Owen jones

In solidarity with Owen Jones

Much as the appalling Shami Chakrabarti has insisted, I stand ‘in solidarity’ with Owen Jones and hope he makes a swift recovery. The question, though, is whether Owen Jones stands in solidarity with Owen Jones. By which I mean, does he agree that assaulting people because they have different political opinions to you is always odious and always wrong? He was full of glee when Nigel Farage was pelted with a milkshake, tweeting: ‘spare me the tears over a banana milkshake’ and praising the burger chain who were selling the milkshakes for having ‘joined the anti-fascist resistance’. But that’s not all. Jones also tweeted in support of Aamer Rahman who advised that it was morally

Locking up bankers won’t solve Britain’s crime epidemic

On Monday, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Munster Square in Camden. A Witness reported seeing three men ‘screaming and laughing’ as they chased him with a machete. The poor kid apparently sought refuge in a house, banging on the door and pleading for help, but his pursuers were close behind him. A couple of days before, across town in Leyton, a police officer had been attacked with a machete after trying to stop a van. PC Stuart Outten was slashed across his head and hand but courageously resisted the attack and survived. In Tottenham, a week before, an 89-year-old woman was reportedly raped and murdered in her

Diary – 16 May 2019

There are many places where a gay Jewish couple wearing yarmulkes wouldn’t feel comfortable walking down the street. I didn’t think west London was one of them. Ambling along Edgware Road to a wedding at the West London Synagogue, however, my partner feels something land on his jacket. At first, he believes it is bird dropping. Closer examination reveals the white gob to be human spittle. Later, we tell a friend, Harry Cole of the Mail on Sunday, who tweets about it. The Sky News presenter Adam Boulton replies: ‘No excuse but it is a Middle Eastern quarter.’ He later apologises. Perhaps we should have known better than to don

Owen Jones’s masterclass in ‘whataboutery’

Corbyn cheerleader-in-chief Owen Jones frequently rallies against what he calls ‘whataboutery.’ For those not familiar with the word, it is a technique used to distract people from talking about injustices on your own side by bringing up atrocities elsewhere. Or, in his own words: Given whataboutery is used to deflect responsibility for misdemeanours and crimes committed by ones own side this is a hilarious ironic tweet — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) April 8, 2018 It is a charge he frequently aims at his critics on the right. But is Jones guilty of it himself when it comes to the Labour leader? Mr Steerpike thinks so. Last night, as Corbyn’s story fell apart

I know all about unsold tickets and empty theatres

My heart goes out to Owen Jones. The left-wing journalist is one of the headliners at a Labour party fund-raiser scheduled for next Saturday and, at the time of writing, 85 per cent of tickets remain unsold. It is particularly embarrassing for Jones, given that Rod Liddle managed to sell out the London Palladium last month. As someone who has struggled to attract audiences to these sorts of things in the past, I have a few tips for Owen. First of all, don’t give tickets away, because those who have already bought them will ask for their money back. Unfortunately, that horse has already bolted in Owen’s case. Labour has

Labour MP vs Owen Jones: Would Corbyn have supported a government led by Attlee?

It’s safe to say that the uneasy peace formed in the Labour party after the snap election is coming to an end. Labour MP Ian Austin has today penned an article for PoliticsHome which is titled: ‘The current Labour leadership is completely outside Labour’s mainstream tradition’. And he doesn’t mean that as a compliment. In the article, the MP for Dudley North takes issue with both his leader and his leader’s chief cheerleader Owen Jones, the Guardian columnist. Austin says Corbyn and the hard left have ‘taken over the Labour Party and want to turn it from a mainstream social democratic party into something very different’. The Labour MP says

Local election analysis: Owen Jones’s success* rate

Owen Jones has been on a mission of late – a mission to unseat Tories. The Guardian columnist has been taking his campaign to key Labour target seats. Only despite the Guardian columnist’s best efforts, Labour have had a rather underwhelming night in the local elections. So, in order to help with future planning, Mr S thought it might be helpful to examine the varying degrees of success* when it comes to Jones’s campaign work: Owen Jones visited Kensington Tory HOLD Owen Jones campaigned in Kensington where Labour had high hopes of making gains and perhaps even taking control of the council. This would have been the crown jewel in

Ex-grammar school boy’s Julia Hartley-Brewer jibe

Owen Jones triggered the MSM over the weekend when he took to social media to complain that too many journalists went to private school and were not representative of society at large. While Mr S directs the Guardian columnist to this article on representation at Jones’s paper of choice, a number of hacks have risen to the bait. However, Steerpike is more interested in some of the curious responses. Julia Hartley-Brewer – the commentator – took to social media to say she had attended a comprehensive and got into Oxford university on merit. Surely a great achievement and one which the meritocracy-loving Left could get behind? I didn’t go to

Are racist chants now acceptable on the British left?

On Friday the Guardian columnist and Corbyn-supporter Owen Jones sent out this Tweet to his followers: Palestinians urgently need our solidarity. Join me protesting Trump’s Jerusalem speech outside London’s US Embassy *tonight* >> https://t.co/JfGW6sTqjJ pic.twitter.com/2VPeqf21og — Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) December 8, 2017 As a video of the resulting demonstration shows, the crowd outside the embassy loudly chanted (among other things) ‘Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud’. This is a famous Islamic battle-cry which might be translated, ‘Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.’ Tonight outside the US embassy in London; "Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud" or "Jews, remember Khaybar the army of Muhammad

14 questions Owen Jones and Venezuela’s silent fans on the left must answer

Dear Owen, I hear you have finally broken your silence on Venezuela. With that in mind, here are a few questions which you have not answered: 1) In 2008, Human Rights Watch was expelled from the country by force. Why didn’t you feel the need to mention this in any article you wrote? 2) Who paid for that ‘Election Observer’ trip you went on in 2012? 3) Did it ever cross your mind from 2012 onwards that Hugo Chavez referring to Kim Jong-il as a ‘comrade’ he mourned might be a warning sign? 4) Did Chavez’s hero-worship of Fidel Castro and claims that he wanted to turn Venezuela into ‘Venecuba’ ever cause you concerns?

A vicious reaction to a very bad word

Having a nigger in the woodpile and a skeleton in the closet are closely related problems, although subtly different. In the first case it is a problem which is lurking, hitherto unseen, but which may pop up very soon to cause mayhem and mischief. In the second case it is a problem which has been hidden from public gaze quite deliberately but which may yet emerge, clanking and rattling, to ruin one’s life. Both terms are capable of giving grave offence. The first because it probably dates from the time at which some white people enslaved some black people (about 150 years, give or take), as opposed to the time

Russell Brand has endorsed Labour again – and the Tories should be worried

Back in the 2015 general election, Owen Jones became the subject of much mockery thanks to a column he wrote suggesting that Tories had reason to worry after Russell Brand endorsed Labour in the election. Given that Brand went on to claimed he had actually ‘f–ked up the election’ by inviting Ed Miliband to his house, Jones’s claim failed to ring true. But is it a case of second time lucky? As the Corbynites get excited today over YouGov analysis that suggests the Tories will lose seats come June 8, Brand has come out and endorsed the Labour leader. The comedian-turned-revolutionary-turned-comedian has penned a blog for the Huffington Post backing Jeremy Corbyn in this election: ‘A Labour government

A new twist in Owen Jones’ ‘jacket-gate’ saga

There’s no such thing as a free lunch — and Owen Jones is quickly discovering that there’s also no such thing as a free jacket in a fashion shoot. The Guardian journalist has come under fire over his decision to model a £1,080 jacket while discussing the ‘collapse of capitalism’ with the men’s magazine. While Jones has since dismissed the criticism as ‘surreal’, Mr S is sorry to report that there is further bad news regarding the pricey attire. The designer Jones is ‘modelling’ is Corneliani. The menswear label is owned by Investcorp (with the company purchasing a 55pc stake in Corneliani in 2016), which is a Bahrain-based private investment bank. As an ardent campaigner against the

Owen Jones discusses the ‘crisis of capitalism’ in a £1,000 jacket

They say a picture can paint a thousand words. So, it was a curious decision by Guardian columnist Owen Jones to wear a £1,080 jacket while discussing the ‘crisis of capitalism’ in an interview with GQ. Discussing the path to true socialism in a wide-ranging interview with Alastair Campbell, Jones rallies against inequality and Tory cuts: ‘With the crash, the problem is a lot of social democratic parties accepted or implemented cuts. Spain, Greece – you saw a collapse in support.’ Jones — a former Corbyn cheerleader — goes on to say that he always harboured doubts about Jeremy Corbyn’s suitability as a leader: AC: Did you ever think he [Corbyn] could

Owen Jones turns to fake news to endear himself to the Left

In today’s world of left wing politics, many Labour supporters find themselves classed as Tories and Zionists. In fact, even Owen Jones – the one time poster boy for the Left – has found himself on the receiving end. After the Guardian journalist was revealed to be speaking at a Jewish Labour Movement memorial event, Jones took to social media to complain that he was being denounced as an ‘Israeli government dupe’. To show that he is not an ‘Israeli government dupe’, Jones shared a video of him attacking Israel on Question Time: https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/834074154886426624 Only there’s a problem. In the video in question, Jones accuses the Israelis of killing a young Palestinian boy.

Owen Jones: I’d find it hard to vote for Corbyn

Oh dear. Earlier this week, Mr S reported that Derek Hatton — the ‘socialist firebrand’ who joined Labour with the Trotskyist group Militant (before being expelled) — had turned on Jeremy Corbyn. The former Corbynite said the Labour leader’s Article 50 stance showed ‘a real lack of leadership’. In a further sign that Corbyn is losing support among the hard left, Owen Jones has used an interview with the Standard to declare that he would ‘find it hard to vote for Corbyn’. Jones, who originally championed Corbyn’s leadership bid, has been critical of the Labour leader of late — but did still vote for him in the most recent leadership election. Alas he’s

George Michael’s death shouldn’t mean that we gloss over his flaws

One should not speak ill of the dead, but if their flaws or vices are glossed over that is also problematic. George Michael was admirable in some ways, especially for his quiet charitable donations, but less so in others. I don’t see why his penchant for anonymous sexual encounters should be politely passed over, or treated as a harmless lifestyle choice. He ‘loved anonymous sex’, said Owen Jones in the Guardian – as if fondly recalling someone’s love for opera or snooker. Jones and others will doubtless say it is homophobic to moralise about this. So it must clearly be said that sexuality is irrelevant: whether it is homosexuals or heterosexuals

A different class of snob

‘Ah, beware of snobbery,’ said Cary Grant, who was surprisingly often the smartest guy in the room. ‘It is the unwelcome recognition of one’s own past failings.’ In Britain, the only place where true toffs abide and, let’s face it, the place where modern snobbery was most successfully codified, it is still a more powerful force than we like to acknowledge. Brexit was a comedy of the thwarted snobbery of the right and left. A referendum was organised by a Remainer toff who assumed he would win because, well, he was a toff. He was, in the event, comprehensively defeated and deposed. Meanwhile, the even more fervently Remainer middle-class bien–pensants, who sincerely

Christianity is at the heart of the secular left’s response to refugees

Say what you want about Owen Jones – and I might well agree with you – but he is admirably big-picture. He dares to link current affairs to the largest moral questions. In a piece about refugees on Friday he supplied a sketch of his form of humanist idealism. Empathy, he explains, is a natural human faculty. We naturally desire the good of all our fellow humans – unless some nasty form of politics interferes with this and teaches us to view some group as less than fully human. This is what colonialism did, and what Nazism did, and what Balkan nationalism did, and what Islamic fanaticism is still doing.

And from left to left we have…

Corbyn’s allies on the hard left are lining up to reform the Labour party. Some make him look like a moderate. Here are the most notable, from the least to the most radical… Owen Jones, 32, is a Guardian columnist and former poster boy for the left. Jones suggested Corbyn could do more to appeal to the masses and, as a result, was one of the regime’s first casualties. Throughout the Labour leadership election, Jones has become increasingly vocal about Corbyn’s limitations as leader. He is now an unperson. James Mills, 32, is head of communications for both John McDonnell and Corbyn’s leadership campaign. Mills is less of a purist