Tim Ireland: no good deed goes unpunished
Remember this story in The Sun from earlier in the year?
Fears grew last night that hate-filled Islamic extremists are drawing up a “hit list” of Britain’s leading Jews – bringing the Middle East conflict terrifyingly close to home.
TV’s The Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar and Amy Winehouse record producer Mark Ronson are among prominent names discussed on a fanatics’ website. Labour Peer and pal of Tony Blair Lord Levy, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Princess Diana’s divorce lawyer Anthony Julius are also understood to be potential targets.
In a very fine piece of investigative journalism (remember that?) Tim Ireland of Bloggerheads, with help from Richard Bartholomew, discovered this story to be a massive hoax perpetrated by a man called Glen Jenvey, a man who has in the past worked with Tory MP Patrick Mercer, the parliamentary counterterrorism subcommittee chairman.
Tim’s reward? To be smeared, to have his mental health impugned, to be accused of being a paedophile, lied about, vilified, stalked, and finally his home address made public on the internet. He has had to involve the police. The harassment continues. Those in a real position to help him put an end to this have, disgracefully and unforgivably, refused to do so.
I’m proud to know Tim well and know something of what he’s been through in the last few months. And all for calling someone on their dangerous bullshit. He deserves much better for doing what a far better resourced press and media should have been doing themselves. He deserves full credit and any damage to his reputation restored.
To those who have helped do this to him or stood by and done nothing by allowing petty disputes get in the way of doing the right thing: it won’t be forgotten. This isn’t a game or an inter-blog spat – this is about a person’s safety and well-being and that of his family. The behaviour of some of the prominent Tories involved in all this is gut-churning.
Tim could do with a hand. You could start here.
Posted on September 25th, 2009 at 1:50pm under Shout going out to...
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• 14 Comments |
Thank you kindly.
Hear, hear and I echo every sentiment in your penultimate paragraph Justin.
[...] is the culmination of him being ‘smeared, to have his mental health impugned, to be accused of being a paedophile, lied about, [...]
[...] what they’re told… After all, if you were looking into a story and, like Tim Ireland, your reward was… To be smeared, to have his mental health impugned, to be accused of being a paedophile, [...]
[...] support for Tim can be found here, here, here and here, for [...]
[...] reading Richard Bartholomew: Harassment against Tim Ireland Chicken Yoghurt: Tim Ireland: no good deed goes unpunished Sim-O: Tim Ireland, Patrick Mercer MP and a bloody disgrace Septicisle: Patrick Mercer has some [...]
[...] From Chicken Yoghurt: [...]
The behaviour of some of the prominent Tories involved in all this is gut-churning
Talk me through this, will you ?
a) chap posts inflammatory stuff on Islamist website, then uses it as basis for ’story’
b) Tory MP falls for it and asks if there’s more – some kind of ‘relationship’ established as per above
c) Mr Ireland does some sleuthing and exposes whole caboodle. All credit too him.
d) Tory MP retreats, covering rear and mumbling sort-of apologies into hands as gracefully as he may – perhaps not very. Doesn’t make live and personal apology to Mr Ireland or the Muslim people of Britain at PMQs.
e) some bad person – and they ARE bad – posts Mr Ireland’s home address hither and thither. Extremely bad form, although I seem to remember the Yog wasn’t too cut up when some other people’s addresses were published a year or two back.
OK – where in this is the disgraceful behaviour by Tories ? And what’s this ‘paedophile’ stuff ?
I’m not trying to be deliberately obtuse – but what’s the actual Tory bad behaviour consist of ? Ou est le boeuf ?
I presume we’re not saying that Patrick Mercer’s office are involved in this – don’t know the guy but he strikes me as a decent sort who would settle any issues with a horsewhip on the steps of Mr Ireland’s club, not in an underhand way.
Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries are surely nowt to do with this – they have been dinging and a-donging with TI for ages – and he seems to be quite capable of dishing it out. Given that the lovely Nadine is affectionately known on the left blogs as ‘Mad Nad’ it ill behooves our hero to worry too much about mental states being impugned.
“The harassment continues. Those in a real position to help him put an end to this have, disgracefully and unforgivably, refused to do so.”
Is this address still being posted ? And is this a call for ??? ???? and ??? to put up a ‘call off the dogs’ post ? And do you think that will do the biz ?
Enlightenment appreciated.
So what you’re basically saying that you can’t be arsed reading the public domain information on all this?
Given that the lovely Nadine is affectionately known on the left blogs as ‘Mad Nad’ it ill behooves our hero to worry too much about mental states being impugned.
As far as I’m aware, Tim isn’t one of those on the left that calls Nadine, or anyone else mad, obsessive, nuts, loony or batshit stir-crazy or even plain old insane.
links please Justin. And why couldn’t you put them in your piece ? That’s public, isn’t it ?
You could start at the bit where it says “You could start here”.
Bear in mind, this is how tories behave when they think they’re going to win the next election…
The Tories are worried about the kind of scrutiny that they might face from the better bloggers if they are the next Government.