Comments on: Andrew Gilligan: Beardie, Don’t You Dare Shave Our Marathon

By: New Standard – same old news values « Confessions of a Political Animal

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:03:52 +0000

[...] the comments on the greenwich.co.uk site, excellent Charlton blogger 853 (prompted by the paper’s apparent support for Richard [...]

By: Indigo

Indigo — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:00:51 +0000

“our 40-watt council” LOL LOL LOL

Back off, Branson.

By: tom

tom — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:14:57 +0000

No, Andrew’s about to write for the newspaper that stole on of my stories on Friday … virtually word for word. My organisation has given up complaining and now just relate to them via our legal team (like many other news outlets). Hardly surprising that newspaper sales are going downhill given the way they lie and cheat their readers.

On a brighter note, Greenwich festival over the weekend was fantastic.

By: Fat Cat

Fat Cat — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:01:25 +0000

“Some newspapers — and some of their journalists — still try to talk down to the rest of the world as if they know more than anyone else, even when it’s blindingly obvious they are just as incompetent as the rest of us…” I didnt realise Andrew wrote for the Guardian?

“cycle fast through the greenwich foot tunnel when there are pedestrians walking through. please respect the law next time.” zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

By: Westcombe Wil

Westcombe Wil — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:23:49 +0000

One day of roaad closures for a profession ally organised marathon I can deal wiih, but now Greenwich Council are making the disaster of last years amateur cock u of a half marathon an annual event. Do they ever ask us what we want?

By: tom

tom — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:14:43 +0000

as pretty much the most partisan hacks in London I think you have plenty of axes to grind.

my personal annoyance is the arrogance of national newspaper journalists and people that cycle fast through the greenwich foot tunnel when there are pedestrians walking through. please respect the law next time.

By: Andrew Gilligan

Andrew Gilligan — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:10:50 +0000

I speak as someone who is leaving the Standard and no longer has an axe to grind about it – but the idea that its circulation is declining because of its political bias is demonstrably wrong. Firstly, in an age when supposed left-wingers find themselves in league with warmongerers, torturers, shoot-to-kill police chiefs and the worst of pre-crunch City greed, I rather doubt whether the labels “left” and “right” mean much any more.

Secondly, even if you do believe they mean something, circulation decline is a fact of life at all titles, whatever their political bias, and has indeed been steeper at left-wing titles (the Mirror, Indy, Guardian, etc). In the old label terms the Standard, a centre-right newspaper, is actually very closely in line with Londoners’ politics, as shown by the last four sets of election results. That is clearly hard for some of the metropolitan left to accept, but it’s the reality.

By: tom

tom — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:59:47 +0000

that’s the one! it puts stamford bridge and twickenham stadium south of the river. at that point I knew we were dealing with an idiot.

By: darryl853

darryl853 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:37:09 +0000

Oh yes, the one where he went into an odd rant about villages in Kent and Surrey:

http://www.timeout.com/london/features/7631/North_London_v_South_London/2.html

By: tom

tom — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:32:31 +0000

It’s Time Out as well that seems to ignore SE London as Brockley Nick as noted previously. In a recent (silly) North vs South London article, the writer criticising south London appeared barely to know where south London was, let alone recognised that there was more to it than Clapham.