The comments made by Laurence Fox about Ava Santina on Dan Wootton’s GB News programme have rightly been condemned by all sides of the political spectrum.
Fox was once a man who had something useful to contribute to political discourse, but in recent years he has fallen into a dangerous trap that goes something like this: Say something moderately controversial during a discussion, receive lots of praise from your own echo chamber on social media, push the boat out a bit further, receive more praise, and keep becoming more and more outrageous until you’ve pushed things too far.
No right-thinking person should in any way defend Fox’s comments about Santina. They were cheap, crass and personal.
Ava Santina
Fox made the comments in response to Santina’s own remarks on the BBC’s Politics Live programme earlier on Monday in which she made some ill-judged comments about men’s mental health. To be fair to Santina, she took to social media within hours to admit she had been a ‘little rash’ and said she was ‘actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health’.
I also have no great love for Dan Wootton’s programme on GB News. The channel itself is, overall, in a strong place. The daytime schedule consists of high-quality news and analysis, where they are not afraid to cover stories that traditional media outlets ignore, such as the impact of uncontrolled mass immigration on social cohesion, the migrant crisis, or the damaging impact of identity politics in schools.
Michelle Dewberry’s Dewbs & Co provides sensible discussion and analysis where contributors from different perspectives can debate issues freely. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s programme at 8pm gives thoughtful, informed analysis.
On Sundays, programmes hosted by Michael Portillo and Camilla Tominey provide a reliable mix of sensible, civilised discussion with a lighter touch, while on Saturday evenings, Fr Calvin Robinson and his guests analyse events from a faith perspective.
All this is to be commendable – GB News really does provide something different. Much of the traditional media lives, works, marries and socialises within a middle class, leftist, London-centric echo chamber that neither understands nor tries to understand the world beyond their bubble. GB News breaks through that barrier and mindset and isn’t afraid to reach out to those beyond the M25.
Yet GB News lets itself down with other aspects of its schedule, such as the conspiracy-fuelled monologues of Neil Oliver and Dan Wootton’s evening programme.
The problem with Wootton is that if you’ve seen one of his programmes, you’ve seen them all. The same subjects, with the same guests, are discussed night after night after night.
In the world of Wootton, Boris Johnson is a good thing (he pretty much overlooks Wallpapergate, Partygate, the Owen Paterson scandal and the Chris Pincher affair, along with Johnson’s commitment to all things ‘climate change’), Liz Truss is a good thing (despite her being a Remain supporter with an unremarkable track record before becoming Prime Minister), and Meghan Markle is a bad thing (yes, we know, Dan, most of us worked out long ago she is scheming and devious – we’re bored with it so please only return to the issue occasionally).
On Dan Wootton’s programmes, it’s the same issues debated in the same way by the same, narrow pool of contributors, night after night. Yes, it’s good to hear Jim Davidson’s hilarious weekly takedowns of media luvvies, and Coronation Street legend Charlie Lawson is always a delight, but others who appear on the programme from the studio (The Hamiltons, Benjamin Butterworth, Rebecca Reid etc) are not the sort of people I’d wish to listen to for two hours each evening.
Jim Davidson, always good for a laugh
We now know that Wootton sent Fox messages of approval after his shameful comments, and again, we should in no way condone the behaviour of either man on the programme.
But by the same token, why are those with fashionable leftist views given a much softer ride by the mainstream media?
For example, during an appearance on the alleged comedy show The Last Leg on Channel 4, Miriam Margolyes said she wanted Boris Johnson “to die” when he was seriously ill with Covid. Plenty laughed along with her and neither she nor the programme was censured by the regulator Ofcom.
John O’Farrell is one of the darlings of those tired panel shows on TV and BBC Radio 4 where leftist comedians try to out-woke each other while having sneering digs at Brexiteers, Christians and social conservatives.
The media establishment has never condemned O’Farrell for numerous highly unpleasant remarks he has made. For example, in 1998, O’Farrell, already in his mid-30s and old enough to take responsibility for his actions, wrote a book titled ‘Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter’ in which, referring to Margaret Thatcher and the IRA-planted Brighton Bomb during the Conservative Party Conference in October 1984, he wrote: ‘In October 1984, when the Brighton bomb went off, I felt a surge of excitement at the nearness of her demise and yet disappointment that such a chance had been missed. This was me…..wishing that they had got her. “Why did she have to leave the bathroom two minutes earlier?” I asked myself over and over again.” He goes on: “I just hated her so very, very much.”
Also in the book, O’Farrell states that he wishes Britain had lost the Falklands War, which is an appalling insult to the troops who fought, and in some cases died in battle, as well as to the inhabitants of the islands, who would have been subjected to the tyranny of General Galtieri had Argentina won.
Or what about the late Sean Lock? On the week Margaret Thatcher died, Lock appeared on the funky Channel 4 ‘comedy’ show 8 Out Of 10 Cats where host Jimmy Carr asked whether she should have a state funeral. Lock replied: “I don’t think it matters whether she has a state funeral, as long as the bitch is dead, that’s the main thing. I’d like them to fire her out of a cannon onto the walls of Buckingham Palace, so she just splats like that.”
Lock’s remarks were laughed at by the studio audience and by the host, as well as fellow panellists David Baddiel and Chris Moyles.
L-R David Baddiel, the late Sean Lock and Chris Moyles
The programme was a nasty, sneering, left-wing love-in. On the whole, right wingers do not behave like that. It does not occur to us to behave insultingly towards the recently-deceased. There was very little in the way of similar behaviour towards Lock when he died in 2021. As much as I disliked the man, my immediate thoughts were with those that loved him and I kept a dignified silence while others proclaimed how wonderful he was on social media, and the BBC almost went into official mourning with a glowing tribute on Newsnight preceded by a monologue from host Emily Maitlis.
Hatred from the left towards their opponents is a common feature of modern life. John O’Farrell meant what he said, as did Sean Lock. In the days after Margaret Thatcher’s passing, it was not uncommon for funky leftists on social media to say they hoped she was in great pain before her death.
I should point out that these people have nothing in common with the rugged, patriotic, working class socialism in the mould of Attlee, which had a strong Christian moral compass and owed more to Methodism than Marx.
No, these horrible remarks predominantly came from university-educated, middle class atheists who believe they are morally superior to others.
During the pandemic, when these panel shows were allowed to resume recording without a studio audience, it was interesting to see just how unfunny these trendy leftist comedians really are when they don’t have an audience of baying sycophants in front of them.
The double standards from the left, and from the traditional media in general, are extraordinary. On today’s Good Morning Britain, host Susanna Reid said that any MP who appeared on GB News should ‘come off’ if the channel ‘entertained that sort of talk’.
This is the same Susanna Reid who has no qualms about co-presenting her programme with Alastair Campbell, the man whose lies about non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq led to the deaths of 179 British serviceman, while many more have been maimed or mentally damaged for life, not to mention the deaths of at least 400,000 innocent Iraqis.
Today, Campbell is the darling of the Remoaners due to his aggressive, hate-filled media appearances where he denounces Brexit. They don’t seem too bothered about his bullying towards his opponents, including former Brexit Party MEP Alex Phillips when she appeared alongside him on a Newsnight discussion in May this year.
Alastair Campbell, Alex Phillips and host Victoria Derbyshire
Furthermore, Susanna Reid regularly presents the programme with the boorish Ed Balls, a senior figure during Gordon Brown’s tenure as Chancellor when he introduced 157 new taxes (many of them sneaky ‘look out for the small print’ taxes), saddled the NHS with huge debts due to private finance initiatives which still haven’t been paid off, the raiding of private pensions of people who had wisely put money aside for their retirement, the selling off of gold reserves when gold was at the bottom of its economic cycle, and the borrowing of more money than all other governments in history combined.
That is Gordon Brown’s economic legacy, and Balls was his most senior adviser. Yet he and Campbell are considered acceptable figures to play the ‘pantomime villain’ role on Good Morning Britian while sitting in the chair once occupied by Piers Morgan, who was dismissed from the programme for making remarks about Meghan Markle that were true and accurate.
The front page of the BBC News website on the evening of 27 September 2023
Last night, on the BBC News website, the lead story was of Dan Wootton’s suspension from GB News. They considered this more important than the sickening story of a 15-year-old girl being murdered in Croydon.
Anyone would think the BBC was afraid of GB News or something…
Marcus Stead
Different rules for leftists
with one comment
By MARCUS STEAD
The comments made by Laurence Fox about Ava Santina on Dan Wootton’s GB News programme have rightly been condemned by all sides of the political spectrum.
Fox was once a man who had something useful to contribute to political discourse, but in recent years he has fallen into a dangerous trap that goes something like this: Say something moderately controversial during a discussion, receive lots of praise from your own echo chamber on social media, push the boat out a bit further, receive more praise, and keep becoming more and more outrageous until you’ve pushed things too far.
No right-thinking person should in any way defend Fox’s comments about Santina. They were cheap, crass and personal.
Fox made the comments in response to Santina’s own remarks on the BBC’s Politics Live programme earlier on Monday in which she made some ill-judged comments about men’s mental health. To be fair to Santina, she took to social media within hours to admit she had been a ‘little rash’ and said she was ‘actually very interested in a brief for a minister on young men’s mental health’.
I also have no great love for Dan Wootton’s programme on GB News. The channel itself is, overall, in a strong place. The daytime schedule consists of high-quality news and analysis, where they are not afraid to cover stories that traditional media outlets ignore, such as the impact of uncontrolled mass immigration on social cohesion, the migrant crisis, or the damaging impact of identity politics in schools.
Michelle Dewberry’s Dewbs & Co provides sensible discussion and analysis where contributors from different perspectives can debate issues freely. Jacob Rees-Mogg’s programme at 8pm gives thoughtful, informed analysis.
On Sundays, programmes hosted by Michael Portillo and Camilla Tominey provide a reliable mix of sensible, civilised discussion with a lighter touch, while on Saturday evenings, Fr Calvin Robinson and his guests analyse events from a faith perspective.
All this is to be commendable – GB News really does provide something different. Much of the traditional media lives, works, marries and socialises within a middle class, leftist, London-centric echo chamber that neither understands nor tries to understand the world beyond their bubble. GB News breaks through that barrier and mindset and isn’t afraid to reach out to those beyond the M25.
Yet GB News lets itself down with other aspects of its schedule, such as the conspiracy-fuelled monologues of Neil Oliver and Dan Wootton’s evening programme.
The problem with Wootton is that if you’ve seen one of his programmes, you’ve seen them all. The same subjects, with the same guests, are discussed night after night after night.
In the world of Wootton, Boris Johnson is a good thing (he pretty much overlooks Wallpapergate, Partygate, the Owen Paterson scandal and the Chris Pincher affair, along with Johnson’s commitment to all things ‘climate change’), Liz Truss is a good thing (despite her being a Remain supporter with an unremarkable track record before becoming Prime Minister), and Meghan Markle is a bad thing (yes, we know, Dan, most of us worked out long ago she is scheming and devious – we’re bored with it so please only return to the issue occasionally).
On Dan Wootton’s programmes, it’s the same issues debated in the same way by the same, narrow pool of contributors, night after night. Yes, it’s good to hear Jim Davidson’s hilarious weekly takedowns of media luvvies, and Coronation Street legend Charlie Lawson is always a delight, but others who appear on the programme from the studio (The Hamiltons, Benjamin Butterworth, Rebecca Reid etc) are not the sort of people I’d wish to listen to for two hours each evening.
We now know that Wootton sent Fox messages of approval after his shameful comments, and again, we should in no way condone the behaviour of either man on the programme.
But by the same token, why are those with fashionable leftist views given a much softer ride by the mainstream media?
For example, during an appearance on the alleged comedy show The Last Leg on Channel 4, Miriam Margolyes said she wanted Boris Johnson “to die” when he was seriously ill with Covid. Plenty laughed along with her and neither she nor the programme was censured by the regulator Ofcom.
John O’Farrell is one of the darlings of those tired panel shows on TV and BBC Radio 4 where leftist comedians try to out-woke each other while having sneering digs at Brexiteers, Christians and social conservatives.
The media establishment has never condemned O’Farrell for numerous highly unpleasant remarks he has made. For example, in 1998, O’Farrell, already in his mid-30s and old enough to take responsibility for his actions, wrote a book titled ‘Things Can Only Get Better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter’ in which, referring to Margaret Thatcher and the IRA-planted Brighton Bomb during the Conservative Party Conference in October 1984, he wrote: ‘In October 1984, when the Brighton bomb went off, I felt a surge of excitement at the nearness of her demise and yet disappointment that such a chance had been missed. This was me…..wishing that they had got her. “Why did she have to leave the bathroom two minutes earlier?” I asked myself over and over again.” He goes on: “I just hated her so very, very much.”
Also in the book, O’Farrell states that he wishes Britain had lost the Falklands War, which is an appalling insult to the troops who fought, and in some cases died in battle, as well as to the inhabitants of the islands, who would have been subjected to the tyranny of General Galtieri had Argentina won.
Or what about the late Sean Lock? On the week Margaret Thatcher died, Lock appeared on the funky Channel 4 ‘comedy’ show 8 Out Of 10 Cats where host Jimmy Carr asked whether she should have a state funeral. Lock replied: “I don’t think it matters whether she has a state funeral, as long as the bitch is dead, that’s the main thing. I’d like them to fire her out of a cannon onto the walls of Buckingham Palace, so she just splats like that.”
Lock’s remarks were laughed at by the studio audience and by the host, as well as fellow panellists David Baddiel and Chris Moyles.
The programme was a nasty, sneering, left-wing love-in. On the whole, right wingers do not behave like that. It does not occur to us to behave insultingly towards the recently-deceased. There was very little in the way of similar behaviour towards Lock when he died in 2021. As much as I disliked the man, my immediate thoughts were with those that loved him and I kept a dignified silence while others proclaimed how wonderful he was on social media, and the BBC almost went into official mourning with a glowing tribute on Newsnight preceded by a monologue from host Emily Maitlis.
Hatred from the left towards their opponents is a common feature of modern life. John O’Farrell meant what he said, as did Sean Lock. In the days after Margaret Thatcher’s passing, it was not uncommon for funky leftists on social media to say they hoped she was in great pain before her death.
I should point out that these people have nothing in common with the rugged, patriotic, working class socialism in the mould of Attlee, which had a strong Christian moral compass and owed more to Methodism than Marx.
No, these horrible remarks predominantly came from university-educated, middle class atheists who believe they are morally superior to others.
During the pandemic, when these panel shows were allowed to resume recording without a studio audience, it was interesting to see just how unfunny these trendy leftist comedians really are when they don’t have an audience of baying sycophants in front of them.
The double standards from the left, and from the traditional media in general, are extraordinary. On today’s Good Morning Britain, host Susanna Reid said that any MP who appeared on GB News should ‘come off’ if the channel ‘entertained that sort of talk’.
This is the same Susanna Reid who has no qualms about co-presenting her programme with Alastair Campbell, the man whose lies about non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq led to the deaths of 179 British serviceman, while many more have been maimed or mentally damaged for life, not to mention the deaths of at least 400,000 innocent Iraqis.
Today, Campbell is the darling of the Remoaners due to his aggressive, hate-filled media appearances where he denounces Brexit. They don’t seem too bothered about his bullying towards his opponents, including former Brexit Party MEP Alex Phillips when she appeared alongside him on a Newsnight discussion in May this year.
Furthermore, Susanna Reid regularly presents the programme with the boorish Ed Balls, a senior figure during Gordon Brown’s tenure as Chancellor when he introduced 157 new taxes (many of them sneaky ‘look out for the small print’ taxes), saddled the NHS with huge debts due to private finance initiatives which still haven’t been paid off, the raiding of private pensions of people who had wisely put money aside for their retirement, the selling off of gold reserves when gold was at the bottom of its economic cycle, and the borrowing of more money than all other governments in history combined.
That is Gordon Brown’s economic legacy, and Balls was his most senior adviser. Yet he and Campbell are considered acceptable figures to play the ‘pantomime villain’ role on Good Morning Britian while sitting in the chair once occupied by Piers Morgan, who was dismissed from the programme for making remarks about Meghan Markle that were true and accurate.
Last night, on the BBC News website, the lead story was of Dan Wootton’s suspension from GB News. They considered this more important than the sickening story of a 15-year-old girl being murdered in Croydon.
Anyone would think the BBC was afraid of GB News or something…
Written by Marcus Stead
September 28, 2023 at 3:51 pm
Posted in Comment, Opinion, Politics