The Sun, UKIP and 'The Sting'.

[Workingman]

The Sun, ahem, newspaper, has performed a 'Sting' on UKIP and once again all the media is overjoyed.

It has now published a secret recording appearing to show Janice Atkinson's chief of staff, Christine Hewitt, speaking to the manager of a restaurant in Margate, Kent, before UKIP's spring conference.
In the footage, she appears to ask for an invoice for a much higher sum than the bill she had received.
Ms Hewitt is heard to say: "The idea is we overcharge them slightly, because that's the way we repatriate it."
A member of the hotel staff replies: "3,150, is that all right? Yeah, if you're all right with that? Is that enough for you?"
Ms Hewitt then says: "Oh God yeah, that's more than enough."

The outcome, so far, is that UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson is suspended, Crime detectives are investigating and and once again all the media is acting with glee.

Well, hang on. It was not Janice Atkinson allegedly asking for the fake bill it was her employee. How did The Sun know that the request would be made? Did it do anything to prompt the request? Was the Margate hotel where the event took place acting illegally in accepting the request and offering a fake bill. Haven't UKIP acted more honourably than, say, the Tories or LibDems or Labour by immediately suspending Atkinson? I mean, what action did those parties take when their MPs were caught fiddling expenses. Is that why they are all so quiet on the matter?

[victor]

they are probably quiet cos they are trying to work out how to try it on

[Workingman]

@Vic

[KateLMead]

The Sun, ahem, newspaper, has performed a 'Sting' on UKIP and once again all the media is overjoyed.

It has now published a secret recording appearing to show Janice Atkinson's chief of staff, Christine Hewitt, speaking to the manager of a restaurant in Margate, Kent, before UKIP's spring conference.
In the footage, she appears to ask for an invoice for a much higher sum than the bill she had received.
Ms Hewitt is heard to say: "The idea is we overcharge them slightly, because that's the way we repatriate it."
A member of the hotel staff replies: "3,150, is that all right? Yeah, if you're all right with that? Is that enough for you?"
Ms Hewitt then says: "Oh God yeah, that's more than enough."

The outcome, so far, is that UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson is suspended, Crime detectives are investigating and and once again all the media is acting with glee.

Well, hang on. It was not Janice Atkinson allegedly asking for the fake bill it was her employee. How did The Sun know that the request would be made? Did it do anything to prompt the request? Was the Margate hotel where the event took place acting illegally in accepting the request and offering a fake bill.

Haven't UKIP acted more honourably than, say, the Tories or LibDems or Labour by immediately suspending Atkinson? I mean, what action did those parties take when their MPs were caught fiddling expenses. Is that why they are all so quiet on the matter?

Yes Frank.

[Suff]

Well, hang on. It was not Janice Atkinson allegedly asking for the fake bill it was her employee.

I thought that too when I read it. It read as if Janice had asked but, as usual, you have to dig into the article until you find the truth.

How did The Sun know that the request would be made? Did it do anything to prompt the request?

Good question. Because these things don't just get recorded 24x7. It might be useful for the Sun to state how they knew even if it was "a concerned citizen".

Was the Margate hotel where the event took place acting illegally in accepting the request and offering a fake bill.

If they knowingly provide a bill which they know is going to be used to defraud public expenses, then they are complicit and, as far as I know, can be charged as an accessory.

Haven't UKIP acted more honourably than, say, the Tories or LibDems or Labour by immediately suspending Atkinson? I mean, what action did those parties take when their MPs were caught fiddling expenses. Is that why they are all so quiet on the matter?

Yes, it's something for the people to remember. The UKIP have acted far more honourably than any of the other parties but the press is not going to state that are they? This whole sting was to get the UKIP off the backs of the Tories. No other purpose. I don't think it's going to work any more than attacking the SNP that way in Scotland is going to change the minds of the Scottish voters on Labour.

[Workingman]

Isn't it funny how different things look when a few simple questions are asked?

Take yesterday's screaming headlines about the UKIP 'Scunthorpe bully' making out that he bullied UKIP staff and had to resign. It turns out that the complaint was made by somebody at his workplace, and it is being contested. And because he is a solicitor the issue is sub-judice so neither he, nor UKIP, nor the bar council will say anything about it - they can't.

That is not the same as making out that all UKIP candidates are suspect or that UKIP was brushing the matter under the carpet. But why spoil a good story, eh?

[Aggers]

I don't care what the stupid papers say.

I shall vote for UKIP.

I just wish we could have an election for a dictator.
That's what this country really needs.

IF we could get the right man.

[Workingman]

The thing is, Aggers, that you question what they say. The number of people doing that decreases by the day, and that is a big worry.

We need people to question what they are being told, we need them to be sceptical about the media, but they are not. They accept, without question. These things worry me greatly.

When I was at school we did something called "comprehension" we also had to "contrast and compare" the views of one newspaper over another. The teacher would bring in The Sketch, Daily Mirror, The Express (a broadsheet), Daily Mail, and so on...and we would analyse how and why they covered a story in the way they did.

These things seem to have gone in the bin as 'old school' teaching. So now it is more 'accept what you read/hear as truth, and go with it. Those with the deepest pockets for advertising their view win.