A 'bullying' Prime Minister, but what of Andy Coulson?

Tory leader David Cameron calls for an inquiry into Gordon Brown's "bullying" conduct towards his staff with the suggestion he's unfit for high office. Quite right. But what a pity Cameron didn't call for an inquiry into - and has not publicly addressed once - the bullying conduct of someone very close to himself, the Tory media boss Andy Coulson. Last year, the former editor's bullying of a sports reporter cost the News of the World £800,000 before costs - a record award for workplace bullying.

Sadly The Times, which laudably publishes a leader today on the bullying claims against the PM - labelling bullies "weak" - was not moved to comment on Coulson's offence at the time.

Come to think of it, why hasn't the National Bullying Helpline - which has confirmed Number 10 staff concerns about the PM - made an issue of Coulson? Questions, questions. Rhetorical.

Christian Bale: Dickhead's rant turned to dance classic

Screaming Christian Bale's bullying rant at someone on the set of Terminator: Salvation has been turned into a great dance track (with a Barbra Streisand cameo) by RevoLucian.

Andy Coulson: Does David Cameron now condone bullying?

The dickhead who is now the Conservative party director of communications is a bully - and that's official.

The former editor of the News of the World Andy Coulson presided over a culture of bullying, an employment tribunal found yesterday. Former sports writer Matt Driscoll won his case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination at the Stratford Employment Tribunal.

"We find the behaviour to have been a consistent pattern of bullying behaviour... with the intention to remove him (Driscoll) from their employment, whether through negotiating a settlement package or through a staged process of warnings leading to dismissal," the tribunal's judgment stated.

"The original source of the hostility towards the claimant [Driscoll] was Mr Coulson, the then editor of the News of the World; although other senior managers either took their lead from Mr Coulson and continued with his motivation after Mr Coulson's departure; or shared his views themselves. Mr Coulson did not attend the tribunal to explain why he wanted the claimant dismissed."

Why is Coulson still working for the Tories? Why hasn't he been fired? Would Tory leader David Cameron have tolerated it if Coulson had been convicted of criminal offences? What's the difference in essence? Does Cameron condone bullying in the work place? Don't imagine that silence will be accepted as an answer. Disgusting people like Coulson should be forced into psychiatric analysis for his and others' good. He is now working for a Conservative victory at the next election.

For more, click here.

Anna Wintour: The glamour of bullying

Just read Jerry Oppenheimer's breathless Front Row: Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor in Chief - published two years ago. I found a US edition of the book (was there ever a British?) in a remainder shop in Brighton Marina Village for £5 (original price US$24.95).

The real theme of the book is workplace bullying, though Oppenheimer scarcely realises it. All sorts of amazing details blitz the pages but her behavioural patterns are not analysed psychologically, beyond Wintour's Wayfarers prescription shades - a chic Trojan to disguise her poor eyesight - and her many curious habits: she laps up the cream on coffee but doesn't touch the drink; same with melted butter on her soups; she picks out pennies from her purse and tosses them in the wastebasket.

One quote in particular interests me, from an unnamed former British Vogue staffer who "quit in disgust" at Wintour's office conduct in the mid-'80s:

"[Anna Wintour] is the first female bully I ever met. She treated everyone, except for her own little coterie, like trash. You could tell she got off on it. A real little bully of a woman, and for what? Power for her was what it all was about. Power's Anna's aphrodisiac. I mean, Vogue's just a fashion magazine, a catalogue to sell clothes, for God's sake. And people had to be tormented so she could get a pat on the bum [from her Condé Nast bosses]."

Her material rewards for bullying have been immense as editor in chief of American Vogue. And I have no doubt a whole new generation of people will have been inspired by her example - untroubled by legislative attempts to rein in the abuse of staff. The trick of the bully is to force people to think that they're on the losing team as a prelude to office guerrilla warfare and dismissal (constructive or actual). Behind the chic, mute cool of Wintour is just another primitive vulgarian once desperate to make it at the expense of others. Now she's made it, she's applauded by idiots who think success is all. The Devil Wears Prada merely celebrated this syndrome as dressed-up "satire".

Perhaps it's time to found an international organisation that targets the glamour of workplace bullying, or workplace intimidatory behaviours that are sold through the media as examples of winning, succeeding, rationalising, reinventing or re-freshing. It could be called the Anna Wintour Foundation - to remind the future of who required its creation.

For information on bullying see Bullying UK

Nick Hellen: 'A pompous twat'

The subject of Nick Hellen arises again - last I heard he was the deputy news editor of the Sunday Times: a fairly hopeless bully who I think may even trouble some of his seniors, although bullying staff is the coin of News International generally. A reader writes ....

No, Madame Arcati is absolutely right - the man is a pompous twat. He is not particularly clever, his problem is more that he thinks that he is very clever. One should never confuse speed of thought with truth. Surely, he has a speedy and agile mind, but that does not make him infallible. His rudeness is quite simply, just that, and it cannot be excused. Should I meet him in a dark alley one night only one of us will emerge from that darkness. And it will not be him.

And by the way - his journalism is shit - so much for his intellect - he has a tabloid imagination.

Trainee

Jade Goody: Act Against Bullying response

Hi Madame Arcati

Thank you for your email. We have been slightly inundated with emails on this subject so apologies in not replying sooner to your response. I have now issued a statement on my own website which I hope will clear up the situation regarding Jade and the organisation I founded Act Against Bullying. As a result we are receiving some very touching responses.
www.louiseburfittdons.com
With best wishes.
Louise Burfitt-Dons

Bullying Online response: 'What about Jodie?'

Dear Madame A,

I'm really disappointed that an anti-bullying charity doesn't think it's appropriate to speak out publicly on an issue like Jade Goody's appalling Big Brother remarks to Shilpa Shetty which have been condemned by three other anti-bullying charities - Kidscape, Bullying Online and Act Against Bullying - race relations bodies, MPs and the public..

There was no reluctance to speak out to the media when Beatbullying ambassador Jodie Marsh was given a hard time on the 2006 version of the show.

At that time, the charity was quoted widely on the issue, under the London Evening Standard headline "Stop bullying our Jodie" which reported: "Jodie Marsh's harsh treatment at the hands of her Big Brother housemates was condemned by anti-bullying campaigners yesterday."

Elsewhere the charity was quoted saying...."Beatbullying has received a huge number of e-mails from young people across the UK who support Jodie's stance on bullying, many of them very worried about some of the treatment Jodie is going through in the Big Brother house. Beatbullying will speak out against bullying whenever it happens".

It's disappointing that Beatbullying's previous support in the media for Jodie Marsh doesn't extend to Shilpa Shetty when they both took part in versions of the same show.
Yours,
Liz Carnell
Director
Bullying Online
www.bullying.co.uk

Jade Goody: Beat Bullying response

Dear Madame Arcati,

Thank you very much for your email which we received today. I was very impressed with your website, humorous, vitriolic and brilliant! I applaud your criticism of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, not many people do criticise it, which means that its purpose is often misunderstood or undefined. However, for us professionals working within the anti-bullying sector, the ABA does provide a useful forum for sharing best practice. I suspect they add more value to the profession than to the public. But I’m not in the business of defending them.

On the matter of whether anti-bullying organisations should have spoken out against the bullying on Celebrity Big Brother, I respectfully disagree with you. We were asked many times all last week to comment to media on the story, but we declined. We have a strict policy of never commenting publicly on specific bullying incidences, and certainly never vilifying an individual involved in a bullying case. We adhere to this policy even when we have all the evidence, and we had nothing even close to the entire evidence in the CBB case.

We spend all our time working with schools, youth groups and young people from all over the country on the ground everyday. We don’t have the resources to scrutinise Big Brother and cast judgment on the contestants. However, you are not alone in your concern. We have had a number of members of the public asking why we weren’t commenting, that is why we eventually put up a statement on our website on Thursday www.beatbullying.org. It is certainly disappointing compared to some of the more emotive soundbites that have been doing the rounds; boycott Jade, etc. I think it would be grossly irresponsible for an anti-bullying charity to go after an individual like that no matter what their crime, wouldn’t you agree?

Once again, thanks for getting in touch, do let me know if I can assist you in future and well done on a great site with a great truthful tone.

Regards,

Niall Cowley
Head of Communications
beatbullying
Tel: 020 8768 1017
Mobile: 07904 343 950
Fax: 020 8771 8478

Text DONATE to 61211 to set up a standing order to beatbullying
niall.cowley@beatbullying.org
www.beatbullying.org
www.bbclic.com
www.antibullyingweek.org
www.myspace.com/beatbullying

Shilpa Shetty: Anti-Bullying Alliance fails her

In the wake of the Jade Goody/Shilpa Shetty saga on Celebrity Big Brother I am at a loss to understand why the government funded Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) and their 65 members are (unlike Gordon Brown) silent on the biggest bullying issue in the last decade.

On Wednesday (Jan 17) the ABA put out a pathetic and anodyne statement on CBB on its website. Part of it read:

"The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) believes that bullying in any form is wrong and should not be tolerated, and that any environment that encourages bullying, prejudice, and discrimination is unacceptable."

Yet this statement was pulled from the ABA site yesterday. Why? I think for the £600,000 it receives from tax-payers each year we can expect leadership and inspiration - a response that is both timely and exemplary. The ABA ought not to fear controversy.

One of the ABA's member organisations Act Against Bullying even had to issue an apology after publishing a statement that appeared to offer understanding of Goody's behaviour (whom they've just dumped as a rep). Part of it read:

"We apologise once again for any misunderstanding caused by (the) statement yesterday. We under no circumstances condone bullying of any forms, and do our very best to work to eliminate it wherever possible."

This is true incompetence. Why the ambiguity on as clear a case of bullying as has ever been witnessed on national television (non-fiction)? As the non-government funded Bullying Online points out on its site:

"Act Against Bullying says 'that Shilpa Shetty is being bullied not because she is Indian but because of what she represents.' We disagree with that view. Numerous comments have been made on the show referring to Shilpa’s Indian background and most of the large number of complaints we have received share our concern about those remarks."

In fact, as I write, only Bullying Online and Kidscape have spoken out publicly and directly about CBB and its bullying entertainment. Perhaps Gordon should take a closer look at the ABA and its personnel when he finally levers Bliar out of Number 10.

Nicholas Hellen's blackmail letter

The letter below is purportedly from Nicholas Hellen, the (now) deputy news editor of the Sunday Times, to an anonymous blog writer who became rather well known after the paper outed her against her wishes. I publish it without further comment. For more on the backstory go to Girl With A One Track Mind.

Aug 5, 2006 11:08 AM

Dear Miss [my name],

We intend to publish a prominent news story in this weekend's paper, revealing your identity as the author of the book, Girl With a One Track Mind.

We have matched up the dates of films you have worked on - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Batman Begins and Lara Croft Tomb Raider - and it is clear that they correlate to your blog. We have obtained your birth certificate, and details about where you went to school and college.

We propose to publish the fact that you are 33 and live in [my address] -London, and that your mother, [her name], is a [her address] -based [her profession]. The article includes extracts from your book and blog, relevant to your career in the film industry. We also have a picture of you, taken outside your flat.

Unfortunately, the picture is not particularly flattering and might undermine the image that has been built up around your persona as Abby Lee. I think it would be helpful to both sides if you agreed to a photo shoot today so that we can publish a more attractive image.

We are proposing to assign you our senior portrait photographer, Francesco Guidicini, and would arrange everything to your convenience, including a car to pick you up. We would expect you to provide your own clothes and make up. As the story will be on a colour page, we would prefer the outfit to be one of colourful eveningwear.

We did put this proposal to you yesterday, but heard nothing back. Clearly this is now a matter of urgency, and I would appreciate you contacting me as soon as possible. To avoid any doubt we will, of course, publish the story as it is if we do not hear from you.

Yours sincerely,
Nicholas Hellen

Nick puts the Hell in Hellen

Nick Hellen, the Sunday Times deputy news editor (the job is not as grand as it sounds) is not a very nice person, I am very reliably informed.
In his early days at Wapping the lanky lollop was tipped to remain a hack, first as a media correspondent and then as "social affairs editor" - in short a glorified royal correspondent where he enjoyed the nickname Lord Percy after the royal crawler from the Blackadder comedy series. In that job he usually did little more than put up stories fed to editor and fellow lanky lollop John Witherow by one-time ST hack Charlie Peat (whose Dad was the former private secretary to Prince Charles, Sir Michael Peat and, I can reveal, a leaker of the highest order).
After a lunch with Hellen a few years ago, Witherow told his lieutenants to remind him "never to give that man a senior job on the paper". But then Witherow, something of a nasty little jackboot bully himself, decided that the news section "needed a kick up the arse" and brought Nick in to give everyone a foul time.
So he is now deputy news editor where he enjoys tormenting junior staff, screaming down the phone and trying to cover up his own errors by blaming others. People who deal with him describe him variously as a "psychopath" or a "loony", a "bully" or just "a plain nasty piece of work".
An enjoyable game at the ST is doing a "Nick cuts search" where his name is inputted into the cuts machine and all his spun or inaccurate stories are seen in their full glory with the benefit of hindsight.

Sadly colleagues had to lid their giggles when a story filtered into the news room about him being thrown out of a mini-cab after he asked the Asian driver if he was an "illegal immigrant."
There were no giggles though when an attempt to leave his job came to nothing. Earlier this year he tried to relinquish his deputy news editor post for the sunny pastures and furnishings of the ST's Home section. He lost out to dep foreign ed Peter Conradi for the job and is stuck where he is.
This is not good for junior hacks under him, although his attempted move maybe a hint that even he is tiring of his lowly work.
But still - and it pains me to report this - there can be few people so morally unpleasant and self-seeking in journalism that colleagues would say of them, "the world would be a better place if that man was dead", as some ST hacks I spoke to have said of Mr Hell.
If he would like to get in touch I can recommend some counsellors to help move him towards the light.