Unsubscribe New Statesman

March 25th, 2009 § 4 Comments

The New Statesman’s latest issue features an article by Tony Blair and is co-edited by his spindoctor Alistair Campbell. As if it weren’t enough that for the past several years it had for its political editor the pipsqueak propagandist Martin Bright, who made his career with a famous hoax and more recently shilling his services to the Israel lobby, the publication now presents you with the architect of the genocidal invasion of Iraq and his odious underling famous for the 45-minutes claim and the forged dossier, a man with the blood of 1.2 million dead Iraqis on his hand, as a human who can talk ‘football, politics and much more besides.’

Should any decent person be spending their precious change on this shitrag, much less subscribe to it? I call on John Pilger and Mark Thomas to end their association with this disgraceful publication immediately.

Tagged: Alistair Campbell, New Statesman, Tony Blair

§ 4 Responses to Unsubscribe New Statesman

Christian Avard says:

March 26, 2009 at 1:09 am

I could see John Pilger ending his association with them. He seems like the guy that would put his principles first over his employers’ decision making.

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Martin Bright says:

March 26, 2009 at 1:46 am

What hoax are you referring to. I hope you have evidence or withdraw immediately

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m.idrees says:

March 26, 2009 at 2:16 am

Since you appear to have forgotten:

In 2001 the New Statesman published an article by Bright provocatively titled “The great Koran con trick” which cited, among others, the work of Gerald Hawting, Patricia Crone and Michael Cook to attack the authenticity of the Quran. All three historians took exception to Bright’s interpretation of their work, but the most devastating reply came from Bright’s former teacher and SOAS professor Gerald Hawting:

The spurious air of conspiracy and censorship conjured up in Martin Bright’s article is nonsense. All of the named scholars whose ‘conclusions’ are said to be so ‘devastating’ for Islam hold or held senior positions in front-rank universities and their books are published by leading university presses and other houses, freely available for anyone who cares to read them.

I did not ‘warn’ (whatever that might mean) the journalist concerned not to publish the article, and the ‘decent obscurity’ I suggested was for the right-wing and fundamentalist websites by which he is so fascinated. Penguin Books has not ‘postponed’ the publication of ‘a controversial new history of Islam’ by me. I was never contracted to them to write such a work. The implication that John Wansbrough was the founder of SOAS was probably the result of slipshod editing*, but the suggestion that his decision to live in France following retirement reflects a desire to live in ‘obscurity’ (a faraway country of which we know little!) is mere embroidery.(New Statesman, December 17, 2001)

http://fanonite.org/2007/03/24/bigotry-shines-bright/

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Rumple Stiltskin_24 says:

March 26, 2009 at 10:47 am

The Co-owner of New statesman is New labour MP Geoffrey Robinson who resigned from a high post when it was revealed he give Peter Mandelson a £373,000 loan when Geoffrey was under investigation from a department headed by Peter.

He had a very interesting 99.2% record for voting for the New Labour Iraq policy prior to invasion.

According to circulation figures released lately , the Bright Doctrine has hardly took off , if anything it was a rejected turn off.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/14/abcs.pressandpublishing2

The latest editorial policy seems to be to appeal the the wrinkled playboy market.Which is a sad indictment of popular the bicommercialism was on the ground.

These are sound commercial reasons for Pilger and Thomas to end the relationship , not only political ones.

To this end Mr.Bright seems to have done us a favour before quitting and getting a one-way ticket to Euston via the odd whine at the Jewish Chronicle.

http://www.thejc.com/articles/what-makes-left-vilify-israel

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