The man who hates liberal Britain
January 3, 2014 5:04 AM Subscribe
“He articulates the dreams, fears and hopes of socially insecure members of the suburban middle class,” .... “It’s a daily performance of genius.” Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail
I do like "WOLVES ARE RETURNING" - just cuts to the heart of it dunnit? the only way it could be better is if it was wolves are returning and signing up for unemployment benefits
posted by The Whelk at 5:26 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:26 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
I really wish monied, educated urban liberals had as much power as the right thinks they have.
Right wingers thrive on a wildly exaggerated sense of false threat. It's how they keep themselves engaged, by lying to themselves that the evil hordes are a nanosecond away from overwhelming everything near and dear to them.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 AM on January 3, 2014 [6 favorites]
Right wingers thrive on a wildly exaggerated sense of false threat. It's how they keep themselves engaged, by lying to themselves that the evil hordes are a nanosecond away from overwhelming everything near and dear to them.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 AM on January 3, 2014 [6 favorites]
the only way it could be better is if it was wolves are returning and signing up for unemployment benefits
Surely those benefits could be denied on the basis that a wolf's profession is, well, being a wolf....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:46 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Surely those benefits could be denied on the basis that a wolf's profession is, well, being a wolf....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:46 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
I do like "WOLVES ARE RETURNING"
Presumably foreign maybe even Easter European wolves at that!
But it's no joke. Since the hoards of Romanians and Bulgarians flooded in on NYD it's some real Night of the Living Dead shit over here! Excuse me while I nail up some more planks at the window...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:05 AM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
Presumably foreign maybe even Easter European wolves at that!
But it's no joke. Since the hoards of Romanians and Bulgarians flooded in on NYD it's some real Night of the Living Dead shit over here! Excuse me while I nail up some more planks at the window...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:05 AM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
Oh and if you've not seen it before the classic Paul Dacre meeds Sid Vicious pix
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:07 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
Surely those benefits could be denied on the basis that a wolf's profession is, well, being a wolf....
Full wolf employment! You've never had it so good!
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:08 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Full wolf employment! You've never had it so good!
posted by running order squabble fest at 6:08 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Presumably foreign maybe even Easter European wolves at that!
I know that I am kind of making this thread all about the wolves, but I just have to say that I am utterly charmed by the idea of Easter Wolves. So much more majestic than ducks or rabbits, I kind of like the idea of celebrating the Sacrifice of Christ with a pack of wolves descending upon Easter dinner like, well, I suppose rather a lot like a host of Assyrians....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:31 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
I know that I am kind of making this thread all about the wolves, but I just have to say that I am utterly charmed by the idea of Easter Wolves. So much more majestic than ducks or rabbits, I kind of like the idea of celebrating the Sacrifice of Christ with a pack of wolves descending upon Easter dinner like, well, I suppose rather a lot like a host of Assyrians....
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:31 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Genji, the author said much the same thing about Easter Wolves in the print edition. You may have missed it, though, because it was on the fold.
posted by Pistache at 6:50 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Pistache at 6:50 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Again, this is a nationally read newspaper, that sets political agendas for ~60 million people.
To clarify, from the article, about this man and his ilk's evil*.
This year, the Mail reported that disabled people are exempt from the bedroom tax; that asylum-seekers had “targeted” Scotland; that disabled babies were being euthanised under the Liverpool Care Pathway; that a Kenyan asylum-seeker had committed murders in his home country; that 878,000 recipients of Employment Support Allowance had stopped claiming “rather than face a fresh medical”; that a Portsmouth primary school had denied pupils water on the hottest day of the year because it was Ramadan; that wolves would soon return to Britain; that nearly half the electricity produced by windfarms was discarded. All these reports were false.
* See: I can use the word too, you rabble-rousing, banality enabling, protofacist FUCK
posted by lalochezia at 7:00 AM on January 3, 2014 [14 favorites]
To clarify, from the article, about this man and his ilk's evil*.
This year, the Mail reported that disabled people are exempt from the bedroom tax; that asylum-seekers had “targeted” Scotland; that disabled babies were being euthanised under the Liverpool Care Pathway; that a Kenyan asylum-seeker had committed murders in his home country; that 878,000 recipients of Employment Support Allowance had stopped claiming “rather than face a fresh medical”; that a Portsmouth primary school had denied pupils water on the hottest day of the year because it was Ramadan; that wolves would soon return to Britain; that nearly half the electricity produced by windfarms was discarded. All these reports were false.
* See: I can use the word too, you rabble-rousing, banality enabling, protofacist FUCK
posted by lalochezia at 7:00 AM on January 3, 2014 [14 favorites]
Is the Daily Mail about politics or is it about design? The paper looks great. There are a lot of pictures, and the pictures are generally pretty compelling. Lots of candid/creep shots of celebrities in bikinis, alternating with nice photos of handsome celebrities who have never done anything wrong, ever.
The typeface is nice. The colour-scheme (the light-blue band) is also appealing. The paper is slightly glossy. The physical paper is a pleasure to regard.
The online edition is innovative as well. No paywall. Lots and lots and lots of photos accompany every story, and each photo as an explanatory caption. With the online edition, the page scrolls on forever (few of the other major papers do that online). Along the side there are a ton of photos, most of the of semi-naked celebrities. Other photos link to stories that are typically like viral YouTube videos - sob stories, amazing animals, terrible crimes.
The Daily Mail is really perfect for our internet age.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:37 AM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
The typeface is nice. The colour-scheme (the light-blue band) is also appealing. The paper is slightly glossy. The physical paper is a pleasure to regard.
The online edition is innovative as well. No paywall. Lots and lots and lots of photos accompany every story, and each photo as an explanatory caption. With the online edition, the page scrolls on forever (few of the other major papers do that online). Along the side there are a ton of photos, most of the of semi-naked celebrities. Other photos link to stories that are typically like viral YouTube videos - sob stories, amazing animals, terrible crimes.
The Daily Mail is really perfect for our internet age.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:37 AM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
Recent DM headline of undeniable middle-class scaring genius: British White Widow seen fleeing on a camel to Al Qaeda training camp hidden in a snake-infested Somalian forest.
posted by grounded at 8:50 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by grounded at 8:50 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Something, as a Guardian-reading foreigner living in London I need to remind myself - the Daily Mail circulation is greater than that of the Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, and the Independent PUT TOGETHER.
Just for when I feel too smugly safe and secure.
posted by C.A.S. at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Just for when I feel too smugly safe and secure.
posted by C.A.S. at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is the Daily Mail about politics or is it about design? The paper looks great
I always thought its graphic design was terrible and old-fashioned... which probably appeals to its readership
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:33 AM on January 3, 2014
I always thought its graphic design was terrible and old-fashioned... which probably appeals to its readership
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:33 AM on January 3, 2014
Exactly. The challenge with the intelligentsia (or people who consider themselves "sophisticated") is they don't understand what most people want and giving it to them, and would prefer to prescribe "solutions" and "what's good for you." Upworthy is the thinking person's Daily Mail, I guess.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:42 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 9:42 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
The Daily Mail is really perfect for our internet age.
The high percentage of maliciously lying content is totally consistent with that.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:58 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
The high percentage of maliciously lying content is totally consistent with that.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:58 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yeah, it's weird how often the Right is accusing other people of doing what the Right is doing or would like to do. I picked up the iTunes U course on Ancient Greece taught by Donald Kagan of Yale. Now, I knew Kagan was a NeoCon, but he's also supposed to be one of the best historians of Ancient Greece alive. Sadly, his lectures are peppered with irrelevant asides about current politics, and he keeps sliding from descriptions of the polis to his ideas about America, the Founding Fathers, etc. It's maddening. And it hit me that this is what every conservative thinks university classes are for -- shoving modern political agendas into any place they will fit. It's like the horrible obverse of "you can't con an honest person."
Similarly Dacre's visions of a shadowy powerful cabal on the Left seem more about his own longing for a similar cabal on the Right. One which is way more likely to exist in the scope imagined....
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Similarly Dacre's visions of a shadowy powerful cabal on the Left seem more about his own longing for a similar cabal on the Right. One which is way more likely to exist in the scope imagined....
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
And it hit me that this is what every conservative thinks university classes are for -- shoving modern political agendas into any place they will fit.
And the left doesn't? As to Kagan, he was the last republican at Yale. I'm no fan of the neo-cons, not by a long shot, but when nearly 97 percent of the contributions from Yale employees were for Democratic candidates, we clearly have some remarkable group-think going on in the grove of intellectual give and take.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:16 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
And the left doesn't? As to Kagan, he was the last republican at Yale. I'm no fan of the neo-cons, not by a long shot, but when nearly 97 percent of the contributions from Yale employees were for Democratic candidates, we clearly have some remarkable group-think going on in the grove of intellectual give and take.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:16 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it's weird how often the Right is accusing other people of doing what the Right is doing or would like to do.
Freud called it psychological projection.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 10:31 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
Freud called it psychological projection.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 10:31 AM on January 3, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm no fan of the neo-cons, not by a long shot, but when nearly 97 percent of the contributions from Yale employees were for Democratic candidates, we clearly have some remarkable group-think going on in the grove of intellectual give and take.
There are a couple of reasons this could be the case, aside from group think (which in this case is like saying the tail wags the dog. The institution is liberal so the employees donate money to liberal causes? Seems backwards to me).
It could be that some of the people employed by an institution of higher learning know which side their bread is buttered on. And it ain't the right hand side.
It could be that some of the people employed by Yale see the policies and stances taken by the GOP as incredibly flimsy fig leaves hiding varying schemes and wishes for self-enrichment.
It could be that some of the people employed by Yale value the dignity of all human beings as opposed to those only those not gay, brown, or living beyond what they 'deserve'.
It could be a number of things, group think isn't something I'd rate as being a likely contender.
posted by Slackermagee at 11:15 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
There are a couple of reasons this could be the case, aside from group think (which in this case is like saying the tail wags the dog. The institution is liberal so the employees donate money to liberal causes? Seems backwards to me).
It could be that some of the people employed by an institution of higher learning know which side their bread is buttered on. And it ain't the right hand side.
It could be that some of the people employed by Yale see the policies and stances taken by the GOP as incredibly flimsy fig leaves hiding varying schemes and wishes for self-enrichment.
It could be that some of the people employed by Yale value the dignity of all human beings as opposed to those only those not gay, brown, or living beyond what they 'deserve'.
It could be a number of things, group think isn't something I'd rate as being a likely contender.
posted by Slackermagee at 11:15 AM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]
On a tangent, “Sebastian Shakespeare” is right up there with “Benedict Cumberbatch”.
posted by acb at 12:03 PM on January 3, 2014
posted by acb at 12:03 PM on January 3, 2014
>> Yeah, it's weird how often the Right is accusing other people of doing what the Right is doing or would like to do.
> Freud called it psychological projection.
Karl Rove calls it strategy.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:38 PM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
> Freud called it psychological projection.
Karl Rove calls it strategy.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:38 PM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]
Unlike the Guardian and Independent, it is not beset by financial problems.
This may still ring true about the Independent (who, I heard, were sharing facilities with the Daily Mail to save money a while ago), but the Guardian is no longer the reported “five years away from bankruptcy”. By all accounts, they have been doing very well financially recently.
posted by acb at 2:08 AM on January 4, 2014
This may still ring true about the Independent (who, I heard, were sharing facilities with the Daily Mail to save money a while ago), but the Guardian is no longer the reported “five years away from bankruptcy”. By all accounts, they have been doing very well financially recently.
posted by acb at 2:08 AM on January 4, 2014
Which is why we can have nice things which no one reads.
posted by Mezentian at 2:46 AM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Mezentian at 2:46 AM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Of course, by looking at that I discovered this:
One of Britain's best-known landlords has issued eviction notices to every tenant who is on welfare, and told letting agents that he will not accept any more applicants who need housing benefit.
You won't believe his reasons! Spoiler: single mothers default more than Eastern Europeans, even though they are over there taking jobs from hard-working Poms (except, presumably, the landlording jobs, expect presumable Russians).
Fun fact: Because rents are rising and benefits are falling.
In conclusion: I have no idea if this guy reads the Daily Fail or not... but probably.
posted by Mezentian at 2:57 AM on January 4, 2014
One of Britain's best-known landlords has issued eviction notices to every tenant who is on welfare, and told letting agents that he will not accept any more applicants who need housing benefit.
You won't believe his reasons! Spoiler: single mothers default more than Eastern Europeans, even though they are over there taking jobs from hard-working Poms (except, presumably, the landlording jobs, expect presumable Russians).
Fun fact: Because rents are rising and benefits are falling.
In conclusion: I have no idea if this guy reads the Daily Fail or not... but probably.
posted by Mezentian at 2:57 AM on January 4, 2014
Which is why we can have nice things which no one reads
Not quite no-one reads; according to Kath Viner, the editor of the Guardian's Australian edition, they hit their 18-month readership and financial targets in the first six months. Meanwhile, it looks like Fairfax are running scared (but probably not as scared as they'll be when the Daily Mail Online takes the celebrity-gossip/animal-pics/listicles end of the market from them).
posted by acb at 3:18 AM on January 4, 2014
Not quite no-one reads; according to Kath Viner, the editor of the Guardian's Australian edition, they hit their 18-month readership and financial targets in the first six months. Meanwhile, it looks like Fairfax are running scared (but probably not as scared as they'll be when the Daily Mail Online takes the celebrity-gossip/animal-pics/listicles end of the market from them).
posted by acb at 3:18 AM on January 4, 2014
I'm no fan of the neo-cons, not by a long shot, but when nearly 97 percent of the contributions from Yale employees were for Democratic candidates, we clearly have some remarkable group-think going on in the grove of intellectual give and take.
Sure, group think. Hard to believe those teaching university, let alone college graduates, don't find a home in a party that can't acknowledge Darwin and climate change. If group think means accepting widely established scientific consensus around reality, then count me in for group think
Why Has Republican Belief in Evolution Declined So Much?
posted by C.A.S. at 4:07 AM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sure, group think. Hard to believe those teaching university, let alone college graduates, don't find a home in a party that can't acknowledge Darwin and climate change. If group think means accepting widely established scientific consensus around reality, then count me in for group think
Why Has Republican Belief in Evolution Declined So Much?
posted by C.A.S. at 4:07 AM on January 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Why Has Republican Belief in Evolution Declined So Much?
Identity politics. If you want to rally a tribe, you need something to rally them around, and if you want to rally them against an enemy, you need to have something that differentiates them from the enemy. Which is where religious issues come in, because they're seldom human universals (like wanting safety, prosperity or a better future for one's children).
Disbelief in evolution doesn't (immediately) affect one's wellbeing or perceived sanity (one couldn't get away with believing that the Earth is flat these days quite as easily), but it's a useful marker, as much as one's professed view on the transubstantiation of the Virgin Mary is in Belfast. And, with the exception of professional scientists, one can profess disbelief in evolution and not have it tested, hand-waving away why one relies on antibiotics, for example.
posted by acb at 1:17 PM on January 4, 2014
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posted by The Whelk at 5:13 AM on January 3, 2014 [9 favorites]