Thread by @docrussjackson

A #THREAD about hate crime, irony, hypocrisy, & political opportunism.

In October, 2018, two national newspaper ran light-hearted #Halloween stories about a "headless man" who had been seen walking down a street in Nottinghamshire.

An article in The Star was headlined “Brit family stunned as ‘HEADLESS’ man casually walks down the street”, & another, in The Mirror-online, was titled "Family get Halloween fright as they spot 'headless' man walking down street".

The video of 'the headless man' had been posted on social media just before Halloween. It went viral, being published by numerous websites, before being picked up by two national newspapers, one of which - The Mirror - put the video & accompanying story on its online site.

Stuck in traffic, a family of five had got "a Halloween scare" when they spotted a "headless" man hobbling down the street. One of the children cried out: "Mummy, why hasn't he got a head?"

They did "a double take", & decided to take a video, which the Mirror put on its website.

"Her eerie footage showed the apparently headless man walking along the pavement with a walking stick in one hand and a bag in the other" said the national newspaper.

"It's certainly not something you expect to see on your typical shopping trip!"

However, "all was not as it seemed", because "it was actually just an elderly man leaning on his walking stick."

"It took for us to drive past him to see that he did indeed have a head. I jokingly said 'he has come out early for Halloween'. We love Halloween in our family!"

"We made a joke out of it & were all laughing. I didn't really want her (young daughter) to think there were headless men wandering around the streets, especially on the run up to Halloween."

Newspapers print daft stories at Halloween & the newspapers thought nothing more of it.

However, it transpires that the 'headless man' was an 81 year-old disabled man, who had been involved in an accident at work, damaging his spine.

While neither article named the man, he was identifiable to his friends & family, some of whom had been upset by the news coverage.

On the 12th November 2018, both newspapers printed apologies, saying that: "Whilst our article did not name him, he was identifiable to his friends & family. We apologise for any distress our article may have caused."

So what, precisely, prompted the apologies?

A local Councillor had written a very strongly worded letter to the Mirror, criticising them for publishing the story:

“As a local District Councillor, I have today met with his family who are distraught that the Daily Mirror could run with such a story.”

“An accident that saw him nearly killed has resulted in a disability that has left him in pain & affected his posture. This article pokes fun at his disability & makes light of the fact that his posture affects his appearance from behind.”

The local Councillor wrote “I am sure this could be considered a HATE CRIME & therefore I have reported this article to Nottinghamshire Police”, claiming that the Mirror was “happy to publish an article that clearly ridicules a disabled man due to his disability.”

“At a time when Hate Crimes are on the rise you are publishing stories that are trying to provoke a cheap response.”

The Councillor suggested “the editor & reporter should attend equality training”.

The Mirror responded “Firstly, & most importantly. please pass on my sincere apology to the gentleman concerned, his family, friends & anyone else who has been upset or offended by the story.”

It “was supposed to be a light-hearted Halloween tale of a little girl seeing an unidentified man & thinking he was headless because he had his head bent down. The video was posted on social media & passed on to news sites & published by several websites, including the Mirror’s.”

“As soon as it became clear that the man in the video could be identified by friends & family, and that his head was bent from disability... we immediately removed the article when this was brought to our attention. We also removed it from Google search & from social media.”

“I have spoken to the reporter who wrote the story, & their news editor who gave it the green light, to go through how much of an upsetting error it was, and the possibility of more training... let me reassure you that we all receive periodic training on equality issues.”

“It was completely unintended, & they are mortified at not seeing how it could have been offensive before writing it. Particularly at a time when we have been focusing on the heroism of Pride Of Britain winners, such a mistake was absolutely not what was intended.”

The stories were taken down, & sincere apologies published.

It is of course awful that family & friends of the man (who wasn't named in the story nor the video) were upset at what was clearly a light-hearted Halloween story, based on a video that had gone viral on social media.

However, to suggest the stories were “trying to provoke a cheap response” by “ridiculing a disabled man due to his disability” & the editor & reporter needed “equality training” for committing a “HATE CRIME” which the Councillor reported to the Police, was, imho, an overreaction.

So who was this 'woke' local Councillor SO incensed about a newspaper “trying to provoke a cheap response” by “ridiculing” someone with a protected characteristic, to the extent that he considered it a “HATE CRIME” & reported it to the Police?

It was nonother than Lee Anderson.

The same Lee Anderson who rails against everything 'woke', & who perpetually attempts “to provoke a cheap response” by “ridiculing” people with protected characteristics - eg “If he (Eddie Izzard) does get elected & I’m still here, I shouldn’t be following him into the toilets.

About #30pLee's Izzard comments, one Tory MP said “Lee needs to remember he is a politician not a comedian”, & another called his comments “vile & disgusting”.

Just as #30pLee did with the news story, a local Councillor reported Anderson to the Police for a possible hate crime.

In another example of #30pLee “trying to provoke a cheap response” by “ridiculing” someone with a protected characteristic, in 2018 he was warned about this FB post while he was a Councillor, which in Bernard Manning style stated: “Out with some great knockers tonight in Skegby.”

Despite his explicit sexism, in a bizarre move in 2021, the @Conservatives appointed #30pLee to the Parliamentary Women & Equalities Committee.

Lee responded to criticism by claiming “I am a modern man with a modern outlook who is keen to speak up for the women in my community.”

By February 2020, even the Daily Mail was expressing its concern over Lee Anderson, revealing how #30pLee was facing FIVE disciplinary charges over misconduct allegations, one of which was the 'vulgar' Facebook post where he referred to a woman's breasts as 'knockers'.

Another of the five disciplinary charges over misconduct allegations included the time #30pLee was caught faking a misleading Election campaign encounter to fool television viewers that he had persuaded a @UKLabour swing voter to back the @Conservatives:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1610217434325159936?s=20

Another of the disciplinary charges against #30pLee over misconduct allegations concerned the time he claimed in a pre-election video that nuisance tenants should 'evicted, made to live in tents in the middle of a field & be forced to get up at 6am to pick potatoes'.

The final two disciplinary charges over misconduct allegations against "modern man" #30pLee concern his suggestion that women could struggle to be councillors because of childcare responsibilities, & being an active member of a FB group which promoted Soros conspiracy theories.

There's more than a whiff of irony concerning #30pLee's suggestion that “the editor & reporter” of the Halloween story in the Mirror “should attend equality training”, when Lee himself Lee was sent to attend #antisemitism awareness training after being a member of the FB group.

As a Councillor, #30pLee reported the Mirror to the Police for a Hate Crime, yet when this happened to him in 2022, he said: “This is a waste of police time... Police are dealing with knife crimes, murders, & they don't need out-of-touch councillors draining their resources.

What ISN'T "a waste of police time" is investigating & tackling the very real & growing threat of far-right extremism & terrorism, fostered by the grotesque & dangerously irresponsible far-right 'invasion' rhetoric, relentlessly peddled by Lee Anderson.

bylinetimes.com/2023/02/15/lee…

You only have to scratch the surface to see just how close to the far-right #30pLee is. There is a long & well documented history of not just Lee Anderson but many other Tory MPs & right-wing newspapers using dangerously irresponsible 'invasion' rhetoric.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1634109219149426689?s=20

Furthermore, there is also now an overwhelming weight of evidence demonstrating how Lee Anderson has a long & well documented history of associating with known far-right extremists, even describing some Nazi-supporters “real salt of the Earth people”.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1633585471853850626?s=20