A facebook group has been launched to stop Rod Liddle from becoming Editor of the Independent newspaper. Liddle is renowned for a series of offensive outbursts.
A facebook group has been launched with the aim of stopping Rod Liddle from becoming Editor of the Independent newspaper. The former Today programme editor is renowned for his offensives outbursts.
The Guardian reported on Friday that Rod Liddle was being lined up to edit the newspaper. Alex Higgins, who blogs at Bring on the Revolution, acted quickly to set up a facebook group detailing Rod Liddle’s views and warning “If Rod Liddle becomes editor of The Independent, I will not buy it again.”
Higgins writes:
“Rod Liddle would be a disappointing choice for the ‘Daily Telegraph’ or the ‘Daily Mail’. For the ‘Independent’, it represents a direct affront to the readership.
“Many ‘Independent’ readers were already disappointed by the direction the paper had taken under Roger Alton, and we absolutely should not accept the appointment of Rod Liddle.”
He goes on to detail many of Liddle’s positions including:
– decrying “Muslim Savages“
– mocking the black British community for merely producing “rap music” and “goat curry“
– denying the evidence for Anthropogenic Global Warming theory
– a series of sexist articles and views including “So – Harriet Harman, then. Would you? I mean after a few beers obviously, not while you were sober.”
UPDATE 18.04
The facebook group has now attracted well over 1,000 people in under 24 hours.
48 Responses to “Stop Rod Liddle”
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Adam White
RT @leftfootfwd: Stop offensive twat Rod Liddle becoming Editor of the Independent http://bit.ly/5bee0V
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[…] it is interesting to see some early attempts to challenge his prospective editorship of the […]
Balham Bugle
Can’t say that I’m bothered whether Rod Liddle becomes the Indy’s editor. I haven’t read the Indy since I was at uni, when being po-faced was de rigueur. And while I read Liddle’s Spectator blog, it’s usually in the same way that I would listen to Dennis Leary
But just an evidence-based analysis of the likely impact of this facebook page (I seem to remember EBA was in your strapline), currently numbering just over 1,300. The Indy sells around 180,000 copies a day, of which around half are paid for. Using the other papers in the Independent News and Media stable as a benchmark of financial sustainability, the Indy will need to double paying customers to have a similar operating margin. So, if a new approach has a reasonable chance of adding at least 100,000 new customers, I don’t think any sleep will be lost over a few thousand people who are probably aren’t regular buyers.
PS – did you actually read the Liddle links use to lambast him before copying them into your post. Decrying, mocking and being sexist is fairly subjective so it seems pointless to argue, but decrying stoning of adulterous women seems a fairly reasonable response. But, does a column that discusses the politics of climate change negotiation really qualify as “denying the evidence” of AGW?
Will, in future I’d concentrate on harvesting quotes from OECD reports. They long enough that most people won’t both to check to see how much your spinning.
Anon E Mouse
Paul – And I’d rather see the NUJ or any other union for that matter acting in the interests of their members instead of getting involved in politics…
I’m funny like that…