Letter from Wales: Where has “clear red water” got Wales?

by Julian Ruck

Back in 2002 Rhodri Morgan gave his “clear red water speech,” declaring “We’re not old or new Labour, we’re Welsh Labour.” It set the course for Welsh Labour’s approach to government, citing Beveridge and Bevan as the inspirations.

Fine words but more than 10 years later, where has it got us?

Perhaps Morgan would have been more honest had he said, we are going to fight Tony Blair to the death and to hell with modernising public services, the Welsh economy, health and education.

We want the days of old council chamber back-slapping and back-scratching in Cardiff Bay. We want to be welsh and proud of it, no matter what the cost. You boyos in Westminster can pay our bills, no questions asked. We know our devolved rights, so go and get stuffed!

For every Welsh person almost an extra £4,000 is borrowed compared to England. This Welsh Labour dream of an outdated socialist Brythonic Atlantis has bankrupted Wales, bankrupted the education of our young and bankrupted the Welsh health service.

The Welsh Labour party’s obsession (and Plaid Cymru’s) with a tyrannical Westminster Labour party has resulted in a dire attempt to free fall into isolationism without a parachute.

It’s totally unrealistic separatist agenda has resulted in a greater dependency on Westminster (currently 80% plus of Welsh GDP and rising), a defunct private sector and zero growth where it matters. We all know that the public sector is a net loser and let’s face it, it’s the public sector that is keeping Wales on life support.

Is Wales facing encirclement and injustice? I think not.

But it is certainly facing irrelevance and failed state ignominy due to the Welsh Labour establishment’s refusal to sign an armistice over an unnecessary war with England.

If Welsh Labour wants to be unique and a miscreant child of Beveridge (incidentally, Lloyd George was more the architect of the welfare state than William, give us Taffies some credit!), then it should break away from the Labour party once and for all. Call itself by a different name and allow voters to know exactly for whom and what they are voting for.

Welsh Labour is not the Labour of Westminster, or the United Kingdom for that matter. It has become a clumsy nuisance, to be tolerated and indulged when unfortunate needs must. If Labour is to keep Wales, then Welsh Labour must be allowed to go its own way but under a different name.

Wales deserves better than Welsh Labour, with its glossy catalogue of failure and backward fixations. It needs the reality and energy of the real Labour party, not the undisciplined and pretty memories of a political heyday that doesn’t even reach out to a generation without a smartphone.

And before I go, if  politicos up there in London think they have their  fair share of Disraeli’s greasy poles, what with MP expenses and lobbying, look at Wales for five minutes. We have political scandals to spare. Only a couple of weeks it was reported that the Welsh Labour administration has blown £1.6 million on a Kung Fu centre in Llangollen. Flaws in the conveyancing of the property apparently, nothing like oversight and scrutiny is there?

The tenants I’m told have all been ‘kicked’ out.

Julian Ruck is the author of the Ragged Cliffs Trilogy and legal thriller The Bent Brief’. He is an FoI campaigner and has made contributions to programmes in both Welsh and national broadcasting


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95 Responses to “Letter from Wales: Where has “clear red water” got Wales?”

  1. Julian Ruck says:

    PS to Morais,

    Vacuous Trolling on Twitter is one thing. Making an informed and perceptive comment on Uncut, quite another – which do note, your politically sophisticated Twitter team don’t come anywhere near.

    As I have said before, you and your little friends have minus zero credibilty.

    Get over it.

    JR

  2. David Hewson says:

    “How many times were you sued?!”

    I assume that’s a question even though it ends in an exclamation mark. In more than 30 years as a professional journalist… Never. Truth is an absolute defence to libel. I would have thought a lawyer – were you a lawyer? – would have known this. Hence my reference to facts being sacred above.

    Nor, like 99 % of journalists out there, did I tap phones or dream of such a thing. That was limited to a tiny number of people on the tabloids.

    I’m sorry my sincere advice has gone amiss. I never realised you held journalists in contempt too. Who, I wonder, do you look up to?

    And no I wasn’t bullied at school, though what that’s got to do with anything is quite beyond me.

  3. Mr Ruck, I don’t think impoliteness is called for, especially if someone is trying to help your reputation. What I said on here on 18 July was this: “I should hope you yourself will seek their view [of the Society of Authors] so as to be able to cite it as a defence against the accusations of plagiarism. It would carry real weight.” As a member of the Society, surely you would want them to help you refute these accusations. I can see no reason why you would not, but if you have some reason, it would be wise of you to make it clear. Whoever gives the ruling would certainly want to be cited by name.

  4. Tafia says:

    If Welsh Labour turned more towards Westminster people would leave them in droves and Plaid would eat them alive at the ballot box. They would quickly sink to the level of the tories in peoples views – as – like UKIP – merely an ‘english’ party.

    It’s precisely because Welsh Labour are what they are that they are the overwhelming dominant force in Wales at council, Assembly and Parliamentary level.

  5. dave rodway says:

    You ridiculous man, Julian Ruck – you are utterly unable to engage with the many substantive issues about both your subject (politics – where you’ve been corrected so often you’d by rights be shamed into replying) and your own qualifications (as a writer and a political commentator).
    You can’t address a single issue.
    Labour Uncut are making a laughing stock of themselves publishing your dishonest drivel, along with your staggeringly childish and bigoted insults.
    A number of questions were raised along this thread about political scandals, ‘clear red water’, your ludicrous belief in the homogeneity of ‘English’ (?) Labour, and various other matters. None of which you can engage with.
    You also spell badly and have a slim (at best) grasp of grammar.
    It’s hardly surprising that people wanting a penetrating political debate feel so short-changed by your rotten articles and Labour Uncut’s apparent belief that your pieces cut the mustard.
    The glaring disparity between the quality of their usual articles and yours is shocking to behold, so I’m baffled as to why they still publish you.
    Labour UNcut – can you help us here? We’re curious.

  6. John Abell says:

    Julian, this has gone even further beyond the levels of delusion and self parody that even your past excesses could have predicted.

    Your last 5 comments are genuinely hilarious and undermine your credibility entirely.

    ‘Vacuous Trolling on Twitter is one thing. Making an informed and perceptive comment on Uncut, quite another – which do note, your politically sophisticated Twitter team don’t come anywhere near.’

    You write this with regards to the twitter ( a very important medium) response to your blog post, and all by genuine labour activists and councillors and then respond to David Hewson with this completely hypocritical load of drivel!

    ‘What a pompous, self-serving, irrelevant little twit you are, no doubt you were bullied at school or something.’

    Julian, I thought you despise personal attacks online? Mr Hewson was trying to give you advice as a successful novelist and journalist to a man who is just starting out, yourself. You are a hypocrite as well as a plagiarist.

    Julian you really do take self parody and arrogance to a new level! But, it has to be said, this thread is completely undermining the credibility of you and labour uncut and has gained cult status as one of the funniest things on the Internet! Labour uncut, I would heed your twitter response and the genuine grass roots if I were you and stop giving a soap box to this right wing, Welsh loathing, anti state, privatise everything, Thatcherite, ‘vanity published gadfly’.

  7. Joao Morais says:

    Julian Ruck wrote,
    “…which do note, your politically sophisticated Twitter team don’t come anywhere near.”

    Pardon me? So it is OK for party members (some quite high up in Wales) to voice a negative opinion about this article on twitter, but not OK for people to do it here? Massively untrue in the context of your article. Labour party members think your article is crap, and a number of commenters on here also think it is crap. Nothing to do with me, Mr Ruck, and everything to do with what you wrote.

    Julian Ruck wrote,
    “As I have said before, you and your little friends have minus zero credibilty”

    Mr Ruck, you have “minus zero credibility” while you continue to evade comments and questions put to you on here, most notably by David Hewson, Dave, And Darren Almond (and comments from Tafia). The only person i would consider a friend on here would be John, who, as you know, i live with. If putting everyone who opposes you into one big friendly conniving group makes it easier for you to deal with, then OK – but the truth is that everyone here is an individual who opposes what you say for a variety of reasons. Again, this is nothing to do with me and everything to do with what you wrote.

  8. John Abell says:

    Julian, having re read your comments, how can you dismiss so easily the opinions of the genuine Labour grassroots in Wales?
    Are you in contact with any of them, are you a Labour party member?
    One of the people quoted was the Welsh Labour party general secretary, how can you so easily shrug off the opinions of people that high up, who have a genuine interest in labour politics, instead of you, who just do these articles to say that you do them?

  9. dave rodway says:

    Ruck writes at 6.35 pm: “And Leighton Andrews. the education head honcho of the Welsh administration has just resigned, following some torrid skulduggery over a Welsh school.”

    If this is Ruck’s idea of topicality it’s pitiful: let’s take the ‘torrid skulduggery’ first. The use of the word torrid is Ruckian malapropism; ‘skulduggery’ is a smear, and also a lie: Andrews resigned because as education minister he was seen opposing his own government’s policies on behalf of a school in his constituency. That is interesting and worth comment: Assembly Member at odds, at local level, with his own national policy. Hardly ‘skulduggery’ – more a case of opportunism gone wrong, and a pretty comment-worthy instance how MPs and AMs often find themselves at odds with their party. But all Ruck can come up with is ‘some torrid skulduggery’.

    Moreover, all the information about the case is in the article on BBC Wales that Ruck read, so either he couldn’t be arsed to read it (too arrogant and too lazy) or he did read it but preferred smear and innuendo, and a deliberate and disingenuous attempt – ‘some torrid skulduggery’ – to make out that the case is dark and opaque and sinister. Pathetic and dishonest Ruck.

    By ‘education head honcho of the Welsh administration’, Ruck means, I think (perhaps he doesn’t know this, or just skim-read the BBC) the Education minister.

    Now look at this final bit of Ruck’s comment: ‘some torrid skulduggery over a Welsh school’. Here again he’s pretending there’s something sinister and dark going on, though as the BBC website states, it’s just a school with surplus places in his constituency that is threatened by his department’s reforms. Ruck cleverly (‘cleverly’? – indulge me…) wants to imply that it’s some opaque and dishonest affair, so he’s prepared to twist things in order to score a silly point on the comments thread and avoid answering the many questions he’s been posed.

    Now this ‘a Welsh school’. In Wales, there are Welsh-medium and English-medium schools. It’s common, as shorthand, to call the Welsh-medium ones ‘Welsh schools’ (though both are as Welsh as each other). The school in question is English-medium, and there is generally in Wales a crisis in surplus places in both streams, but Ruck is deliberately implying that there’s something fishy and dishonest going in a ‘Welsh’ school, because, as we know, he’s an anti-Welsh bigot.

    So here we have it all, in a close analysis of one Ruckian sentence: the deceit, the laziness, the arrogance, the twisting and exaggeration, the badly-digested use of other people’s reporting, the purple prose and malapropism, and the sly bigotry that infuses more or less everything this inept reactionary writes.

  10. Tafia says:

    Dave Rodaway ” In Wales, there are Welsh-medium and English-medium schools. It’s common, as shorthand, to call the Welsh-medium ones ‘Welsh schools’ (though both are as Welsh as each other). The school in question is English-medium, and there is generally in Wales a crisis in surplus places ”

    Exactly. The County where I live now only has one English Medium primary school, all the remainder being Welsh Medium. We and the neighbouring counties are closing schools and laying teachers off hand over fist because the number of children is falling dramatically and rapidly because their parents are moving to England and Ireland seeking work whilst at the same time we are being hit with a deluge of retirees from England moving here for their retirement because the property prices are so low and this in turn is creating massive pressures on the council and social services (our county now has more than half it’s population aged 55 or over and the three neighbouring counties aren’t far behind)

    This demographic shift explains why – despite the huge increase in welsh medium schools, the number of welsh speakers is falling – they are leaving to find work, to be replaced by in-coming non-welsh speaking retirees.

  11. Julian Ruck says:

    To Tafia,

    An informed and balanced comment for once, and one that addresses the issues.

    Thank you.

    One must ask the question, why are working people moving out of Wales in the first place?

    Could it perhaps have something to do with private sector companies moving back to England or abroad when tax-payer bribes run out?

    Could it have something to do with Welsh Labour’s profligate mismanagement of economic policy and obsession with an unproductive public sector?

    The number of Welsh speakers being in decline, could perhaps be stalled if tax-payers’ money was put into Welsh language social media instead of televison and radio stations that few people watch or listen to – which is certainly the case where our young are concerned.

    Lose the young and you have lost the language.

    These days they only know smartphones, ipads Twitter and Facebook, like it or not.

    You decide.

    All the best,

    Julian Ruck

  12. dave rodway says:

    Ruck, stop wriggling: answer the questions you’v been asked.
    PS – your blog states that you’ve been invited to the Penfro book festival.
    But you’re not on the programme
    here
    http://penfrobookfestival.org.uk/this-year-s-penfro-festival

    so please address the many questions you’ve been asked and tell us about Penfro.

  13. dave rodway says:

    Tafia – I agree, entirely. I’ve seen it happen over years, and watched Wales become an extractive dependent economy. It’s along-term issue and we need to resolve it, whci is why, on balance, I believe in devolution. The fact remains that Julian Ruck is a prejudiced fool, a rotten writer, a plagiarist and a fundamentally dishonest man.

  14. Julian Ruck says:

    To Dave Rodway or is it Abell?

    I was kindly invited to the Penfro Festival by Mr Richard Davies of Parthian. I turned it down about two months ago – at the time of the Book Festival I will be in the middle of a European classic car rally.

    I am sure Mr Davies will confirm this.

    Keep trying,

    JR

  15. Tafia says:

    Ruck, It’s the desire of business to be nearer to Europe that causes them to move. The place to be is the east coast of England and the south east. It’s geography that damages Wales business-wise. Then on a personal level it’s scum like Mandelson – a man who put 2,000 people out of wortk round here by ending tariffs on Aluminium imports – which funnily enough profited a certain Oleg Deripaska immensely. By billions in fact. Remind us who one of Deripaska’s mates is?

  16. Julian Ruck says:

    To Abell/Rodway,

    In view of all this flattering attention you have have been heaping upon me for nearly a year now, I can only conclude that you are thoroughly smitten with my good looks and devastating charm.

    Sadly, and I really do not mean to hurt, but I am not gay. Indeed I am a happily married man.

    I know how painful unrequited love can be but chin up, thare are plenty more fish in the sea as they say.

    Internet dating sites are the in thing these days I’m told, so maybe you should try one.

    Best wishes,

    Julian

  17. Julian Ruck says:

    To Taffia,

    A fair point re Welsh geography.

    So, let’s see what Carwyn does with Cardiff Airport?

    I must also point out that since the Welsh administration took over the WDA (which achieved some success) and went hell for leather in subsidising inward investment by outside companies, instead of exploiting what we already have here in Wales, economic performance in Wales is now the lowest in Europe.

    Throwing tax-payers’ money at every Tom, Dick and Harry without proper scrutiny of company resilience and sustainability has patently failed miserably, you must agree?

    JR

  18. dave rodway says:

    Well perhaps you can amend your blog accordingly? because it still states that you’ve been invited. Just like the Bridport festival, which you also claimed to be going to but didn’t.

    You are a good-looking man Julian, of that there is no doubt, and you dress very well – to the left or the right?

    Since we are getting on so well, how about you answer some of the questions you’ve been asked? They are all to do with the political and economic points you allege, and some are to do with previous instances of arrant dishonesty you’ve been caught out at.

    You’re a bullish man, so why keep on evading the questions?

    I’m baffled.

  19. David Hewson says:

    Ruck. You are a disgrace. If this web site continues to use you after a vile and stupid comment like that then shame on them.

  20. John Abell says:

    To Julian/Comedy creation

    I am not Dave Rodway, Julian. I am John Abell. Having a bit of a Spartacus moment here old boy!

    Thank you for assuming I am Dave Rodway, the man who so eloquently tore apart your vulgar comment about Leighton Andrews, as usual from you Julian; completely uninformed rubbish.

    And in response to the questions posed by Dave Rodway and myself, you wonder if I and him are gay. And fancy you? You seriously posted that above comment Julian? And the ones calling David Hewson and Ramsey Campbell twits?

    And then you have the audacity to shrug off the genuine labour grassroots reaction to your terribly written article.

    You say welsh labour is pro indepence, can you show me evidence of this? As a socialist and someone with an interest in Welsh labour, I cannot find any reference to this.

    You say you were going to interview Leighton Andrews. Why on earth would he allow you to interview him? We’re you posing as an A level politics student? Can you please comment on Dave Rodway’s measured and eloquent response, Julian, before calling him gay?

    You say the level of debate in Wales is terrible, I refer anyone reading this to Julian’s above comments.

    Julian, you are a laughing stock. Your novels are the worst written things in the English language and when you blog a soap box you inevitably plagiarise. You know the game is up when you call people gay and think that is a reasoned and valid response to legitimate questions.

    You are truly comic gold Julian.

    As it happens I go out with a school teacher who’s parents are both GPs. Which is another reason I find your remarks on education a bit daft, but then I find nigh on everything you say a bit daft.

    You are a silly, reactionary old clown. A bit of advice, instead of ducking questions, answer them. And if you do duck them, do not call the people asking them gay Julian, this is not primary school.

  21. Julian Ruck says:

    To Dave (come on now Abell),

    Even I can recognise similar style, syntax etc etc

    Thank you for the compliments, although as far as I am aware Savile Row veers neither left nor right, indeed it is distinctly third way. Something to do with the talior’s label always going on the inside of the inside pocket and the vulgarity of the sartorial obvious I’m told.

    JR

  22. Ed Parke says:

    More classic ‘Julian Ruck’ nonsense!

    The best line being about inviting Leighton Andrews for an interview. Sure, and you know what – I’m thinking of inviting Chicago Bulls legend Michael ‘Air’ Jordan for an interview with me! About as much chance of that happening. Jordan knew a thing or two about three pointers, perhaps ‘Julian’ should consider these three points:

    1) resorting to name calling isn’t a great look

    2) plagiarising is unethical

    3) lying about being in France is bizarre

    Now that’s basketball!

  23. Julian Ruck says:

    To all you lovely people,

    Considering all your delightful comments both on Uncut and elsewhere , I can only conclude that if the contents and tone of said comments are all you have, then at 57 I should either be a politician or a saint.

    What a remarkably unblemished life I have led, and thank you for pointing this out.

    JR

  24. stevemosby says:

    Julian, every time I think your replies can’t get any more ridiculous, you manage to top the last with something even more spectacularly over the top. You are the Michael Bay of stupidity.

  25. John Abell says:

    Unblemished life?

    Julian I have it on good authority that you have been imprisoned for fraud. You are a serial liar who used to tell porky pies about being in the army fighting the IRA. You used to get picked up from work (casual labouring jobs) and your ex couldn’t find you because you wetre using false names.

    ‘Julian, who’s Julian’ they would say.

    If you didn’t go to prisomn for fraud then you lied about it. You were also never trained in law, at least you never said you were. That was when you were in your 30’s and blagging you were a soldier then.

    I also know about the domestic abuse, bullying, chronic alcoholism etc.

    Unblemished don’t make me laugh!

  26. John Abell says:

    Julian, you surely must be a candidate for the person who would make the best source material for a comic novel.

    The nobody who desperately thought they were somebody. The opinionated bore who thinks they’re the bees knees down the pub. And if you ask him questions he cannot answer, he will simply call you gay.

    The thing is Julian, you are so farcical that you cannot be made up. This desperate attempt in old age to be ‘somebody’ is so tragically funny it is unreal.

    After meeting you and being dumbfounded by the blog post you wrote about your ‘success’ in Cardiff, I felt compelled to write this blog post about you.

    http://johnabell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/julian-ruck-comic-creation-par.html

    At which point, out of nowhere, former friends of yours came out of the woodwork, emailing me stories of your compulsive lying. It was unbelievable. I cannot think of anyone else this would happen to.

    Why do you think that is? I have tried calling you up on your conjecture in your articles, your only response was to call me gay. Puerile.

  27. Julian Ruck says:

    To John Abell,

    To date I have indulged your libellous statements but now you really have gone too far.

    JR

  28. Julian Ruck says:

    To Ed Parke,

    Your accusations are as fanciful as Abell’s.

    Now, I’ve lied about being in France.

    So I suppose none of my family, sisters, nephews, nieces, great nephews and nieces, live there either?

    Words fail me, but what I will say is this, I thought I had done a fair amount of living in my time. I’ve seen many things both good and bad in the human condition, but never before have I encountered such raw viciousness merely for putting the truth into the public domain.

    Life is indeed full of surprises.

    JR

  29. Ed Parke says:

    ‘Julian’, I feel nervous responding to you – it’s like talking with a fictional animated character (much like Michael ‘Air’ Jordan did in Joe Pykta’s 1997 movie ‘The Space Jam’) – Ok you were in France, just like you were going to interview Leighton A and just like you have sold 5000 copies pf your book ‘in Wales alone’. Please keep these blogs coming.

    I’d like to make one observation, as a Magna cum Laude graduate I think that Jack Abell’s comments are not libellous based on the fact that he is recounting here-say. On other words, it’s a writ of Habeas Corpus I believe.

  30. Julian Ruck says:

    To Ed Parke,

    You know, I have never felt the need to openly declare my own academic and professional qualifications.

    I was brought up to believe that such self-important displays of personal academic achievement were somewhat vulgar.

    ‘Ouk imae idenai ah mae oido’, perhaps?

    As for the 5000, actually its more than that ‘in Wales alone’, as I have no doubt the WBC will confirm. Do feel free to check.

    JR

  31. Julian Ruck says:

    To Ed Parke,

    PS The Press Office of the Welsh Government is arrangeing an alternative interviewee, as Leighton Andrews is no longer the Education Minister.

    Again, do feel free to check with them.

  32. Julian Ruck says:

    To Ed Parke,

    PPS A Writ of Habeas Corpus in defamation proceedings? Hearsay (not here-say)?

    Clearly, you did not obtain your magna cum laude in Law.

  33. alan jones says:

    Im dying to know if Ruck can or will refute Mr Abells claims.

  34. David Hewson says:

    “You know, I have never felt the need to openly declare my own academic and professional qualifications. I was brought up to believe that such self-important displays of personal academic achievement were somewhat vulgar.”

    You’ve just accused someone of being gay as an insult and vulgarity is beneath you? Isn’t that a bit rich?

    As a lay person I do also wonder… Is it libellous to call someone gay when they’re not? My own feeling would be… No, since I wouldn’t think the worse of someone whether they’re gay or not. But in the eyes of the insulter in this case it’s rather different as you’ve made clear in numerous snide references to gay people. If its meant to be defamatory and is just plain inaccurate (remember my statement about facts being sacred which you sneered at?) does that change things?

    An informed legal opinion, with the relevant qualification of the provider, might be educational. But I have just eight o levels (and am quite happy to admit it) so what do I know?

  35. stevemosby says:

    Alan –

    “Im dying to know if Ruck can or will refute Mr Abells claims.”

    Or, indeed, even just deny them.

  36. stevemosby says:

    Whether insinuating someone is gay is defamatory or not is one thing. I suspect not, perhaps outside of certain situations, and believe it shouldn’t be considered so. There is nothing wrong with being gay. It is entirely normal.

    It is not clear to me, though, that Julian Ruck feels that way. While he couches his comments, here and on his blog, in Benny Hill-style, postcard-comedy terms, there is still a homophobic undercurrent to them – an obliquely seedy tone – that I find distinctly unpleasant. Labour Uncut should be ashamed of continuing to publish an individual who thinks implying someone is gay is an appropriate response to being challenged.

    Being gay is not an insult. The insult is implicit in the fact that Ruck thinks it is hilarious to use it so, and that Labour Uncut is tacitly condoning him in doing so.

  37. Julian Ruck says:

    Right, I have a criminal record longer than any of your arms put together. I’ve been inside for fraud and wife-bashing, my books have only sold 5 copies each. I’ve never done a law exam in my life. I was in the SAS taking out terrorits in Northern Ireland, in between using aliases for my undercover work on building sites, oh and I’ve been an indolent piss-head all my life, which is why of course I have an excellent credit file, excellent references from both private practice and CAB’x, wherein myself and team kept a lot of people in their homes and out of the bankruptcy Court.

    And I’ve never been to France either. It’s all lies.

    And as for you Hewson, since when is saying someone is gay an insult. News to me, unless you are homophobic?

    And Mosby, go and do something useful like having a another tatt inscribed on your arse.

    My God, you lot really are pathetic.

    JR

  38. Julian Ruck says:

    For such an intellectually superior and brilliantly literate pair of writers Mosby and Hewson, I note neither of you have responded in like fashion to my Greek and French comments?

    Neither indeed do you exercise your super sharp wits on the political issues I raise.

    You do disappoint.

    Bye, bye.

  39. David Hewson says:

    Right on all points Steve.

    “Nowadays it is probably not defamatory to accuse someone of being homosexual, but the claimant might be able to get round this and succeed by claiming that the words in question amount to an allegation of hypocrisy as to his sexuality, or, if he is married, that he has been unfaithful.”

    http://www.bmnyman.co.uk/defamation

    Though the famous Liberace case shows it wasn’t always like this.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/may/26/daily-mirror-medialaw

    This, by the way Julian Ruck, is what’s called sourcing.

  40. Mr Akira Origami says:

    Sorry to disrrupt the handbag fight……..

    “Despite occasional noises off in Westminster and apparent attempts by Labour there to derail the whole idea, we refused to let it go! The referendum would not have happened without the presence of Plaid in government. We can rightly claim the credit for that.”

    http://www.ieuanwynjones.plaidcymru.org/news/2011/08/03/plaid-was-tested-in-government-and-was-not-found-wanting-ieuan-wyn-jones-writes-for-the-western-mail/

    After one month of minority government, talks between Ieuan Wyn Jones and Rhodri Morgan resulted in the One Wales agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru, which gives the Government a majority of twenty-two. The agreement was criticised by some members of the Labour Party as too conciliatory towards Plaid Cymru’s nationalist leanings, especially in that it included a provision requiring a referendum on full law-making powers

    The agreement has been seen variously as a first step towards independence, a sell-out on Plaid’s part that props up a Labour government, and part of a wider shift towards nationalism in the British Isles.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Wales

  41. Horror Fan says:

    I can’t help thinking that Steve Mosby should spend more time working on his next ‘bestseller’ and less time insulting people on the interweb. Perhaps if he’d done that on his last book his publisher wouldn’t have rejected it. Just a thought.

  42. Rhys Evans says:

    Julian, it is rather tragic that you think that people attack you for putting facts in the public domain.

    You’re actually being attacked for being a cheat, a liar, a serial plagiarist, a homophobe, a chauvinist, a bigot, a god-awful writer, a hypocrite, a narcisist, a charlatan and just generally an embittered, clueless idiot.

  43. Julian Ruck says:

    To Horror Fan,

    Well, doesn’t that explain one or two things.

    JR

  44. stevemosby says:

    Horror Fan –

    “I can’t help thinking that Steve Mosby should spend more time working on his next ‘bestseller’ and less time insulting people on the interweb. Perhaps if he’d done that on his last book his publisher wouldn’t have rejected it. Just a thought.”

    I assume this is Stephen Leather, as he’s also fond of saying “just a thought” following something that isn’t much of one. I appreciate the concern, regardless, but you don’t need to worry. For one thing, what you said isn’t true. For another, I probably spend less than 10 minutes a day arguing online; the calibre of opposition keeps things manageable. Although, admittedly, some writers could get a lot of work done in that time.

  45. “To Horror Fan,

    Well, doesn’t that explain one or two things.

    JR”

    I don’t know that it would even if it were true, but it isn’t. Just as happened with my novel PACT OF THE FATHERS back at the turn of the century, the editor at the publishers asked for further work on the submitted draft. I’m sure that everyone who has commented on Steve’s novel here is sufficiently well-read to know what I mean by invoking the memory of Maxwell Perkins. I’d be amused if anyone here claimed he “rejected” the books he worked on.

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