Those regular readers of this blog will have read previous posts on the sad demise of the once great local paper, the Edgware & Mill Hill Times and it's stablemates. This fine group of papers has morphed from a great and independent paper, into a mouthpiece for the Barnet Conservative regime running the Town hall. It looks to me as if there is a hotline from the Barnet Tories to the editor, with a seemingly endless stream of "helpful" stories. Rather oddly, stories which may damage them don't seem to surface, or if they do the disappear just as rapidly. Take for example the news that the Tories want to privatise Hendon Cemetary. Does this see the light of day? Well it does if you read VickiM or the Barnet Council Watch blog. Given that it's stuffed full of my nearest & dearest, I feel rather strongly about it. We all remember the Westminster Cemetary scandal. Strangely, no sign of this story on the Bugle's News website.
What do we have? Well there is the story of how Damian McBride could be slung out of the Finchley Labour party for starting rumours about Tories. Clearly this story is highly damaging to Labour and rightly so. There is one tiny problem. I thought journalists were meant to do a bit of digging for their story. I thought they were meant to get a little bit of balance. It seems that these days at the Times, they can't be bothered beyond a quick call to Andrew Dismore. The thing is that if they had bothered to look, they've got a McBride scandal on their doorstep. McBride was sacked as an advisor for thinking of starting a website full of slurs & nasty rumours. Have any of the journalists at the Times looked at what is going on locally? David Miller runs the Barnet council watch website. He is a Conservative, his mother is a Conservative peer. David and his mother have been subject to a coordinated campaign of smears, innuendo & lies, purely because he is in dispute with a faction of the local party.
It is clear to anyone who could be bothered to investigate, what is going on & who is behind the scheme. At it's very mildest, this cyberbullying & intimidation takes the form of planted questions at Council meetings which portray Mr Miller as an obsessive and a waster of public money. This practice has been deemed to have breached Mr Miller's rights, but has there been a public apology to Mr Miller?
I'm all for the McBride's of this world getting booted out of their local parties. The Tories have a great opportunity locally to show Labour how it's done. I'm sure that if the Edgware Times could be bothered to ring Mr Miller, he'd give them all the ammunition they need for a great scoop.
9 comments:
The point is David Miller has had 'beef' with every single leader of the Conservative Group in Barnet. He denies it but its true!
Secondly... if David Miller had grown a pair of kahunas he could have actually asked to speak to Mike Freer (get the name in for the google alerts) and had it out with him so to speak, but no, instead he has to pick up his handbag, place it in the middle of his front room and create like a child who isn't getting his own way and lets face it, he hasn't got his own way has he now? No he hasn't...
It all started with Underhill under Victor Lyon's regime when indemnity was granted to some members of the opposition and David has stamped his foot constantly ever since, doing anything he thinks he can (with the help of a few other spineless people who call themselves Conservatives) to try and make the local Conservatives daft, stupid and so on... but he hasn't succeeded at all.
Now there is no smear campaign against Dave as much as he wishes and probably fantasises that there is. In the beginning a few sad people would go and read what Dave and his mate Dan former councillor with a big old chip on his shoulder Hope had to say and this went on for some few months and they would twitch and get annoyed and now no-one is even bothered because at the end of the day no one cares what Dave thinks. Infact there are often bets within the local party as to which tit bits of information which have been released to a few people (specially chosen I might add)make it onto Dave's blog and how quickly they get there. I have done quite well with my guessing.
However, he is a small fish in a big pond, he hasn't got the balls to call Mike Freer (come on google) and speak to him, instead he sits at home with his cyberfriends and blogs... How sad!
No smear campaign eh?
How would you describe your comment there then 'do call me dave'?
Clearly he's getting right under your skin.
Perhaps you'd care to grow some Hawaiian sorcerers and declare your real name so you could have it out with Mr Miller so to speak.
Or perhaps you'd rather sit at home and post nasty comments on blogs from behind your pseudonym... How sad!
When I stop laughing at 'crackhead' / do call me dave I may have a reply...
"Do call me Dave",
You criticise David for his lack of balls. You do have the option of revealing yourself. That way your comment would have a degree of credibility which is lacking from an anonymous post. You are not Damian McBride are you?
“Do Call Me Dave” says: “…there are often bets within the local party as to which tit bits of information which have been released to a few people (specially chosen I might add)make it onto Dave's blog and how quickly they get there.”If Dave and his pal(s) don’t care what I write and think that nobody reads my blog, why are they going to such desperate lengths to find my sources?
"Do call Me Dave"
I forgot to thank you for confirming that the Barnet Tories have a campaign of harrassment and cyberbullying against Mr Miller.
Your own comments would contravene the councils guidelines on cyberbullying.
You are clearly very close to the centre of power and your comments clearly indicate an agenda against Mr Miller.
Your statement that the Conservative cabinet take bets on which cock up Mr Miller will expose next is breathtaking. This seems to confirm that you have experience of bookmaking?
If I was a journalist at the Bugle I'd certainly be speaking to Mr Miller today
do call me dave, I'm really interested for you to provide a list of the articles that don't call me dave has written based on your, so called, planted information!!
I suspect the silence will be deafening....
Oh and hey - what's all this Barnet Bugle about... you're damaging my good brand www.barnetbugle.com !
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