Nesrine Malik and Brexit as Culture

 The Guardian is trying to relate actual news with the Conservatives. Front page has analysis of Truss tax proposals in numbers. But I have realised this is not the way to cope when policy is seen as culture. The tax cuts benefit a particular set of voters but they now also believe in tax cuts as part of a mix of rhetoric. I may overestimate this but it makes some sense of things. Yesterday Sunak in Sun wrote about "Starry Eyed Boosterism" and this is the best term yet to describe Truss economics.

Nesrine Malik in Guardian writes about culture wars as a way for Conservatives to hide from reality such as Brexit, housing or the economy. Brexit consequences are real but I want to explore Brexit just as culture. It could be off topic to compare the claims made in 2016 with reality now. there never was an evidence case. The culture continues. This is where Sunak is failing to get support. He voted Leave but he appears to be a "bean counter" like Cameron and the IMF worthies with Project Fear.

Express today has "Positive" Truss with claim that the best days are ahead for Britain. Editorial mentions "naysayers at the Treasury".

It is uncertain how the culture wars continue outside UK media. Actual newspaper sales continue to decline.

UK and alternative facts #PartyGate #OxfordMidSummer

Daily Mail has a story based on quotes from Nadine Dorries on "witchhunt" and "kangaroo court". This is about the Commons and establishing facts around Partygate. Since Brexit it seems the newspapers have behaved as if they can set the agenda. Was it always so? Brexit was a success and a rationale. Hostility to Brexit is offered as an explanation on why there is a hearing. Nothing in Mail on what the substance might be. ( Also nothing on Pincher. Has he resigned? Will there be an election? Is there any story about this in a newspaper?

Newspapers can develop a unique take in the absence of television independence. Two tweets are interesting.

Maitlis and Sopel no longer work for the BBC. How would they report this if they did? How will BBC report Parliament?

( I am still thinking about the drama around #OxfordMidSummer but straight facts seem enough. this could be worked into dialogue later. Maybe drama is a phase between aspects of reality clarity or so it seems )

Starry Eyed Boosterism #starryeyedboosterism Sunak has a name for it.

This is a test, finding a word for something. My theory is that for Conservative members Brexit has become a culture issue, not based on economic reality. Also this may have been the case from the start. The economic case for Brexit made in 2016 was about a vision not a model. I will look back later to check examples.

The current contest between Truss and Sunak is making this clear. Sunak supported Leave but is now seen as a "bean counter" . This means that he tries to explain policy with some analysis and reference to economics research. In 2016 Gove spoke against "experts" such as Bank of England or IMF. They are also "bean counters" .

Truss recently has claimed that the recession predicted by the Bank of England is not inevitable. She has faith in tax cuts to boost the UK , presumably very quickly. Sunak in Sun today writes ( p2 ) "We need clear-eyed realism not starry-eyed boosterism." My guess is that the Conservative members like the starry-eyed boosterism they have enjoyed ftom Johnson and will be happy to continue with Truss. But at least Sunak has a word for it. #starryeyedboosterism finds not much yet on Twitter but the tag explains a lot of history and something may continue. 

Also in Sun page 8 - Rich 10% richer , low earners pay up just 1% as inflation spikes. Trevor Cavanagh page 10 expects biggest Great Britain crash since 1929... pehaps as many as 12m people in rea pocerty, according to "one seasoned economic analyst". "These are not people on the fringes but those - like Sun readers - at the core of society".

If this is what they read in the Sun what to make of #starryeyedboosterism going forward?

#OxfordMidSummer Whips News and Missing News

 Since the election results I have been thinking about both the open material on part one and the more detailed work I may do on part two if there is an advance budget from somewhere. There turns out to be a lot of work. So far there have been notes in real time and it seems ok as a plot. But now there are events that could look back to previously. this sort of thing is part of a murder mystery. There are clues in what the audience has already been shown. Still it takes a bit of study from the writing process.

For new readers, there is a group of off duty police officers in a pub garden somewhere near Oxford. they have been joined by some friends / journalists. In part two the action moves closer but this all started just looking at Partygate and the Met from a distance.  Conversation now includes the Whips Office and someone remembers there was a police inquiry previously when some MPs thought the behaviour was close to blackmail. This inquiry was ended. Apparently some newer MPs may just not have understood what was normal.

I cannot find any reference to this in recent reporting of how a whip was appointed or what was happening in the office. Conversation will include how things have been reported or not reported.  As memory serves the story just quietly vanished. But some MPs may remember something. 

#OxfordMidSummer note on second hit and run

 As mentioned in a tweet ( search on @will789gb and #OxfordMidSummer ) the second body from a hit and run has been discovered. So the action is moving closer to the off duty conversations some distance from London.

More later.

Part Two and "Londongrad" #OxfordMidSummer

 I have decided to concentrate on Part Two. This is the fully funded production with a budget including legal insurance. ( Part one continues but is a creative commons project so there is no budget to take out the rough edges in a formal script ) .

Reality follows imagination. I had got as far as a big house somewhere in country near Oxford. Bodies of students found in lanes nearby, probably just a hit and run. ( Second one expected Tuesday week of bye elections ) Then I found a documentary from Sky based on Buzzfeed reporting.

This is way over the top as a body count even for ITV mid evening. Latest info is that none of the 14 deaths are seen as suspicious by UK police. There appears to be intelligence from USA with grounds for further investigation. So part two opens with the police at the big house for some reason. Arrival of bailiffs from Moscow causes surprise. The house has been security for a property deal in Moscow that went wrong. How did this happen. No previous connection was known.

Thee is no direct connection to #Brexit in conversations. Looking at the last year or so the supposition could be that the Owen Patterson story showed an assumption about rules and what was possible in asserting counter facts. This may have started with Brexit when misinformation was widely accepted. This is only briefly mentioned but the story could go further back if there is some interest. Also depends on what turns up in reality.  

#OxfordMidSummer Police / Journalism conversation

 This is an outline of conversation for tomorrow evening.

Cast to include at least one police officer and one journalist. ( Still not sure who the later version will be written for )

Event was the Sunday Morning show on BBC1. Sadiq Khan interview included questions about the Met and Partygate.

Police officers upset by this, show concern. Too many questions are being asked. They do not know the answers. Journalist starts to probe a bit too far for comfort.

Police start having a go about the journalism. The Met may have been slow but what about the journalists who must have known about the parties and background but not much reporting. Mention of James Slack leaving do and how the Sun has not reported much. Also Lee Cain leaving do. Would the guests have been connected to Vote Leave and what is Dominic Cummings trying to do?

No answers but rising to a higher level of interest.

Brexit Supporting Newspapers stuck in a bubble

 Actually there is only time to look at Sunday Times. During the week I had tweeted to Tim Shipman as he thought it strange that Tobias Ellwood was promoting the Single Market. This is not a way to get Conservative support at this time. Shipman reports that #No10Sources see this as a positive at this time. Tom Newton Dunn suggests any dispute is about personality not policy. But maybe some are taking a longer view. Will the Conservatives always support #Brexit ? Time Bale , Professor of Politics at Queen Mary guests in Observer. He claims the Conservatives flirted with populism but in backing referendum and hard withdrawal "it badly overshot". So maybe some have already accepted the Conservatives will lose the next election or that PM will stay for a while. There may be several shifts. Tim Shipman has written very informed books on previous events. There may be more info waiting on the next book. But my guess is that the Brexit supporting newspapers will stay with the cope of story that only Brexit supporters have any way of surviving in their own world.

#OxfordMidSummer before and after Sue Grey Report

 Just notes

Meeting in pub happens on Tuesday evening and tomorrow.

Tuesday there is some concern about comments on Met . There is reporting in Guardian and statement by Mayor of London.

The notice of Mirror reporting on James Slack and Sun. How much detail is available? The journalism aspect starts to get more obvious. Slack links to Mail and Sun are observed. Why did they not know more about things at an earlier stage?

Abba Party still a mystery. Curiosity about Lee Cain and Dom Cummings. Might they be connected?

#OxfordMidSummer Speeding up , bodies in June, background needed for part two

 #OxfordMidSummer is becoming more about journalism, not just Partygate itself. How has it been reported? The Labour supporting newspapers as they may be regarded, Guardian and Mirror, have accepted #Beergate as a news value. the Matthew Syed article in previous post notices how the latest 50 fines have not been a story. Why? Again as previously I think the Sun /Mail / Express / Telegraph now want to keep #ShapeshiftingCreep in place to avoid questions about lies and #Brexit.

For the fiction around the off duty police in or near Oxford this means more in part two . The background will include journalism and finance. the country lanes where the hit and run happens are very close to a big house. who owns it? How did the associated cottages come to be sold so cheaply to journalists / academics ? the students who can no longer talk were interns the previous summer as liason between Treasury and various media.

Plan A is still to make part one creative commons so anyone can do a version of it. Part two will need more work and possibly some legal insurance. It will be on offer first to ITV as they know about this sort of format.

Conservative shift on Brexit / Partygate as background

 There may be a change in how Conservatives regard Brexit. Last week there was another Daily Express attack on Chris Grey. Twice now they have misrepresented his blog. With reference to text from Lord Frost he has noticed a change in presentation. There are some doubts around previous claims. Express readers have posted numbers of comments mostly hostile. But Chris Grey has not claimed that any Brexit supporters are changing direction, just a shift in the text.

What to make of Matthew Syed in Sunday Times? Will the Express do a story on him? Maybe not as this is behind a paywall. It is the blog scene that can be easily trailed for offensive copy. But what Syed is claiming, Sunday Times May 15th page 23 is that although the ERG is still straight ahead, the "Vote Leave" part of the Conservative Party seem to have doubts.  For example Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak may be "unhappy" about ripping up the withdrawal agreement. The variety of briefing on Northern Ireland may have been a cunning plan ahead of elections to float "red meat" that then vanishes in diplomacy. But maybe there are just a variety of views. Time will tell.

Just as interesting is a claim towards the end that rule-breaking has become so "normalised" that another 50 fines for No10 lockdown breaches are scarcely newsworthy. I am not sure it works like that. Most of the time the newspapers support whatever #No10Sources tells them. The same newspaper has lots on #Beergate. They have put #Partygate on hold but I think the public are still interested. Sunday Times can afford some space to try out dissenting views but Sun / Telegraph / Mail / Express are so far into Brexit and #ShapeShiftingCreep that they cannot afford a situation where the public assumed everything has been lies. Sections on "Cakeism" in the Syed article explain where the main tensions exist.

Newspapers are very strange, it will take days to study

 Partly because I am busy with other things I will not be tweeting as much today as I might. From paper reviews and recent examples i think the London journalists are more off track than ever. Partygate follows from Brexit as a set of lies from Conservatives. Journalists unable or reluctant to report on either. They are coming up with all sorts of nonsense about anything else.

More next week.

( Twitter seems very unstable by the way. Nothing to do with the staff, just the financial system around it. So I will do more of working through old tweets to make some sense outside it )

#OxfordMidSummer First Body

 This is fiction, a drama draft. Do not confuse with reality.

For new readers the play has turned out to be a murder mystery, offered to ITV. Started with BBC papers review but ITV has a better grasp of Partygate news. The "chorus" has been a pub garden discussion with off duty police officers, now including some journalists. The story includes how it is reported.

I am doing this as a blog sort of in real time. It will be edited later or used as basis for improv.

Today the first body arrives. Students have been playing games on a bridge and dropped one student into shallow water. Concussion and drowning. this may have been an accident. The students were pretending to be "whips" having read some stories about the commons. The police discussion in a couple of days time will conclude this was a genuine accident. But the audience may think more will follow.

( Background the whips activity in Commons was the first time Met Police were called on. Later it was said that new MPs just did not understand how whips operate and there was nothing unusual )

Sir Keir Starmer Dumps Newspapers

 Following a series of attack in newspapers Sir Keir Starmer cancelled an event yesterday at which newspaper journalists would be present. Instead there was a press conference with three journalists from television - Beth Rigby from Sky , Ben Wright from BBC , and Libby Wiener from ITV.

There was a tweet from a print journalist

However this may indicate a future when politicians prefer television where the regulation requires some balance. The regulation of newspapers is a matter for discussion.

The Sky version is on YouTube.

Some would say that Sky should continue to ask the first question. The BBC is seen by some as very close to #No10Sources .

Previously Sir Keir Starmer had written for the Sun. He made efforts to communicate with print journalists. Jeremy Corbyn never took the risk of excluding print journalists. Perhaps things have changed with social media.

Some Dialogue #OxfordMidSummer #BeerGate

 The project is getting more complicated as it turns out to be about journalism, not just the parties. #Beergate adds a lot of aspects. So the group of police meeting in garden pubs somewhere near Oxford quickly include some journalists in the conversation. They may be drinking not too far away.

I am still not sure about characters. For improv I do not need to provide a script as such. For Down Stage Write they specify a number of characters and time length in a call so I will wait on this. Below are bits of dialogue from a pub lunch earlier today-

This could go wrong.

I wonder where the Telegraph get their information?

Is it normal to tell te journalists before the politicians?

Not sure, looks like Durham and London are different. Here in Oxford we would talk about it.

In the movies we always check the sound levels before we kick the door in.

Thing is the lies are still in the Minister Code. Starmer can't back off this whatever they have got on him.

The Guardian has quotes on what happened in Durham with Cummings. this could be a problem.

Don't worry. Nobody reads it.

What if other journalists pick it up? These people are always looking for an angle.

More likely Cummings will hand himself in. the fine won't come to much and he can put the confession statement in his blog.

#OxfordMidSummer Durham Update

 This evening a meeting includes some sympathy for police in Durham. There is criticism from Conservatives but hard to tell what the basis is. Also from Nazir Afzal ( see Guardian 3 May ) on how Dominic Cummings had nor been investigated in as much detail as possible. 

Debate on how the photo of a police car came to be in the Mail and Sun. Possibility that Met Police helped with this but this idea is rejected. Agreed it was just students who were passing by / following Labour.

Some puzzle on why Met Police kept quiet about fines though #Beergate has been widely reported.

I think about half the characters should be Brexit supporters still and accept the Mail theory on Starmer. I will try to keep the dialogue in sync with Twitter and I am getting a lot of apparent Mail support.

Nadine Dorries is a feature, not sure how to represent this.  UK may be heading for parallel universes of truth as in USA. But so far the group of police in play are cohesive, mostly just sympathetic to police in Met and Durham but a bit puzzled on procedure choices.

#OxfordMidSummer Background

 

This is a note to come back to. The police conversation has not got to this yet. But later there will be events that make it relevant.

It appears to be random if a name of person fined appears in the newspapers. After the first announcement Helen MacNamara was named by Daily Telegraph ( 4th April front page with photo ) but no mention of James Slack. Later it became clear that his leaving do was one of the parties included so some assume he may have been fined. The i reported that there was surprise at the Sun. Also noted that there has been less reporting that at the Mirror.

Is it possible that Sun journalists have realised Slack would know something about what happened in Downing Street while he was working there?

If the Lee Cain story becomes more reported then the history with Vote Leave could be relevant. #PartyGate follows a series of questions around misinformation. If PM is shown to be a liar around this issue, what else will be checked out?

The policy of not naming those fined is said to be a consequence of Leveson - protection of individual privacy. there may though be public interest in how Downing Street operates, including contacts with press.

#OxfordMidSummer chat after Easter

 Beginning to worry the Met are losing control of the narrative. After Sunday Times there are now some details of parties in Mirror, Telegraph and Times. Maybe more. Times suggests Gray is upset by delays. Thee is no context for the fines as news when announced by the Met. No names and sometimes not clear which party. The leaving do for Lee Cain may soon get more attention but will it be on the Met list to do soon?

Bit of a worry. awareness of different pressures but realising Met must get on with job as planned.

#OxfordMidSummer Chat before Easter

 This is notes for a drink just before Easter.  I don't have characters clear yet, this may depend on how the improv takes shape. I think there are about four police or related roles. Balanced on leave / remain opinions but all concerned about support for police.

Main topic is something noticed in newspapers after the fines for PM and Chancellor. There is the start of criticism of the Met. Daily Mail editorial wonders "what motivates Scotland Yard to dribble out these fine notifications in such a piecemeal fashion" -  they should get it over and get out. Sun quotes an MP "The Met are yet again bungling this by dripping it out and prolonging this agony for everyone".

Opionions include whether the procedure is intended to delay main report till after elections and what else Met could do. Expectation id to proceed through approx a party a week.

BBC and PBS Docs on Putin , Ukraine , Revenge

I have started to look at documentaries about Putin after the issues started with Ukraine. They are being shown now but were first broadcast a while ago.

BBC4 is half way through a repeat of four on Putin and the West. From 2012 with only a note at the end to update. All four are on iPlayer. PBS has put even the recent one on YouTube - Putin Road to War . Some of this is in the earlier ones - Putin's Revenge parts 1 and 2. these have more length and explain how Putin came to see USA as interfering in elections in Georgia and Ukraine. The "revenge" was the interference against Hilary Clinton in 2016. There is not much about Brexit but there is some time for interference in EU area.

BBC has also done two parts on Thatcher and Reagan with Charles Moore. This has almost nothing on EU though thatcher was very involved in EU meetings. The 2012 docs have several clips from other EU leaders and was made with some EU support. My guess is that the BBC would find it hard to do an update to the same standard now.

So far proper TV has not explored Russia and Brexit. There is content on YouTube that raises the issues. Eventually there may be an edit of what is available into an hour or several. BBC is on iPlayer in UK. YouTube allows a wider range of media based outside the UK.

( This is not drama or fiction but I seem to alternate with reality helped by ways to think about television )

Chat around leaks #OxfordMidSummer

 This blog continues as a sort of script for Oxford Mid Summer. Also background text and links. The script will probably end up as a full set of dialogue but meanwhile there will be forum theatre and verbatim theatre. You can tell from previous posts that I am against Brexit but in the drama many points of view will be represented.

So the scene is a rural pub somewhere near Oxford . Light fading but some are in garden if video required / inside if just radio. Staff from local police force are ending the day with a drink and discussion.

More or less in real time now as notes / blog

Topics include possible criminal charges for leak of info on Sunak tax / green card. Will the Met get involved? BBC seems to be pushing the ide of "Red Throat" - Labour supporting civil servant. Somebody suggests "Big Dog" may have started  some story to block support for Sunak as alternative PM. More background chat on #Partygate. Why is there a delay in fines? Is it just civil servants who are involved.

This is just enough for some improv. More later.

Oxford Mid Summer continued

 I am still interested in fiction as a way to deal with Brexit and the aftermath. In facts there are too many lies. The consequence has been a convention for the Conservative Party and supporting newspapers that anything can be told as a story. I am not sure who accepts this but the proper telly usually bases the news agenda on this sort of thing.

So I will explore info about Russian influence in UK between 2014 and current war. But it is so hidden / disputed that only fiction can cope. Part two of the murder mystery will have the outline of it, possibly some detail. Thee is a large country house but nobody knows who really owns it. There have been dealings in linked cottages and barns that may have been special deals for academics and journalists. 

Today there is the start of reporting in a new phase, some info from Met Police plus #No10Sources claims that this is no longer a story of any interest for the UK public. So some version of the script can start now in real time. I say "script" but probably the start will be improv. Not much guidance will be needed, that is I won't get much time to put in a request. But this blog will take the form of background notes anyway.

The method is to start with forum theatre and move on to verbatim. Improv is a shortcut. Character definition depends on who is available. I will start with bits of dialogue. They can be allocated to characters some time later. So far the best bit of verbatim is

Does the PM require someone else to tell him where he is or where he was?

I refer the Honourable Lady to my previous answer.

Someone could just remember this. It will fit in somewhere.

So tonight a group of police officers will meet in a pub garden somewhere in travel range of Oxford . ( It is light quite late now, a bit cold. Natural light assumed for video because of budget plans )

Topics include the Telegraph mention of a retired civil servant, Guardian mention of a former #No10Sources person now at a newspaper. Can anyone guess a police source possibly connected to a journalist? Is it reasonable for Leveson to be used as reference for not naming names. What to make of Rees-Mogg claims the PM was misled before making statements to MPs. Will it turn out to be a mistake to announce things bit by bit?

So far this seems plausible as a situation. People from outside London may well discuss other organisations in a casual sort of way. The fiction will start with the first accident / death early in May.

Oxford Mid Summer

( this is now a drama , fiction based on #Partygate / reality may return but the UK story is becoming hard to cope with directly )

Previously I have been thinking about a play based on BBC Papers review. They suggested a drama in response to #Partygate. See clip from radio I put on YouTube.

But I don't think a BBC comedy style works any longer. The situation is more grim. I notice ITV report new facts and have some direction. BBC is not breaking new developments and has a lack of focus on the issues. So I still think the police conversation as chorus is a base for most of the play. Last of The Summer Wines has this but it is also part of the ITV murder detectives set in Oxford or Midsummer. They are agents in the story also but I think they could comment on the Met and the cases based on the same info or lack of info as anyone else.

(Also I have a problem whether to make it all Creative Commons or to hold on to some copyright. One solution is to make the first hour open, and hold back the second hour - or two part show if there is enough of it.)

So first part is set in a country pub somewhere near Oxford. Action happens somewhere else. In May there is an accident from one of the Oxford bridges. A student is dropped headfirst into shallow water. It turns out other students were practicing to be Chief Whip and dangling voters out of a window. This is all written off as an accident. News from London continues. Conversation includes comment on the procedure 

The previous summer other students were on placements near Westminster. Tasks included moving documents from civil service to journalists in the late afternoons. A couple of them are victims of hit and run accidents in country lanes. There is some suspicion about this but still regarded as accidents. Meanwhile there is more speculation about the Met procedure. It seems open to influence as the questions were put via legal reources where some stories may have been coordinated. This is all speculation but easy enough at a distance.

The Oxford detectives are interested in a book signing visit by the wallpaper designer who seems to have been at several of the parties but has not revealed any information. Then they disappear. End of part one. The story is getting closer to Oxford so more changes of scene will be required in part two. Also in part two there are echoes of Brexit. There is a dark secret from the past that links some of the characters together.