Cockburn, Author at The Spectator

Thursday

1 June 2023

Cockburn

Tucker Carlson is the new Voldemort

From our US edition

Murdoch gets what Murdoch wants — and this time, it’s to erase any evidence that Tucker Carlson ever existed. The media mogul is so insistent that the “T”-word remain unspoken that he has purportedly banned any mention of the ex-host across the Fox networks. This is bad news for Chadwick Moore, author and contributing editor at The Spectator after he announced his new book, Tucker, that comes out next month. Moore tweeted that he’d been blacklisted from the network after announcing the book, saying: “I’m not allowed on Fox anymore, because I wrote a book about @TuckerCarlson. I’ve been banned from the network.

Cockburn

Journos take offense at Cockburn’s report of Americans slacking

From our US edition

In last Friday's gossip column (which you really should sign up for), Cockburn revealed how Emma Tucker, the London newspaper editor who took the helm of the Wall Street Journal in February, has been unimpressed with the lousy work ethic of her new colleagues. “What do they all do all day?” the former Sunday Times of London chief is reportedly prone to wondering out loud. Much to Cockburn’s surprise, the small piece of gossip has blown up on the internet, drawing the ire of America’s "hard-working" hacks. It wasn’t long before journalist complaints started to roll in. How they managed to carve out the time to do so between copying and pasting press releases, Cockburn does not know.

Cockburn

What Succession got right about Rupert Murdoch

From our US edition

HBO's flagship drama Succession came to an end on Sunday night. The tale of the Roy saga was heavily based on the Murdoch family, to the point that Rupert Murdoch's divorce agreement from his fourth wife Jerry Hall stipulated that she would be barred from providing plot points to the show's writers. But how close is the fiction to reality? Spectator chairman Andrew Neil — who spent over a decade as editor of one of Murdoch's top newspapers — joins Freddy Gray on Spectator TV to discuss. "There was enough of an overlap to make it interesting, and enough of an overlap to say, 'yeah, that's happened in real life, that's the kind of thing that goes on,' but not enough to give the lawyers at HBO palpitations," Andrew says. He describes how Logan Roy "ran his company like a king.

Wednesday

31 May 2023

Cockburn

Coca-Cola’s ‘Indigiqueer’ Pride workshops for kids

From our US edition

Coca-Cola is kicking off Pride Month by sponsoring events for preteens that are taught by Native American "Indigiqueer" and two-spirit artists. On the first day of Pride Month, Coca-Cola is partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian to bring workshops from “across the Western Hemisphere working towards equity and social justice for Indigenous peoples” to middle- and high-school students. “Fashion is often used to confirm identities, challenge social structures and display personalities,” the event description reads. “Discover the joy of fashion in our conversation celebrating PRIDE month.” There are four panelists.

Tuesday

30 May 2023

Cockburn

The New Yorker: Latinos can be white supremacists, too

From our US edition

The New Yorker has come to the profound revelation that crazy, evil people who carry out heinous crimes hold crazy, evil beliefs to justify their crimes. Such people, the New Yorker has apparently now realized, can be of different races. But no matter what, the most common motivating cause is white supremacy, regardless of the perp's race — and it’s all America’s fault. In his piece on “the rise of Latino white supremacy,” New Yorker columnist Geraldo Cadava writes about how Mauricio Garcia, the mass shooter who killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas, before being killed by an off-duty police officer, expressed white-supremacist views in a diary and online — and because of this, “many were shocked that he was Latino.

Cockburn

Babylon Bee fires conservative activist for swearing at DeSantis press sec on Twitter

From our US edition

It was a not-so-happy start to the Memorial Day weekend for conservative activist Gavin Wax. Wax was publicly fired from his job at the Babylon Bee, a Christian right-wing satire site, on Friday over a not-so-nice tweet about a member of the DeSantis 2024 campaign. Wax, who runs the New York Young Republicans and supports former president Donald Trump in the GOP primary, was warring against DeSantis supporters last week who implicitly accused him of fraud because he used to work for Gettr. Gettr was financially backed by Miles Guo, a Chinese businessman who was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a $1 billion fraud conspiracy. Cockburn acknowledges that this is all very confusing. Stick with him.

Cockburn

Democrats gag congresswomen in kinky new billboards

From our US edition

Democrats are rolling out a novel strategy heading into 2024: kinky ads featuring Republicans. Cockburn, whose stance is pro-kink and anti-shame, came across new billboards that House Democrats are launching against Congresswomen Jen Kiggans and Michelle Steel. The two trailblazing women are depicted gagged, next to a bare-faced Donald Trump. The ads argue that the women were silent when former President Trump said he wanted to defund federal law enforcement. Kiggans won her seat in 2022, two years after Trump left the White House, while Steel won hers in 2020, so overlapped with him for all of two weeks. The ads suggest that the main strategy Democrats have to retake the House is rehashing the anti-Trump messaging that was effective... when Trump was actually president.

Friday

26 May 2023

Cockburn

New WSJ chief stunned by so-called American ‘work ethic’

From our US edition

Emma Tucker has had her work cut out for her since she was moved from London to New York, and from the editorship of the Sunday Times to the helm of the Wall Street Journal. The step up to the pride of Murdoch’s newspaper stable from its plucky British cousin was enough of a challenge. Then Evan Gershkovich was arrested by Vladimir Putin’s goons, putting the paper’s leadership into full-blown crisis-management mode. Cockburn understands that the flat-out Tucker has been underwhelmed by the work ethic of her new American colleagues. “What do they all do all day?” she is reportedly prone to wondering out loud.

Wednesday

24 May 2023

Cockburn

Poet laureate can’t define a ‘ban’

From our US edition

Amanda Gorman, the young female poet who read at Joe Biden's inauguration lamented on Tuesday night that her poem had been banned by a Florida school library. “Just found out my inaugural poem 'The Hill We Climb' has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County because it causes "confusion and indoctrination,” America's first National Youth Poet Laureate tweeted. The poem, however, was never banned. Instead, according to the Miami-Dade school district, “The Hill We Climb” was moved from the elementary section of the library to the middle-school section. “It was determined at the school that ‘The Hill We Climb’ is better suited for middle-school students and, it was shelved in the middle-school section of the media center.

Monday

22 May 2023

Cockburn

Bud Light remains for sale in virtually every Trump Organization business

From our US edition

As the Bud Light War enters what feels like its fifth year, Cockburn has further evidence that America’s "wokest" brew has an unlikely ally, giving it beachheads at some of the world's swankiest properties. The Trump Organization, which boasts properties in several continents, offers Bud Light and/or Bud Heavy at its properties in locations ranging from Chicago to Los Angeles to Scotland. A Cockburn review on Trump Organization menus show that the beer goes from £6.50 in Scotland, to $7 at his iconic Trump Tower in New York City, to $9 in Chicago, to $10 in Vegas. Trump’s Bud Light offerings go beyond just his hotels. Want some suds while you’re golfing? Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, for example, has you covered at only $7 a beer, or a six-pack for $35.

Friday

19 May 2023

Cockburn

Jeff Roe and his campaign cash grab

From our US edition

GOP campaign consultant Jeff Roe is the subject of new reporting in the Washington Post that shows his company, Axiom Strategies, takes in 63 percent of every dollar spent by the campaigns it is managing. A general consultant typically only takes in less than 10 percent. So what is Jeff Roe doing with all of that extra cash? According to a recent photo being passed around among journalists, campaign consultants, and even among members of Congress, Roe is icing up. The consultant was spotted at the Kentucky Derby wearing a blinged-out dollar sign chain. A tipster sent the picture Cockburn's way: Cockburn’s sources say Roe was telling people at the horse race that it was real, but now is downplaying it as a joke.

Cockburn

Joe Manchin’s next move: West Virginia University?

From our US edition

Senator Joe Manchin is eyeing the presidency... of West Virginia University, multiple Mountain State sources tell Cockburn. While Manchin hasn’t publicly expressed interest in the job, the stars may be aligning perfectly for him. Charleston political circles have been abuzz with the rumors of his interest for weeks now. Seventy-five-year-old Manchin will be weighing all options that don’t entail a near-certain defeat at the ballot box in West Virginia next year, meaning a near-certain defeat at the national ballot box with a quixotic third party presidential campaign is unlikely. The presidency of WVU, which Manchin attended on a football scholarship before an injury derailed his career, makes a lot of sense for both parties.

Thursday

18 May 2023

Cockburn

A slobbering WIRED interview with Mayor Pete, DC’s most ‘voluminous mind’

From our US edition

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg may just be the smartest man in DC, likely even a card-carrying Mensa member, according to a fawning WIRED interview published Thursday. Virginia Heffernan, a contributor to the magazine, came to this dazzling conclusion when she sat down to speak with Mayor Pete “in his undernourished corner office one afternoon in early spring.” “I slowly became aware that his cabinet job requires only a modest portion of his cognitive powers,” she recalled. Cockburn, however, thinks the people of East Palestine would like it to take up slightly more mental headspace. Heffernan is right, however. Buttigieg does hold much of his mind’s “functionality in reserves.

Wednesday

17 May 2023

Cockburn

Where’s the beef? Eric Adams wants to force New Yorkers to be vegetarian like him

From our US edition

New York City mayor Eric Adams is on a quest to cut the city’s “food-related emissions” by 33 percent by 2030, and not by making Gas-X free to residents. Adams, whom the New York Times reports is “a self-described vegan who sometimes eats fish,” has expressed support for the city reducing the amount of meat it serves at schools, hospitals and in other government-funded capacities. “It is easy to talk about emissions that are coming from vehicles and how it impacts our carbon footprint,” Adams said. “It is easy to talk about the emissions that’s coming from buildings and how it impacts our environment. But we now have to talk about beef. And I don’t know if people are really ready for this conversation.

Cockburn

Harry and Meghan claim near-fatal ‘car chase’ through traffic-heavy NYC streets

From our US edition

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were followed by paparazzi in a "near catastrophic" car chase Tuesday night in New York City, according to a statement from the couple's spokesperson. "Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland [Markle's mother] were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi," the spokesperson said. "The relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers." https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/1658844017918869510 The incident supposedly occurred as Harry and Meghan were leaving the Ms. Foundation for Women gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown.

Tuesday

16 May 2023

Cockburn

Is Taylor Swift the problem?

From our US edition

Pop superstar Taylor Swift is in the middle of a PR crisis as her fans overwhelmingly disapprove of her new beau, Matty Healy, the lead singer of English rock band the 1975. Healy has been attending Swift's concerts and the pair have been spotted several times kissing and holding hands in public. Taylor Swift and Matty Healy seen leaving the Electric Lady studio in Manhattan on May 16, 2023 in New York City (Robert Kamau/GC Images) Cockburn's niece tells him that Swift's online fan forums are blowing up with debate over the Midnights singer's decision to date the irreverent rock star.

Cockburn

The Lincoln Project tries to Bud Light Dr. Pepper

From our US edition

The Lincoln Project, a disgraced PAC launched in 2019 “to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box” and “to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him,” has a new mission: take down Dr. Pepper for advertising on Fox News. Having seemingly taken inspiration from the Bud Light/Dylan Mulvaney boycott that’s seen conservatives abandon the beloved beer brand in droves, the Lincoln Project called out “Texas’s favorite soft drink” on Twitter, scolding: “Your motto is ‘Drink Well. Do Good.’ Your goal is to ‘make a positive impact with every drink.’ Yet you continue to advertise on Fox News, a network committed to telling lies and degrading our public discourse. Time to live up to your promise and drop Fox.

Monday

15 May 2023

Cockburn

The election episode put the ‘suck’ in Succession

From our US edition

Like everyone else in the Acela corridor, Cockburn has been avidly watching the final season of Succession. Without giving too much away, there have been some moments this season that are up there with the best of prestige television: the real-time playing out of a medical emergency in the third episode, for example. Cockburn feels entitled, then, to speak up when the show is less than great — and Sunday night's election special was an absolute stinker. One of the best things about Succession is that it feels like it takes place in a realistic parallel universe, very similar to this one, except that Trump and Covid never happened. And the drama is at its weakest when it tries to play solemn about the Roys' political whims.

Friday

12 May 2023

Cockburn

Is E. Jean Carroll’s second pay-day coming?

From our US edition

Has FreedomWorks gone FreedomWoke? FreedomWorks has gone FreedomWoke? That’s the charge of a new campaign by Berman and Co, which says the Koch-funded group’s new COO, Marty Irby, has a history of working with radical animal rights groups with close connections to PETA... and Democrats. FreedomWorks, meanwhile, is a grassroots organization that advocates for free markets, personal liberty and lower taxes.Cockburn notes that Irby’s biography on the FreedomWorks website leaves out these details, instead listing only his lobbyist and consulting work with Republicans. According to his LinkedIn, the last time he worked directly for a member of the GOP was between late 2013 and early 2016, when he served as a communications director for Representative Ed Whitfield.

Thursday

11 May 2023

Cockburn

CNN reels internally from Trump town hall hangover

From our US edition

CNN’s town hall with 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump last night was such a doozy that the network’s own senior media reporter, Oliver Darcy, is copping to a widespread hangover this morning. It isn’t hard to find people disgusted by CNN’s choice to host Trump; Twitter is ablaze with users proclaiming that CNN has “a lot of egg on its face” (Justin Baragona) and “should be ashamed of itself” (AOC). Mediaite’s editor-in-chief, Aidan McLaughlin cited a CNN journalist who told him, “That was sickening. Shame on us.” And in his Reliable Sources newsletter this morning, Darcy reported, “CNN and new network boss Chris Licht are facing a fury of criticism — both internally and externally over the event.