#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.