Explosion at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester May 2017 (Also London Bridge/Borough Market attack)

http://www.politico.eu/article/french-interior-minister-salman-abedi-had-proven-links-with-islamic-state/

xp France weighing in as well.

Radio 1 has been pretty good on this as well - knowing that this strikes right at the heart of their audience there have been a lot of reassuring sounds being made.

Remember when the government blatantly indicated they would use their intel prowess as leverage in Brexit negotiations with the EU?

Critical alert = Radio 1 digging out the Sabres Of Paradise iirc

Glad we've swung round to talking about the media coverage again, because I've been thinking about this overnight

http://i.imgur.com/66cjSfd.jpg

And clicking on the comments there's loads of stuff like this

http://i.imgur.com/OjHhbsY.jpg

Making me even more glad that I never tried to go into journalism if this is the state of things. Who harasses the recently bereaved? Who makes the effort to hector the bereaved people when they complain about the harassment, in the name of "public interest" as if that was some great over-riding moral imperative?

doorstepping is a time-honoured journalistic tradition tbh, albeit an unpleasant one - the only difference in the modern era is that those in a position of being doorstepped can broadcast the details for themselves on social media

obv hectoring the bereaved in response is a modern invention too, hurrah for progress

Gather and report news. One of the ways that was done was by hacking dead kids voicemail.

And if anything were going to change, it would have changed when we found out. But it didn't, and it won't.

I can't imagine how angry I'd be if this happened to me, the sense of entitlement is so odious, the personal details are none of our business

Death knocks have been a thing forever (and often end up with the journalist being invited in and talked to for ages). This feels like a new level of intrusiveness though - largely driven by social media and the Insatiable Content Machine.

that is a very tasteful calling card tbf

'lots of women take it as a compliment' / 'that's crass of course, but as long as it's done respectfully...'

Also, the entitled anger at the guy who's fearing for his brother's life daring to block some cunt lecturing him on the role of the press. Whatever your opinions on that just be fucking human and accept he doesn't have to debate you in a time of grief.

on my lunch we walked past police, fire dept & army guys as they were finishing raiding a place. some of our brave servicemen with scarves over their faces then blazed through a red light in a black van and flicked us a V, which can surely only be taken as a gesture of solidarity and defiance

For the absence of doubt I think that death knocks are reprehensible regardless of the situation but technology has magnified the whole thing and turned it into a feeding frenzy.

How did I miss this story? These girls are heroes. Fuck the S*n pic.twitter.com/ZDQPHIHVW4

— Harry Stopes (@HarryStopes) May 24, 2017

i think there's a case for reporters local papers offering to help grieving families get their story out -- and there's really no other way to be certain this happens than doorstepping -- but there's something p repulsive abt hacks from the tabs helping themselves to this argument

^^ there definitely is. Dealt with that myself covering the death of a soldier in Afghanistan, who was from my local area. But all on the family's terms. The national media is a circus that travels around doing this, preying on today's story, never to be seen again in said community after. There's no accountability, which is *very* different for local media, who are part of the community.

it's so easy to get in touch with the media now if and when people are ready, there is no good reason for hurrying them

lbi and mark s v much otm

ogmor otm

it is weird that the BBC pop music stations - 1, 2, 6, 1X, Asian - are the ones covering this with class. Both in DJ links and in the news reporting.

Manchester - A Fat Old Fool's Viewpoint....

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/23/morrissey-attacks-politicians-and-the-queen-over-manchester-terrorism-response

Have people heard the performance poet on Radio 4? They were making a big deal out of him on Today. Afraid I found it a bit trite.

Troops on Downing Street is nonsensical cringeworthy shit and think it counts as 'campaigning' tbh

fuck me, morrissey's gone full trump

Morrissey cited government immigration policy among his complaints saying the prime minister would never change her immigration policy in the light of the attacks. It is believed that the bomber named by police, Salman Abedi, was British-born and from Manchester.

Morrissey also appeared to suggest that politicians were afraid to refer to Abedi as an Islamist extremist.

The claim that politically correct leaders routinely refuse to mention Islam when referring to terror attacks carried out by people holding a violent interpretation of the religion is common on the far-right. In recent years, many politicians have acknowledged the role of such an ideology once it has been confirmed, while also stressing that it is alien to the vast majority of the religion’s adherents.

Troops on Downing Street is nonsensical cringeworthy shit and think it counts as 'campaigning' tbh

^^^
absolutely, that is pure fucking campaigning and TM should be lambasted for it.

this will probably be the thing that makes them tighten up the airbnb rules

Dan Hett's brother, I am sorry to say, has been confirmed dead.

Solid work the Guardian in underlining with every paragraph that Morrissey's talking complete shite.

Meanwhile, at the Terrograph, Why Oh Why meets Will This Do is the order of the day. Every day.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/24/left-has-lost-plot-thinks-manchester-attack-tory-conspiracy/

Was about to say that Tom Harris has fought off a lot of stiff competition to be indisputably the vilest Telegraph columnist when I found out, until the last election, he was a Labour MP.

when people say Blairite is a weak description and lacks nuance, just call all cunts like TH tory scum then, to keep it simple.

He replaced Dan Hodges as a commentator for The Daily Telegraph.

He is a Christian,[25] and enjoys astronomy and badminton. He is a prominent fan[26] of Doctor Who and friend[27] of the show's showrunner Steven Moffat. He contributed to the collection of celebrity fan memories, Behind The Sofa[28] published by Gollancz in 2013. He also claims to have owned every issue[29] of Doctor Who Magazine.

says he's pals with moff yet very thoughtlessly uses the phrase losing the plot

Probably not the thread for it but I briefly knew that Harry Stopes person that Mark quoted earlier - a proud Mancunian, I actually thought of him independently earlier, wonder if he's OK

Friend saw the Weekend here last night, said security was like nothing she'd ever seen. Dogs, military guns, armored cars ...

hahahahahaha actual everyone else gets tae use her video except them

fuck the sun pic.twitter.com/nZ4i12TQ2g

— Butt Sea (@Butsay_) May 23, 2017

^they'll get hold of it anyway - she agreed Sky could have it and the Sun will screenshot 'courtesy Sky'. Bastards!

hey NV:

http://bbc.in/2rhE7CC

better not take our own sandwiches then, maybe wear my best boxers

(i understand there will be people who want the reassurance, just hope this isn't stupidly heavy)

best thing about tom harris is: during the last election he realised quite early on he was about to get gubbed so at one point he took to posting on twitter a video of him dragging his dog round the living room while it was attached to his hoover

https://www.thecanary.co/2017/05/24/manchester-set-become-second-city-ban-sun-appalling-response-concert-bombing-tweets/

part of what got the sun in trouble:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAgFv_9XcAAwsXP.jpg

Well tbf they were referring to IRA victims. Ban them anyway of course.

I wouldn't be sad to see the back of the Sun. Moz can fuck off, stirring up stupid shit. All the twats are out in force on facebook saying PC is to blame whereas, it seems more like a lack of PCs due to police funding cuts. Ariana Grande better than Moz.

Walked past a mosque earlier, one I walk past every day, apparently it's the one the attacker attended. The Imam and his own family had reported him to the police AFAIK?

Every bar and restaurant and cafe is now sporting a blackboard offering 10% off for NHS staff and emergency services hashtag love hashtag heart bee sad face.

Previously I seen Tony Walsh (the poet at the vigil) around a bit. He's made people feel better and isn't Morrisey so scores points for that

I am feeling a bit out of sorts with so many people taking to social media to say how it's an attack on all of us and we will be resilient because of our great Mancunian spirit. My thoughts on that are, well, I'm not a little girl that's been killed or a parent whose child has been killed, I feel that victims may be erased in all this civic I Heart MCR hashtag business. I mean, great, you've taken to facebook to list your favourite things about Manchester such as Oasis and Almost Famous burger bar but maybe some could think on

^ The usual Cardamon Caveat applies, this ilx poster has been known to misjudge