THE REASON I HAVE RETURNED TO BLOGGING.
A DESERVED PLUG FOR A QUITE EXCEPTIONAL BOOK.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO COMBAT THE BETRAYAL OF JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY?
A DESERVED PLUG FOR A QUITE EXCEPTIONAL BOOK.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO COMBAT THE BETRAYAL OF JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY?
‘If an hour’s speech, a few thousand word on-line communiqué taxes your mental focus you should probably stick to Yankee comics. They will at least keep you smiling; reassure you that you’re smart even while the world dies. But isn’t it better to try and pay attention; better to try and become informed?’
Early on Tuesday 5th March 2013 I was on my way to a States Sitting (Jersey government) when I received a text message on my mobile. It was from my fellow blogger at the voiceforchildren.blogspot.com. and simply read ‘Chavez is dead’. I had known the death was coming and yet with Chavez being a figure I hugely admired in many ways, just like the Zapatistas’ own Subcomandante Marcos, it made me feel a sadness for a lost public figure I had not experienced since the death in a car crash of my childhood hero, the musician and poet Marc Bolan.
More than 6 years has slipped by since that day – a full 5 since I sat down to write the last post on the original Bald Truth Jersey blog. It doesn’t seem possible I have to admit – but the cold facts don’t lie do they. Unlike, it has to be said, what is now increasingly mocked as the international ‘mainstream media’. But more on this in a moment.
Alejandra, female EZLN/Zapatista activist, Mexico City 2004
More than 6 years has slipped by since that day – a full 5 since I sat down to write the last post on the original Bald Truth Jersey blog. It doesn’t seem possible I have to admit – but the cold facts don’t lie do they. Unlike, it has to be said, what is now increasingly mocked as the international ‘mainstream media’. But more on this in a moment.
Firstly recognising that I almost certainly owe any old readers of what turned out to be a venture far more successful than I ever would have imagined - having not the expected dozens or at best hundreds of local readers, but thousands from places as diverse as the UK, much of Europe, America, Russia, China and more - a brief explanation for my apparently sudden return to the so-called ‘blogosphere’ after so prolonged a silence; the key fact of it is this.
Old notes – a new book
Clearing out some old political papers following a move across from France I stumbled upon some notes from a speech made during my successful re-election campaign in the Jersey Deputorial elections of 2011. Here, talking about the role of the now already notorious local MSM within the still on-going huge tragedy of the Haut de la Garenne scandal I had had this to say.
‘Making a living for our so-called journalists, it seems to me must be like writing at the point of a bayonet – it risks your integrity bleeding even if your body doesn’t. To my mind only those with the thickest skins of honesty to protect them will escape unscathed: for do you write what you believe to be true or just what you feel is wanted, demanded?’
What I was talking about of course without even really appreciating it then was the phenomena now widely known as ‘Fake News’ and its closely related political cousin ‘Post-truth’. While I hadn’t really missed blogging at all given other interests, when later that very same week I happened to see and buy the book entitled ‘Bad news from Venezuela – Twenty years of fake news and misrepresentation’ by Alan MacLeod (see the image above) something just clicked back in to place. What the author was setting out tied in with what I had said all those years ago perfectly; crystallised it. It also made me think about those words from Alejandra again. It made me start to wonder anew what we all, bloggers in particular, can do to challenge the ‘fake news’ phenomena?
A book everyone should read – but unfortunately probably won’t
Key elements of what Alan MacLeod highlights in his book can immediately be seen as being echoed from within the current political situation and underlying corporatist MSM manipulation of it here in the UK with the possibility of the first genuinely ‘socialism-inspired’ government since that of Clement Atlee – a possibility that terrifies them beyond belief. All the way likewise across to the struggle with the long-entrenched Establishment on the Crown Dependency Tax Haven of Jersey and calls for a separation of powers in the aftermath of the above mentioned Haut de la Garenne scandal that I had been involved with: a struggle that more than 10 years on appears to be witnessing a slow drift to being every bit as bad as things were.
I will look at these two ‘situations’ in Part 2.
The fact is that I would honestly suggest that Alan MacLeod’s book is probably the most important political tome of the 21st Century so far if only for the masterly way that it lucidly paints what can, and surely always will, occur when journalists meekly surrender their principles to become mere ‘reporters’ – propagandists would be a more apt term - shamelessly peddling the corporate line in interest of the must-ever-expand capitalist project and in keeping their own jobs. On the minus side the book is, it has to be said, like a lot of academic works, staggeringly overpriced for a slim volume; though there is now at least a much cheaper Kindle version available. You can find it easily enough on Amazon.
Now I obviously do not have the space or license to set out the entire contents of ‘Bad News from Venezuela’. But suffice to say that to anyone gaining their world view from the sort of neo-liberal ‘comics’ young Zapatista Alejandra was referring to all those years ago when I was In Mexico city; likewise their TV channel counterparts all pushing an interchangeable version of alleged ‘fact’ Hugo Chavez was a clown, an incompetent, a brutal dictator, only gaining and maintained in power by intimidation and rigged elections. Indeed, to the a-political six years after Chavez’s death I would say it has largely become accepted fact. Such is the power of the endless ‘fake news’ MSM barrage.
Yet the facts can’t lie – in honest hands
Via a concise yet quite stunning analysis of more than 500 newspaper articles from seven of the most influential English language newspapers – both British and American - the author shows how this portrayal of Chavez is wholly at odds with hard fact and even statistics from organisations including the world famous Carter Centre, the European Parliament, the European Union Election Observation Mission and many more. Yet even some of these would, when it suited, play along keeping silent about their own data subsequently being distorted or simply wholly ignored. For those who would have a better, fairer world, considering all of this it certainly would be easy to become wholly daunted by the sheer scale of collusion and lack of integrity.
For the truth is Chavez’s tenure, even amidst a relentless assault from a disgruntled elite within and said neo-liberal governments/corporate interests without, brought a huge increase in equality to his country, the health and education of the poorest. Indeed, it is perhaps a most telling fact that prior to Chavez’s election in 1998 83% of Venezuelans believed elections to be fraudulent. By just halfway through Chavez’s time in office this belief had plummeted to only 30%. His so-named Bolivarian Revolution further, quite indisputably, gave a political voice to huge swathes of the population whom had never had one, and who without him were never likely to get one.
Yet for me nothing likely highlights the deplorable con of this election-rigging corrupt dictator myth spun by the Western MSM in tandem with the likes of Washington and Westminster governments than the statement ironically from a former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter of the aforesaid Carter Centre who in 2012, just months before Hugo Chavez’s death proclaimed that:
Now how many of you have ever read that in the UK papers?
With examples galore MacLeod then goes on to cement his analysis in the second part of the book by utilising interviews with 27 journalists and academics examining the influences on their ‘work’; doing so via application of Chomsky and Herman’s theory of ‘Manufacturing Consent’. I must have read this seminal work a good 25 years ago now but I must admit MacLeod’s focus on Chavez and Venezuela alone brings the theory to life all over again in true Technicolor. But for those not already familiar – and I appreciate that many of my old readers will be – the ‘Manufacturing Consent’ theory essentially posits that public opinion in nations like America, the UK and neo-liberal West generally are effectively manipulated through five systematic bases.
Clearing out some old political papers following a move across from France I stumbled upon some notes from a speech made during my successful re-election campaign in the Jersey Deputorial elections of 2011. Here, talking about the role of the now already notorious local MSM within the still on-going huge tragedy of the Haut de la Garenne scandal I had had this to say.
‘Making a living for our so-called journalists, it seems to me must be like writing at the point of a bayonet – it risks your integrity bleeding even if your body doesn’t. To my mind only those with the thickest skins of honesty to protect them will escape unscathed: for do you write what you believe to be true or just what you feel is wanted, demanded?’
What I was talking about of course without even really appreciating it then was the phenomena now widely known as ‘Fake News’ and its closely related political cousin ‘Post-truth’. While I hadn’t really missed blogging at all given other interests, when later that very same week I happened to see and buy the book entitled ‘Bad news from Venezuela – Twenty years of fake news and misrepresentation’ by Alan MacLeod (see the image above) something just clicked back in to place. What the author was setting out tied in with what I had said all those years ago perfectly; crystallised it. It also made me think about those words from Alejandra again. It made me start to wonder anew what we all, bloggers in particular, can do to challenge the ‘fake news’ phenomena?
A book everyone should read – but unfortunately probably won’t
Key elements of what Alan MacLeod highlights in his book can immediately be seen as being echoed from within the current political situation and underlying corporatist MSM manipulation of it here in the UK with the possibility of the first genuinely ‘socialism-inspired’ government since that of Clement Atlee – a possibility that terrifies them beyond belief. All the way likewise across to the struggle with the long-entrenched Establishment on the Crown Dependency Tax Haven of Jersey and calls for a separation of powers in the aftermath of the above mentioned Haut de la Garenne scandal that I had been involved with: a struggle that more than 10 years on appears to be witnessing a slow drift to being every bit as bad as things were.
I will look at these two ‘situations’ in Part 2.
The fact is that I would honestly suggest that Alan MacLeod’s book is probably the most important political tome of the 21st Century so far if only for the masterly way that it lucidly paints what can, and surely always will, occur when journalists meekly surrender their principles to become mere ‘reporters’ – propagandists would be a more apt term - shamelessly peddling the corporate line in interest of the must-ever-expand capitalist project and in keeping their own jobs. On the minus side the book is, it has to be said, like a lot of academic works, staggeringly overpriced for a slim volume; though there is now at least a much cheaper Kindle version available. You can find it easily enough on Amazon.
Now I obviously do not have the space or license to set out the entire contents of ‘Bad News from Venezuela’. But suffice to say that to anyone gaining their world view from the sort of neo-liberal ‘comics’ young Zapatista Alejandra was referring to all those years ago when I was In Mexico city; likewise their TV channel counterparts all pushing an interchangeable version of alleged ‘fact’ Hugo Chavez was a clown, an incompetent, a brutal dictator, only gaining and maintained in power by intimidation and rigged elections. Indeed, to the a-political six years after Chavez’s death I would say it has largely become accepted fact. Such is the power of the endless ‘fake news’ MSM barrage.
Yet the facts can’t lie – in honest hands
Via a concise yet quite stunning analysis of more than 500 newspaper articles from seven of the most influential English language newspapers – both British and American - the author shows how this portrayal of Chavez is wholly at odds with hard fact and even statistics from organisations including the world famous Carter Centre, the European Parliament, the European Union Election Observation Mission and many more. Yet even some of these would, when it suited, play along keeping silent about their own data subsequently being distorted or simply wholly ignored. For those who would have a better, fairer world, considering all of this it certainly would be easy to become wholly daunted by the sheer scale of collusion and lack of integrity.
For the truth is Chavez’s tenure, even amidst a relentless assault from a disgruntled elite within and said neo-liberal governments/corporate interests without, brought a huge increase in equality to his country, the health and education of the poorest. Indeed, it is perhaps a most telling fact that prior to Chavez’s election in 1998 83% of Venezuelans believed elections to be fraudulent. By just halfway through Chavez’s time in office this belief had plummeted to only 30%. His so-named Bolivarian Revolution further, quite indisputably, gave a political voice to huge swathes of the population whom had never had one, and who without him were never likely to get one.
Yet for me nothing likely highlights the deplorable con of this election-rigging corrupt dictator myth spun by the Western MSM in tandem with the likes of Washington and Westminster governments than the statement ironically from a former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter of the aforesaid Carter Centre who in 2012, just months before Hugo Chavez’s death proclaimed that:
‘I would say the election process is Venezuela is the best in the world’.
Now how many of you have ever read that in the UK papers?
With examples galore MacLeod then goes on to cement his analysis in the second part of the book by utilising interviews with 27 journalists and academics examining the influences on their ‘work’; doing so via application of Chomsky and Herman’s theory of ‘Manufacturing Consent’. I must have read this seminal work a good 25 years ago now but I must admit MacLeod’s focus on Chavez and Venezuela alone brings the theory to life all over again in true Technicolor. But for those not already familiar – and I appreciate that many of my old readers will be – the ‘Manufacturing Consent’ theory essentially posits that public opinion in nations like America, the UK and neo-liberal West generally are effectively manipulated through five systematic bases.
- Elite ownership of the media.
- Reliance on big advertising for income.
- Reliance on official sources and portrayed ‘credible experts’.
- Flak – journalists learning to self-censor after negative experiences of failing to follow the editorial line.
- Anti-socialism (in reality simply not neo-liberal) – the consistent attacking of any organisation or government seen to be socialist.
Refine point 5 down to any individual with a public platform seen to be socialist or more precisely still just critical of Establishment/neo-liberalism and I would argue a clearer picture of our little Crown Dependency Tax Haven of Jersey you really could not find! But more thought on this perhaps in Part 2?
Of particular interest the way I personally see it both over here on the United Kingdom mainland - and certainly on Jersey where I was formerly a States Deputy or MP - No. 4 is likely of key relevance to the vexing question of how those of us active in social media who would want a better, fairer world can best begin to trigger change.
After all if even those who know what they are writing, spinning is false and propaganda but repress their own professionalism just to keep their jobs then the trials of Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984, not least his final symbolic acceptance that 2+2=5 have surely long come to pass in our real world? Those journalists who gravitate towards the type of media outlets examined by MacLeod precisely because they share those very same prejudices are surely lost to us and reason irretrievably – so why waste our limited resources on them? Indeed, to adapt a famous quotation from Latin America’s greatest hero, ‘the Liberator’ Simon Bolivar those who would waste time on such individuals are likely ‘ploughing the sea’.
The 2017 UK election, which was meant to see the end of the wholly unexpected ‘Corbynista’ development within the Labour party, but in fact saw Corbyn secure the biggest increase in the party share of the vote by any leader since Clement Atlee in 1945 - and the first time it had actually gained seats since 1997, was achieved largely thanks to the support for Corbyn’s vision by a staggering myriad of assorted social media. I would suggest that this must be a sign of encouragement even if you are an individual not particularly enamoured of Corbyn or socialism.
It was likewise social media – in particular blogging in the support of the victims of abuse and the two brave senior police officers and handful of local politicians who championed their cause – who saved the shame of decades of Jersey Establishment concealed abuse from being buried, ever-deeper all over again and brought about the so-called Independent care Inquiry. And yet now the opinion is that things on the Island are slipping back to their pre-2007/8 nadir.
Thus prior to writing what will be the aforesaid Part 2 I invite any reader interested, whatever part of the world they may reside in, to share their thoughts in the comments section of The Bald Truth – Postcards From Dystopia as to how bloggers and other social media activists should focus their efforts to effect change in the months and years ahead.
Finally, as to Alejandra back in the Mexico City of 2004 – in the unlikely event that you are reading this, thank you for the quote. I have never forgotten it. Hopefully that I didn’t quite stray into the few thousand word communiqué territory you described one or two readers at least will have reached this point!
After all if even those who know what they are writing, spinning is false and propaganda but repress their own professionalism just to keep their jobs then the trials of Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984, not least his final symbolic acceptance that 2+2=5 have surely long come to pass in our real world? Those journalists who gravitate towards the type of media outlets examined by MacLeod precisely because they share those very same prejudices are surely lost to us and reason irretrievably – so why waste our limited resources on them? Indeed, to adapt a famous quotation from Latin America’s greatest hero, ‘the Liberator’ Simon Bolivar those who would waste time on such individuals are likely ‘ploughing the sea’.
Citizens Media – the New MSM: but what are our best routes to achieving change?
It was likewise social media – in particular blogging in the support of the victims of abuse and the two brave senior police officers and handful of local politicians who championed their cause – who saved the shame of decades of Jersey Establishment concealed abuse from being buried, ever-deeper all over again and brought about the so-called Independent care Inquiry. And yet now the opinion is that things on the Island are slipping back to their pre-2007/8 nadir.
Thus prior to writing what will be the aforesaid Part 2 I invite any reader interested, whatever part of the world they may reside in, to share their thoughts in the comments section of The Bald Truth – Postcards From Dystopia as to how bloggers and other social media activists should focus their efforts to effect change in the months and years ahead.
Finally, as to Alejandra back in the Mexico City of 2004 – in the unlikely event that you are reading this, thank you for the quote. I have never forgotten it. Hopefully that I didn’t quite stray into the few thousand word communiqué territory you described one or two readers at least will have reached this point!
About time too!
ReplyDeleteThe Bald Eagle has landed!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair I 'landed' a while ago. It has been the getting 'off the ground' again that has been the problem! Thanks for visiting anyway.
DeleteWelcome back Trevor. Since the death of my husband David in 2018 I had lost interest in local politics.Now I will have reliable info to share.
DeleteHello Jersey EXposed.
DeleteLiving in France before this I had no idea about David's passing. I am so sad to hear about this. A good, kind and tenacious man in support of the fight for justice.
Keep strong and all the best to you. I will be doing a post on Jersey fairly soon.
Trevor
Great to see you back Big Trev you have been greatly missed both online and on Jersey. What a fantastic post to start with and shows you have not lost your unique style of writing. An eye opener for those who believe the main stream media still in this digital era. More power to your elbow and I'll be a regular reader of your blog as I was of your others. I must ask if you have a release date for a Bald Truth Review Video?????
ReplyDeleteWill try and get something produced in September all being well.
DeleteTrevor.
ReplyDeleteGood to see you back in the old Bloggesphere! I'll have a good read of your posting tomorrow. In the meantime you and your readers might be interested in Scrutiny call for EVIDENCE.
Hi Voice.
DeleteDon't know why but link would not work for me. Watched/read it now anyway. I have heard good things about Deputy Ward generally, as in a genuine, nice person who wants to do good things.
Unfortunately it is a reality many of us are aware of that being a nice person with good intentions isn't enough, given the reality of the Jersey Way.
Scrutiny has been littered with many good people with good intentions over the years. Yet with no real power and only a tiny handful willing to upset the appale cart and risk the 'treatment' it has been a waste of time.
If no one can apparently 'put their finger' on the Jersey Way the the island needs outside interevention NOW.
Trevor.
DeleteHard to disagree with your observations and hopefully THIS LINK will work.
Welcome back Trevor and regards to Shona.
ReplyDeleteThe Island has been AGOG FOR THE BLOG.
Thanks Polo.
DeleteGiven all of the glitches I must admit that I am very pleasantly surprised with the viewing traffic.
Excellent read Trevor. Took me a while to find you mind. Hopefully your teething problems will settle down.
ReplyDeleteI had to smile when I learned of your admiration for Chavez. You may well of mentioned this in previous years but I must have missed it.
Thing is I can remember a brilliant clip of Chavez totally owning, mocking George W Bush at the United Nations. The famous "Mr danger", "Yesterday satan stood in this very spot, I can still smell the brimstone!" performance.
I can see his style in you or your's in him without a doubt. No personalities, large-than-life characters in our Jersey politics now. Only a couple with any balls let alone a sense of irreverent humour.
Look forward to next post.
Thanks. I take that as a big compliement. Of course Jersey had, and still has, many 'Mr Dangers' - most of them in the judiciary. Just need a few politicians brave enough to call them out? This reality also ties in with the content of the interview Voice has just put up in my opinion.
DeleteGreat to see that Voice is no longer alone. Hope you will be casting an eye on lil' ole Jersey soon as well. You know the Krays will have missed you.
ReplyDeleteReal good to see you back Big Trev my life has been empty without you but now I feel I have meaning.
ReplyDeleteTop-notch blog Trev and brilliant to see you back online.
ReplyDeleteThanks. If you are happy then I am too!
DeleteHello! Hello! Are you there for good now?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Trevor and Shona hope to hear lots from the both of you in the coming weeks-months-years. I just wish Stuart could be convinced to make a come-back.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteWhen can we expect your first BTR Trevor?
ReplyDeleteAs answered above. Hopefully sometime in September.
DeleteThe blogging scene is thin on the ground in Jersey right now Trev and the state media is still covering up the real stories. Any chance you are in a position to blog on the Jersey stuff and I'm willing to be your mole.
ReplyDeleteJersey will feature sometime within the next couple of posts I would think.
DeleteA good and well written post Trevor which I mostly agree with everything you say. I'm looking forward to part 2 when will it be published? Any chance of a post from Shona and of course a BTR?
ReplyDeleteIF YOU DON'T DO POLITICS, POLITICS WILL DO YOU!!!!!!!!
If Shona ever wants to do a post she will be more than welcome. For a fee...
DeleteShona and you are both legends and I would love to see you both back in the states. God knows you are needed in there right now!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteAs I have said, what you and all decent Jersey people need right now is what they have always needed: just good, honest politicians brave enough to stick their head above the parapet.
Mind you a Royal Commission on top would be just dandy. As one of my old constituents used to say: 'mice are no good in the States - they just squeak!'
I wonder what aspect of Jersey those who have commented think most worthy of a post? Thoughts can be sent via postcards from Dystopia...
ReplyDeleteCorrupt media - the Jersey way - corrupt justice system - cowardly politicians - politicised and corrupt police force to name but a few and not necessarily in that order.
DeleteOK. Am I allowed to go out from time to time though? I mean, you don't want it all by next week? LOL!
DeleteBent Jurats could be an aspect worthy of discussion?
DeleteAnother topic worthy of discussion could be cowardly internet Trolls who protect pedophiles and bully women?
Delete18.34
Delete'Bent' Jurats? In Jersey? Surely not?
Good to see one of the really good guys back again and that the bent and corrupt b-stards have not defeated you for all their treachery! Best wishes to you both. Lenny Harper
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you again Lenny.
DeleteLiving well is the best revenge as Shona always reminds me when the corruption has got me down. All we need now is Man Utd to keep winning and a revolution on Jersey and Happy Days!
30 comments already Trevor! Great to see so much traffic on your blog.
ReplyDeleteOh Trevor - how thrilled I am to see you back, and also with a big smile on your face. Please give my best wishes to Shona as well. Delighted to know you are able to give VFC a boost and backup now we have a deleted local 'blogsphere' here now. Neil has done a wonderful job, as ever, and with Mike Dun also has kept us going with what all good people want. Honesty, truth, research and never putting a foot wrong. I have total respect for all of you. No-one should live in fear of The Jersey Way, but sadly many still do, and so it goes on.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think those who are not afraid of truth, or putting pen to paper can hold their heads high, because sadly the MSM have not changed one iota either, or can compete with the blogs in any way. We need you and thank you all.
Thank you.
Regards to you Jill.
DeleteNeil and Mike D do indeed do great work keeping truth and real news on line.Will pass on your best wishes to Shona.
Having the backing of the legend that is Lenny Haper is a huge feather in your cap Trevor. Equally enjoying the support of Jill Gracia who has been - and continues to be- one of the hardest working campaigners against child abuse on the island. Good work Trev.
ReplyDeleteSaw your interview on the voice blog. Good to have another of the great Jersey political blogs back on line. You simply must do a blog on how you both survived the scurrilous legal abuses and attacks on you by the Jersey establishment. How much longer do we have to wait for someone to do something at the very top about these evil gangsters?
ReplyDeleteDo you think Jersey's government media will be reading your Blog Trevor?
ReplyDeleteFor sure - if someone has taught them to read. But who gives a damn?
DeleteTheir record in the non-reporting of the truth about 'The Jersey Way' shows that they are not just irrelevant as journalists but a huge, huge part of the wider problem.
Just read the above post again and think Jersey MSM.
Another possible topic for your blog could be secret court cases and super injunctions. I hear this is a regular thing in Jersey?
ReplyDeleteAre you in touch with Stuart Syvret? I'm hoping he might be convinced to make a return back to blogging and you might help convince him?
ReplyDeleteI believe that Stuart has made very clear that he has no interest in blogging. In fact I believe that he even said this on the voiceforchildren blog?
DeleteIf he can leave comments on blogs why doesn't he just leave them on his own one? Does he know that you have a new blog?
DeleteThat is a question best addressed to Stuart.
DeleteExcellent news. Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteTrevor and Shona.
ReplyDeleteMessage from Vikki.
"I will follow Trevor’s blog but I'm not a blogger. Please send my love to Trevor and Shona. It's good that they are doing well. Please also let them know I've now moved to Scotland because it was just too expensive to live in Jersey. Andium rents are too high and general cost of living, time to leave my home."
Hi Vikki
ReplyDeleteI do of course remember you well. Shame you have been left no alternative but to leave your home and move.
The one consolation I suppose is that Scotland has some of the most magificent scenery to explore, and some really nice people too.
Good luck to you and your family and please do keep in touch.
Trevor
Good to have you back Trevor and please give my regards to Shona. Any chance she could write a blog about her feelings of *THE JERSEY WAY* and the criminal treatment you were both subjected to at the hands of the so-called *justice* system in Jersey?
ReplyDeleteI will mention that to her Anonymous. However, Shona got over the cowardly corruption employed by what is passed off as a Royal 'court' a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteRight now she is very involved in trying to protect people's health from another silent killer being sold as all above board - a bit like the Jersey judiciary - this being the global EMF scandal.
In answer to an anonymous comment 'not for posting'. Yes, perhaps it is getting toward time for a post regarding Jersey Bailiffs.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a subject well worth revisiting. Jersey Bailiffs are the at the heart of all things bad here.
ReplyDeleteThe book you write of costs £45 on Amazon. Isn't that a rip-off?
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the post, yes, it is far too steep. The worst aspect for me is that Mr MacLeod will lose many sales because of it.
DeleteA tragedy for such an important book.
Hopefully Routledge will rush out a paperback version ASAP? I repeat, you can still buy a Kindle version for under £12 if you like that format?
A subject on internet Trolls with multi Facebook avatars would be a subject I would like to read about if ever you felt like writing about it Trevor.
ReplyDeleteBut surely, as a Troll used to say: that is old news? No one is interested? Yawn?
DeleteHope to get a new post up toward the end of next week all being well.
ReplyDeleteMight be Part 2 of the above or might be something rather different with that to follow later.
Thanks to all for the private messages.
Trevor. Don't you realise that so many people want you to blog about Jersey again? I understand that you wish to comment on wider issues. But shouldn't covering Jersey come first?
ReplyDeleteComing from Jersey I second that. I loved your previous blogs and your straight to the point fearless reporting. Now your in the UK it will be much more difficult for the b*stards to get to you as well.
DeleteI repeat:
DeleteJersey will feature on this blog. Almost certainly in one of the next two posts. The first of which will be up by the end of the week.
Nevertheless, as I said in the recent 'comeback' (LOL!) interview with Voiceforchildren (maybe he can put a link here if you haven't seen it?) this is my blog. There are many things I wish to write about.
Jersey is just one of them. People have the right to read particular posts or not as per their interests.
Trevor.
DeleteOur exclusive INTERVIEW.
I was looking down the right hand side on you blog list Trevor and noticed Stuart Syvret's blogs weren't on there. I know they are no longer active but do form a crucial part of the Jersey situation.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous.
DeleteI checked and you are of course right. However this is not any slight or disregard to Stuart's blog(s). They do as you say form a major part of the Jersey narrative.
The fact is I had included Stuart in the list I gave my techie. One I was led to believe is no longer accessible thanks to the illegal machinations of the powers that be. As to the other I can only guess that techie assumed this was it; nothing available.
Now that you have brought it to my attention however I will ask her to try and embed a link next week. There will be more blogs added over time as well I might add.
Trevor, my memory is a little hazy and it concerns the subject of your blog. Didn't the JEP publish your and Shona's tax return while trying to savage you with a storyline of "The Pitman files"? This was against data protection but nothing was done about it? I might have this wrong and apologies if I have.
ReplyDeleteYes Anonymous, your memory is a little hazy - but only a little!
DeleteIt is true that the Jersey Evening Pravda never missed an opportunity to peddle lies and misrepresentations about us.
You would only have to recall the '4 x the salary, darling!', wrapped in an election rosette of banknotes farce.
Or the fabrication of Shona helping put a 'x' next to her name on a postal ballot - rather than the truth of assisting a couple of disabled constituents complete a form to request they might eventually have a postal vote.
I guess you just have to accept that that is just what the Rag does.
But the so-called 'Pitman Files' was done by the equally pathetic Channel/ITV - who oddly enough always ran to me first for a comment on issues they knew others would be too scared to speak about.
Yes, it was illegal. It should have seen a court action and probably a huge fine or even prison sentence. But hey...this was US!
Like the 50% of States Members who broke the election law which should have seen them lose their seats in 2018 it 'wasn't in the public interest'.
The Viscount - a post that should have gone out with the Ark - Mike Wilkins simply looked the other way;merely telling them to take it down.
Now just imagine if Stuart, me, Shona, Mike Higgins etc had pulled such a stunt...
Thank you for clearing that up Trevor. How you are able to remain so cal over all this is a testament to your resolve. The media has got a lot to answer for in Jersey.
DeleteI would have to agree with you on that one. As per the blog title really - the death of MSM journalism.
DeleteHave you had any death threat phone calls since you started up the new blog?
ReplyDeleteNo. But I guess there is plenty of time. However, now you have reminded me maybe I should put up a photo of the live bullet with attached luggage-label pushed in to our letterbox?
DeleteJust to illustrate for new readers what a nice, sedate place Jersey is under the Bailiff-brokered breakdown of law and order?
Not being on the Island I wasn't aware of the tax return episode but it caught my eye in this comment as Jon was claiming to have seen Rico Sorda's tax return way back.
ReplyDeleteSo how did these people get sight of these returns? Should some of Jersey's rich residents start wondering how confidential their personal information is when dealing with the authorities?
Are there people in authority open to blackmail for their complicity/participation in "other matters".
The mind boggles, well it ought to, but trained by experience, it really doesn't.
Hi Trevor, good to see you online again and I will be an avid follower. I'm trying to remember an interview Shona did on radio Jersey when the presenter was gagging her and wouldn't let her criticise the JEP to the point he cut her mic off. I think you published the broadcast on your blog at the time. Can you put up a link to it?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous.
DeleteI think the infamous BBC Radio 'interview' you refer to was put up on the most excellent voiceforchildren blog. Maybe he can put a link should he read this?
As I do recall though the interview or rather mockery of an interview was highlighted as all the more morally bankrupt and a perfect example of The Jersey Way because of the following.
Auntie Beeb Jersey had it appeared only recently broken up their standard news content of cats stuck up trees, asking for your photos of the rain, and the burning issue of whether a dog had ever shat on your pavement.
Replacing this instead, unless I have dreamt it, with a 'Fingers' Power attack on us regarding ficticious special treatment from the then Housing Minister - a man of course who 'Fingers' loathed.
Trevor.
DeleteThe so-called "interview" with Shona on BBC State Radio Jersey, and the interview she gave me about the so-called "interview" can be viewed HERE.
Cheers Voice.
DeleteEasy to forget how nakedly prejudiced the BBC Jersey was/is? Having let Power spout his pack of lies unchecked you then get this.
You must be fairly happy with the traffic on a brand new venture Trevor? You probably could have had even more if you had launched with a Jersey Way story? A new post by the weekend perhaps?
ReplyDeleteA Jersey Way story is a good idea. Any idea when your next post will be Trevor?
DeleteReally good to see you back Big Trev and look forward to your future blogs and particularly the ones on corrupt Jersey.
ReplyDeleteSome people have messaged to ask about a new post. I can say that, given there is a family funeral taking place this week, it will likely be Sunday or Monday latest for a new one going up. Sorry about the delay. Tempted to take a look at what is going on in Bolivia. But will probably go with somewhere with far less democracy. Maybe Jersey...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. Please go for the Jersey option though I do understand why you want to write about the wider political issues. Sorry to hear about the funeral.
ReplyDeleteI'm Sorry to hear about the funeral also condolences to you and Shona. I also agree you should go for the Jersey option because the more light that is shone on this dark festering pit the better.
DeleteTomorrow in the JEP I will be posting on line as Pumpkin Head, Basil the Rat, 25Red, and just to make a feeble attempt to confuse all the readers who know who I am, as Double Zero. Probally say something nice about Geoff Southern with this one.
ReplyDeleteTrevor, It must be an empowering feeling to know you have made such an impact on this poor little lonely troll's existence. Keep doing what you are doing because you are evidently making one person's life more fulfilled.
DeleteWill a new post still be up on Sunday or Monday?
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to send big love and hugs to you and Shona Trevor and wish you would both turn back to Jersey politics. I'm glad you are back online and will be following your website.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anonymous whoever you are. Turn back to Jersey politics? Not quite sure what you mean. I will post about Jersey politics - almost certainly the next post in fact. But a comeback? Truth is I, we, are still illegally barred regardless.
DeleteHow are you still barred Trevor? I would vote for Shona and you every time. I'm looking forward to your Jersey article.
DeleteTo cut a very long saga short Anonymous as a consequence of our court manipulated en desastre - though both blatantly illegally achieved and now spent anyway.
DeleteThe 'punishment' is an automatic 9 year ban made up of 5 for the bankruptcy itself and another 4 added to anyone unable to pay the sum involved back in that time.
Given this was all brought about via a court clearly unfit to sit being made up of just two court members - the Jurats rather than a jury of the ordinary public who should sit on defamation cases.
Even worse with the senior of the two having been known by the Bailiff who placed him there, Sir Michael Birt, to have been subject to police wishes to persue him for his part in bullying an abused school boy at Victoria College any claim that this was a legal court is wholly lauaghable.
But then this is Jersey and 'the Jersey Way' holds sway to this day.
Wow The Jersey way personified. Come back and clean this place up please Trevor and Shona.
DeleteI have just been reminded that tomorrow is a Bank Holiday. Given this fact I will likely leave putting up the new post until Tuesday morning. Enjoy your day everyone and hopefully the sun will shine on you wherever you are.
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting all day for your next blog big Trev. What time is it going live?
ReplyDeleteA very warm welcome back. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete