Ed Miliband: Boo Hoo Squish Squish

‘The last thing I cried at was Pride. Pride is about this lesbian and gay community in London who go and help the miners in Wales and Justine and I watched it recently. I blubbed.’

Part of an Absolute Radio interview earlier today where Mr Ed tries to show his human side, quoted in Mail Online.

Pride was set a generation ago - taking sides in this celluloid fantasy is about as meaningful as saying who you'd root for in the English Civil War.

Funny how Miliband supports the Tories' war against the poor today.

Update: An alternative view...

LOLZ!

Cliff/Rotherham: Bad News

So South Yorkshire police did everything it could to stop the Times reporting the Rotherham sex abuse scandal, yet this month the very same force had been "working with a media outlet" to publicise a raid on Cliff Richard's house. What's the lesson from this? That the media is only tolerated if it can help get a celebrity conviction?

The mishandling of the Cliff operation can't even be put down to a rush for justice. It was a full 18 months ago that we remember police sources starting to brief journalists that they had Cliff Richard in their sights. Hacks had even started checking out Heathrow whenever Cliff entered the country, to see if anything was happening. So, it's unlikely this raid was done on a whim.

What started out sounding like over-eager gossip is now looking more like the police's attempt to get the media to help build the case. With the BBC's coverage of the Cliff Richard raid, they may have got their wish. But all they've managed to succeed in doing so far is making us feel bad for a man who released Livin' Doll and lends his house to Tony Blair.

And that's truly unforgivable.

Popbitch, Silly Season Gets Serious - thanks for joining the dots. x

One celebrity scalp is clearly worth more than 1,400 working-class girls.

From the Battle of Orgeave to Hillsborough and now this shitstorm, this gang of crooks called South Yorkshire Police should be locked up.

Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners: Pits And Perverts

It’s the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners. But there is a problem. The Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.

But the activists are not deterred. They decide to ignore the Union and go direct to the miners. They identify a mining village in deepest Wales and set off in a mini bus to make their donation in person. And so begins the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.

PRIDE will be directed by the Tony Award winning theatre director Matthew Warchus (Matilda: The Musical, God of Carnage). The large ensemble cast will be led by Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton with the other roles played by a host of well-known British actors including Dominic West...

BBC Films.

It'll be like Billy Elliott, Brassed Off and The Full Monty - but with added gays for a bit of culture clash comedy-drama!
A pivotal moment in British gay politics, let's hope they don't fuck this up - and it ends up more like The Comic Strip's Strike.

Here's a first person account by Paul Canning, who was a member of the LGSM delegation to South Wales.
And here's a lovely retro video of Manchester LGSM and the benefit they organised at the Hacienda.
Or alternatively, if you know fuck-all about it - like this fool at Gay Star News - why not just copy whatever drivel you just read on Wikipedia, and then get it even more wrong.
Gay journalism at its very, very best.