‘To be fair – margarine was a French invention… although they probably don’t know that…’
The National Trust regularly finds itself in the right-wing firing line, as anti-woke insurgents attempt to present it as some kind of dangerously radical cake-and-countryside organisation.
This week, the cakes that Europe’s largest conservation charity serves in its hundreds of tearooms across the country, have literally been under attack.
The rant was initiated by the Daily Mail, which ran an ‘exclusive’ on the National Trust’s use of vegetable-based spread instead of butter in its scones. Customers are, according to the newspaper, complaining that the new scones taste like ‘dry biscuits.’
…
the assault on the Trust’s scones attracted ridicule, with a ‘wokesconegate’ hashtag trending.
…
Celia Richardson, the charity’s director of communications, joined the mockery, writing on X:
“GB News claims the National Trust ‘holds our heritage in contempt,’ over #wokesconegate. But margarine (which we’ve used in scones for decades) has been part of UK heritage since at least WW2. And am I alone in remembering Bruce Forsyth’s Stork SB challenge? Classic heritage TV!”
The fact that margarine was a creation of the French and not the British was also pointed out.
Rishi Sunak met media representatives more than any other sector of the UK economy between July and September, analysis by Byline Times shows.
The Prime Minister met senior executives from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire alone four times in the space of three months, compared to just once for NHS representatives.
Sunak met Daily Mail editors twice in that time, while meeting housing sector figures once. Several of the meetings were listed as “social”, meaning they are unlikely to have been minuted. That includes meetings with the departing News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch, and separately, his son Lachlan who is taking over at the helm.
Every single one of the PM’s eight media meetings in that time is with right-leaning media outlets.
Journalism professor and Byline Times contributor Brian Cathcart said: “These depressing figures reveal just how close the connection is between the right-wing billionaire press and our multi-millionaire prime minister.
“Forget democracy and forget parliament: this is where the real power in this country resides, and worse still, what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. Contacts of this kind are maintained at every level of Government and are so intensive it’s impossible to say where press influence ends and Government begins.”
Around 20 supporters of Just Stop Oil have been arrested for wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts at the coronation. Just Stop Oil is demanding no new licences or consents for any fossil fuel projects in the UK.
At around 9:30am, during this morning’s coronation celebrations, around 20 supporters were arrested wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts. No disruptive action was planned, the supporters were not intending to jump the barrier, merely reveal their t-shirts and hold flags emblazoned with ‘Just Stop Oil.’
This morning also saw the arrests of members of the group Republic, who campaign for an elected head of state to replace the monarch, who were arrested for wearing yellow t-shirts that featured the slogan ‘not my king.’
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
“What a dystopian nightmare this country has become. While we gather to celebrate putting a billionaire in a sparkly hat; this week the government enacted draconian legislation effectively banning legitimate dissent in this country. As this morning’s events demonstrate, we are living in an authoritarian police state.”
“As the world looks on in horror, the government brings in laws that would make a dictator blush. The British people’s fundamental democratic right to march and make our voices heard, has been stripped from us. This affects every one of us, regardless of our political persuasion.”
“Our government is signing the death warrants of hundreds of millions. Our democracy has been stolen by a corrupt, criminal cabal and if the local election results are anything to go by, the people of this country have had enough. Our government has been bought by the fossil fuel lobby and now they’re busy funnelling taxpayers’ money into companies that are making record profits and jailing anyone with the temerity to complain about it.”
Extinction Rebellion has been taking on the tabloid media this morning in a series of actions calling out their blatant suppression of crucial news on the climate and ecological crisis. In London, three people met The Sun’s political investigative reporter Amir Razavi in a sting operation, where they posed as whistleblowers there to provide him with top secret information. The group questioned Razavi about his climate ethics, asking him to explain his newspaper’s 30-year campaign of climate lies and misinformation.
The Extinction Rebellion citizen journalists took the rare opportunity to ask why The Sun continues to withhold, deny and downgrade vital information on the scale of the climate crisis and its root causes, just days after Antonio Guterres likened the latest IPCC report to a “survival guide for humanity”.
Extinction Rebellion image, the Lightscraper
While this was happening, at the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK at London Bridge, the Telegraph HQ in Victoria and the offices of the Daily Mail in Kensington, several people spray painted the buildings with green washable paint using fire extinguishers. A large banner with the words ‘CORRUPT AS FUCK’ was attached to multiple helium filled balloons at News UK and was floated up in front of the office windows on higher floors to highlight the destructive influence of media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch on democracy.
Steve Tooze of Extinction Rebellion and former Sun and Daily Mail journalist, said: “The mainstream media has a major role to play in delivering the truth to the general public about the climate and ecological emergency. They could and should be helping all of us come together around the clear need for change and providing people with the facts so we can work out how to transition away from fossil fuels and build a future that is safer, fairer, better for everyone. Instead, their business model thrives on division and click bait culture that sets people against one another. The reality is, the billionaire owned media uses this strategy to uphold the status quo so that those with power can hold on tightly to that power.
“Extinction Rebellion is saying we’re not going to accept this anymore. People need to set aside their differences and come together if we’re going to stave off the worst of the climate crisis and build a better society, so we’re inviting everyone to join us at Parliament from 21st April to start creating the change we need. The mainstream press has a responsibility to help people find a way to achieve this rather than profiting from our division.”
Extinction Rebellion image by Denise Laura Baker
Climate solutions are readily available, as outlined in the IPCC report. What is lacking is media reporting and government support, with the Telegraph suggesting for example that Monday’s IPCC report was “nothing but confected hysteria” and the The Daily Mail accused the authors of using “hysterical language”. The Sun devoted less than half a column on page two to the report. The Daily Mail has repeatedly published misleading or outright false information on the climate crisis. The Telegraph platforms and emboldens known climate deniers, and none of our national papers give this crisis the attention appropriate to the scale of the emergency.
Anna, a photographer from London who took part in the action, said:“I am taking this action to highlight the Daily Mail’s inadequate response to the climate and ecological crises. From editorials calling for an end to net zero policies, to their support of fracking, the Mail makes itself an enemy of our planet and the humans who depend on it. The news shapes our minds, and without honest reporting we risk sleepwalking into an unnecessarily difficult future.”
Tom Masters, Civil Servant from Bristol, said: “Extinction Rebellion demands that people tell the truth about the climate emergency. This shouldn’t be too much to ask of a national newspaper that exerts significant influence over its readership and over the British government.
The Telegraph has been described as ‘Fleet Street’s last dinosaur of climate change denial’ by climate science expert Dr Bob Ward, and with good reason. Only this week they downplayed the severity of the IPCC report and labelled it as hysterical. I undertook today’s action to highlight the irresponsibility of mainstream press and their unwillingness to do their job and tell people the truth and hold power to account for their inaction.”
Protesters from Extinction Rebellion spray paint on the windows of News Corp, the headquarters of The Sun, in protest at their failure to report on the climate crisis, London, England, UK. Extinction Rebellion image by Denise Laura Baker
These actions are just 30 days before thousands will descend on Parliament for four days for The Big One. On Monday this week, dozens of major NGOs, trade unions, justice movements and more made their commitment to stand with Extinction Rebellion in April to face the intersecting crises of climate breakdown, the cost of living, attacks on democracy, and the shredding of essential public services, together.
