Times a'changing

[ian1964 10,431]

THOSE WHO know me will testify my musical tastes are better served by Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Rodgers and Hart and the Gershwins, than Bob Dylan.

 

But there is one of the old troubadour's nasal ramblings which strike a topical chord.

 

The Times They Are A'Changing.

 

In this case it is the Scottish edition of the Times of London which is changing. And not for the better.

 

The ABCs - the circulation figures, and the numbers by which the wordsmiths live and die - for October, published today, show the Scottish edition of the Times has suffered the biggest year-on-year percentage plunge of any daily paper on this side of the border.

 

The Times went hurtling downhill to the mindboggling tune of almost 14per cent - 13.8per cent to be precise.

 

Of course, since Odious Creep joined, it may be the lack of precision in the sports section - of what used to be regarded as the paper of record - which has chased away so many readers.

 

So, here begins another wee lesson for all my growing army of loyal readers, as to how newspapers work.

 

It was around four years ago that time ran out at the Herald for Odious Creep.

 

Since the change of editorship from Mark Douglas Hume - I worked with him in London - to Charlie McGhee - he was my assistant editor at the Sunday Mail - Creep's working practices were believed to be under greater scrutiny.

 

The timing could not have been better for his escape, as one of the Edinburgh blethering classes, Magnus Linklater, had been appointed as Scottish editor of the Times of London, and told to beef up the staff ahead of what is known in the business as a relaunch.

 

Linklater is a friend of Creep, and also of Richard Holloway, another of the blethering bleeding hearts who are to be found in Edinburgh, and who is also a friend of Creep's.

 

It is a mere short step from there to Odious Creep being offered a job on the Scottish edition of the Times of London.

 

He took it, despite the fact it meant losing his prized role within the Herald as golf correspondent, something which allowed him to attend the Masters every year, a trip he wallowed in, but was not on offer at the Times.

 

On top of which, if my information from an exteremly senior source within News International in London, is correct, he moved for less money than he was getting at the Herald.

 

However, history has a way of repeating itself, and the same thing which happened when he was at the Herald, is now happening at the Times of London's Scottish edition.

 

When Odious Creep joined the Herald such outstanding sports journalists as Ian Broadley and the late Ken Gallacher, were the big names in the paper, whose circulation was north of 80,000.

 

Creep's presence, and his friends in high places there, spelled the end for those two oustanding newspaper men, and also signalled the beginning of the Herald's circulation plunge.

 

Though, despite the Herald not being anywhere near the force it was before Odious Creep joined, it still outsells the Times of London's Scottish editon by more than two to one.

 

In fact, the Times of London's Scottish edition is actually selling fewer copies now than it was four years ago, before a significant cash investment allowed Linklater to make his flawed decision to employ Odious Creep.

 

How long this situation is allowed to continue is open to debate. But the one thing I know for sure is the greatest newspaperman of his generation - Rupert Murdoch - is not known for throwing good money after bad.

 

His long term strategy is directed towards the internet, and he belives eventually people will be willing to pay to read the Times online, to which end he has already put the online version of the Times behind a paywall.

 

The result is a dramatic fall in online readership, which Murdoch is willing to ride out for as long as the circulation of the paper does not crash alarmingly.

 

As it continues to do in Scotland.

 

Cuts within the News International organisation's four titles, the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and the News of the World, are on the way.

 

The Murdoch way ahead has already been revealed by the closing of the Sunday Times Scotland operation earlier this year.

 

What's next?

 

It is unlikely to be the Sun or the News of the World which will suffer in Scotland, as Murdoch is prepared to fund them in their fascinating fight with the ailing Trinity Mirror's Scottish titles, the Record and Sunday Mail.

 

I am sure you can work out where the Murdoch axe is likely to fall.

 

These are interesting, and most certainly, A'Changing Times in the old inky business.

 

Though I still prefer the masters of the Great Amercian Songbook to Dylan, not to mention Odious Creep's favourite, Elton John.

 

As the late great Malcolm Munro(Big Malky) used to write....'Nuff Said!

 

AND....

 

Sad news came my way this morning as a colleague phoned to tell me of the death, at 88, of Bob Ferrier.

 

Bob was one of the last links to the golden era of the Daily Mirror when such giants as Hugh Cudlipp and Bill Connor ruled the roost, and the circulation topped six million.

 

He escaped from what became a Mirror madhouse when the lying thieving Bob Maxwell took over, and returned to Scotland where he worked for a number of papers, reporting football on a part time basis.

 

Bob Ferrier, who retired to Helensburgh, was a gentleman of the old school, with an impish sense of humour and a deep knowledge of newspapers, football, and indeed, life.

 

He came from an impeccable football background, as his dad was Motherwell legend Bobby Ferrier, who along with George Stevenson formed the Stevenson-Ferrier left wing through the 1920s and into the 30's.

 

My thoughts are with his family.

 

Read more:

 

http://davidleggat-leggoland.blogspot.com/

[ian1964 10,431]

BAD TIMES FOR CREEP

 

IT'S been a bad few days for the Times of London's Scottish edition and its dwindling band of ripped off readers.

 

The Times was once known as the paper of record in Britain, though that is a repuation it no longer enjoys north of the border thanks to the increasingly bizzare antics of Odious Creep.

 

More and more he is beginnig to be seen as someone who is to good sound and accurate journalism, what Ann Widdicombe is to ballet dancing.

 

Whoever's tune he is dancing to is a matter for others to debate, but it is the subject of accuracy - or the lack of it - of much of what Creep writes, which may concern Rangers chief executive, Martin Bain.

 

Whether or not Bain choses to call in M'learned friends is of course a matter for him.

 

If he does, it would not be the first lawyer's letter to land on Creep's desk in recent weeks.

 

Or Bain could report Creep to the Press Complaints' Commission for the complete fiction on which he based an attack on him and Rangers in the Times of London's Scottish edition this week.

 

It would not be the first time the Press Complaints' Commission had to probe Creep's lack of professionalism in storries about Rangers.

 

On Monday, his column began to drift into the realms of fantasy when he chastised Bain for failing to speak out against, what he claimed, is a return of the singing of the Billy Boys.

 

He appeared to take great delight in making sure he pointed out this song had been officially banned by UEFA.

 

What he chose to ignore were the widely reported comments made by Bain at the recent Rangers Annual General Meeting.

 

Considering Creep was at the AGM, this once again gives rise to questions about just what he does and does not hear.

 

However, what Bain said about plans to combat the problem, was also there for all to read in every mass circulation newspaper in Scotland.

 

Maybe Creep suffers from some sort of reading disorder - dyslexia? - as well as selective deafness.

 

In the same poisonous piece he went on to suggest that by inviting sailors of the Royal Navy to parade at Ibrox on Remembrance weekend, Rangers were indulging in some sort of dangerous militarism.

 

But not a mutter -or even a Twitter - about the military presence at almost every major match in the English Premiership, something which was in evidence in particular when Sky showed the Chelsea-Sunderland match.

 

There was also a snipe at the joyful nature of what happened when the boys in blue of the Royal Navy took the Ibrox turf.

 

It was a weekend of Remembrance, he insisted, where such larks had no place.

 

Perhaps the annual Saturday night Royal Festival of Remembrance in front of the The Queen at the Royal Albert Hall, shown live every year on BBC1, is something else he has no knowledge of.

 

This so very British occasion is a mixture of nostalgia, some fun, including a singalong of old favourites, and a muster, celebrating the freedoms we enjoy, followed by a service of readings, prayers, hymms and finally the silence as the poppies drift down.

 

Maybe he will write to Buckingham Palace to chastise Her Majesty for tainting Remembrace with frivolity.

 

And so to what else Creep has been up to - or not up to - in recent days as he trousers Rupert Murdoch's money in return for the minimum of effort.

 

One again he appears to show a huge disdain for the Scottish national team.

 

This is a pattern which was noted when he failed to be on the spot to inform readers what going on in the Scotland camp after the defeat in Prague, and before the eagerly anticipated visit of European Champions and World Cup holders, Spain.

 

He was nowhere to be seen when the media convened at the Scotland camp on the Sunday, for an inquest into what had gone wrong in Prague on the Friday night.

 

Do his paymasters in News International's powerful places know about this apparent dereliction of duty? Do they care?

 

There exists a growing feeling within the press pack that Creep has no interest in the Scottish team, for, on Thursday he was not at Hampden for the late afternoon press conference at which Craig Levein announced his Scotland squad, and discussed matters with three groups of journalists, broadcasters, daily papers and the Sundays.

 

He did appear that evening on Radio Clyde, for which he is paid.

 

Therefore, while not attending to the business of the Times of London's Scottish edition, he found the time and energy for a nice little earner.

 

And these days, at Radio Clyde, little cannot be over-emphasised.

 

He was not at Ibrox for the match against Aberdeen, though he chose to comment on what happened there.

 

On Sunday he wasn't in Paisley to report on the St Mirren-Celtic game.

 

Neither did he attend the Remembrance Day service at his church, Hillhead Baptist, though he seemed able to comment on it on Twitter.

 

Nor did he think it worth his while to follow every other daily newspaper to Aberdeen on Monday to interview the manager of the national team ahead of a Scotland match.

 

The Times of London's Scottish edition therefore missed out on much of what Craig Levein had to say, though Creep's name did appear on some of

Levein's quotes.

 

These were filed by the Press Association reporter, and were from the interview Levein gave to the broadcasters.

 

The PA did not sit in with the daily men and women when they interviewed the manager at greater length, and in much more depth.

 

Not did the readers of the Times of London's Scottish edition learn anything of Craig Gordon's view on his position in the goalkeeping rivalry with Allan McGregor, which he revealed in a fascinating interview with those same daily reporters.

 

Creep did however manage to find time in his not-so-busy schedule to travel to Clydebank on Monday for another paid apearance on Radio Clyde.

 

At least he managed to stir himself on Tuesday to make the trek north for the Scotland encounter with the Faroes.

 

Of course Wednesday's edition of the Times of London's Scottish edition is perhaps the day when that dwindling number of ripped off readers have short changed the most.

 

http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/2010/11/bad-times-for-creep.html

[Frankie 8,178]

Now, that is worth reading...

 

Have it Graham!

[Bluedell 5,350]

Yup, so good it was well worth posting it twice.

[ian1964 10,431]

Ha ha,I'm having trouble loading gersnet pages,one of our beloved mods can delete one

[pete 2,499]

Done! Does that mean i am now one of the beloved. Awe Chucks.:tongue:

[ian1964 10,431]

Done! Does that mean i am now one of the beloved. Awe Chucks.:tongue:

 

Aye,you've always been one of the beloved ones Pete:)

[Gazza_8 233]

Aye,you've always been one of the beloved ones Pete:)

 

Only because you're in The Old Club along with Pete. :boogie:

[ian1964 10,431]

Only because you're in The Old Club along with Pete. :boogie:

 

Aye,and the older ones always talk sense,you must be about 13:)

[pete 2,499]

Only because you're in The Old Club along with Pete. :boogie:

 

Never make fun of older people because one day soon you will be one yourself. I prefer to say the ripened club though as everything is sweeter when it is ripe.