepy crackpot Christian crooner Sir Cliff Richard has returned to share what the Daily Mail’s Eve Buckland bizarrely termed his “dashing looks.”

     

    Going further of a man she also rather over ambitiously described as a “singing legend,” Buckland joined the soppy singer in moaning about the “star’s” songs not being played on the radio often enough as “unfair.” She also announced the arrival of his “newest music,” Music… The Air That I Breathe.

     

    Surprisingly, however, Buckland did not reference the most famous ever crier-on-the-kitchen-floor and self-declared “genuine international celebrity’s” previous claims of being supposedly cheated out of winning Eurovision by General Franco. She also avoided the issue of his calendar sales “leaving David Beckham standing” (whilst actually flopping) and strangely made no mention of his friendships with Lord Boothby, Rolf Harris, the Kray brothers and Sir Jimmy Savile. Funny that. She’s most definitely a Faithful One.

     

    Pictured top: Emboldened plainly by another visit to the botox bar, Sir Cliff Richard announced his ‘Music… The Air That I Breathe’ on YouTube on Tuesday 29th September. One of just 18 fans that reacted to him sharing this news and informing them that they’d have to pre-order responded by moaning: “Don’t make us wait a month.” An orderly queue is most definitely not required.

     

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    Twitter: @SteepleTimes

     

    After Sir Cliff Richard announced ‘Music… The Air That I Breathe’ on YouTube, only 18 fans responded with comments. No doubt ‘Crackpot Cliff’ will declare this a conspiracy of similar proportions to that of General Franco stealing his supposed Eurovision win.
    Sir Cliff Richard’s previous attempt at ‘music’ – which one critic slammed more accurately as “nauseous noise” – came in the form of ‘Rise Up.’ It was universally panned and in response the “star” complained that radio stations were being “unfair” in not giving him airtime.
    Another disaster for this friend of the paedophiles Rolf Harris and Sir Jimmy Savile came in the form of him treating the funeral of Cilla Black like a pop concert. The faces of the priests to the left of him (as he attempted to ‘sing’) are telling of their disgust at his behaviour.
  • 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.

     

    Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

    Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

    Twitter: @SteepleTimes and @M_Steeples

     

  • Fergus and Judith Wilson

    Fergus and Judith Wilson

    Fat former boxer and Toad of Toad Hall-like figure of fun Fergus Wilson and his equally badly dressed Hyacinth Bucket-like wife, a former maths teacher named Judith, banned “coloured people” from renting the 1,000 properties they own in Kent “because of the curry smell at the end of the tenancy”. They were also revealed to refuse to let housing to “battered wives”, single parents and zero-hours workers in March 2017 and of them, the advocacy group Hope Not Hate remarked: “It’s almost as if [they have] taken a tick box to offend every vulnerable group in Britain”.

     

    When taken to trial for using a mobile phone whilst driving, racehorse owning Mr Wilson – who also has a conviction for assaulting an estate agent – was fined £565 after ridiculously trying to claim he “was singing into a drinks carton that he was holding to the side of his head”.

     

    The name of one of their horses – ‘Gone Too Far’ – sums up the most recent actions of this widely disliked duo perfectly.

     

    Badly dressed bigoted property tycoons Fergus and Judith Wilson – Fat former boxer Fergus Wilson and his badly dressed Hyacinth Bucket-like wife banned “coloured people” from renting from them in Kent

  • Tom Read Wilson

    Tom Read Wilson

    Tom Read WilsonBerkshire born singer, actor and sports massage therapist Tom Read Wilson described himself as “a cultural throwback” when he appeared on the BBC show The Voice in February 2016. (more…)

  • Dominic Minghella: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    Dominic Minghella: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    The Steeple Times asks Isle of Wight born producer and scriptwriter Dominic Minghella: “What’s on your mantelpiece?” (more…)