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Policy Exchange: Tory Connected "Charity" and Forgeries
Here Be Sock Puppets! Repetitive and reactionary ones at that. Policy Exchange report is exposed by BBC Newsnight as charlatanic hate mongery. "Invoices" clearly forged by "researchers". PEx head honcho wobbles defiantly. Is Gove in charge? Did Dale resign before this debacle??
11 comments:
If Labour hadn't permitted 'charities' to campaign on politicial matters, then there would be no such 'charities' as the Policy Exchange, the Smith Institute and the plethora of other lobbying organisations that now have charitable status or charities that now indulge in spending vast sums campaigning for changes in the law!
As to the report itself; it is clearly a case of someone making things up to meet their own prejudice ... something that you know I believe is both dishonourable and wrong.
Having said that, many of these 'charities' do have research done by individuals who carry out their own 'work' and provide their own 'reports' and it is possible that people at the top of them are not aware of shenanigans (spelling?) that go on below them ... and they don't have time to carry out forensic examinations of every piece of such 'work' carried out.
It was great telly. Tory boys making tory boy errors me thinks.
W
http://parburypolitica.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/tory-think-tank-in-fakery-scandal/
Evan: I do believe that both PX and SI pre-date Charity Commission changes re political activity? Don't they? There are registered as charities under the scholarly/education route?
There is clearly an issue with hateful books being sold in the UK including in and around mosques with or without the knowledge of the Chairs of these organisations.
But the PX thing was pants and as Will says the fall out made good telly.
The sock puppets at the BBC site are hilarious also. Have been a bit busy with other stuff this morning but will get back to it.
Presumably Guido and Iain are giving the fall of DG appropriate coverage?
The people at the top are responsible for quality control and the "editorial line" if think tanks should have such a thing.
DG is standing up for a report which says 74 of 100 mosques - how sampled? possibly by expectations - are completely clear of such literature.
And that points at the other 26 when it should have been clear that of these many of the alleged instances involved independent book stalls and even nearby but distinct addresses.
I think it was Hugh Muir's Guardian Diary that drew attention to a CofE journal preferring sodomy to popery?? Hating Catholics.
That's fairly mainstream. There is plenty of dodgy literature out and about and even the MSM includes plenty of racist stereotyping, misogyny and homophobia.
Policy Exchange were first registered as a charity on 3 Mar 03 - Smith Institute on 19 Jun 97 ...
Tis true that the Charity Commission began to relax the rules on political campaigning under pressure particularly from the RSPCA and RSPB (over hunting), but that was subject to the rule that the campaign had to be in relation to the objects of the charity.
The relaxation that has now been undertaken means that, for example, the 1990 Trust (Blink website) can overtly campaign politically as can other such organisations ... and lobbying organisations such as the Smith Institute and Policy Exchange can do the same with the added financial benefit of being charities - and as they tend not to have premises, the benefits are potentially substantial (23% - I think).
As to the details - Policy Exchange says that Newsnight have got is wrong in their press release - and that they have concentrated on peripheral issues rather than the substance - and Newsnight presumably stand by their report. Don't know what to make of it all really - except that it is probably another example of people not really engaging with each other and not really listening to what the other says!
I'd say the PEx are bang to rights on:
(a) Forged "evidence" and
(b) Spinning results to incriminate mosques rather than independents and individuals, and
(c) Accentuating the negative
Newsnight have covered stories repeatedly about bad things going on in and around mosques. The charge that they have ignored such stories does not bear inspection.
Was it the worse ever performance by an interviewee on Newsnight?
Magical stuff.
Very likely. But Michael Howard may dispute that.
Dean Godson seems to get plenty of chances to spout off his views in The Times and The Telegraph.
I'm sure the fact that the head of the Policy Exchange used to be the political editor of the Times, and that Deano used to be an assistant to Conrad Black can surely be only a big coincidence.
Yes, absolutely; a coincidence.
It will be interesting to see how much comes out about Godson's background:
http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/4309/8/
I notice his main contribution to the PEx canon is a pamphlet about Routemaster buses. Oh, and egging on various hotheads on this pamphlets.
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