So I pick up the Saturday's Grauniad (we're a bit behind in Prague) to find on page 2 and 3 a selection of eulogies to the men arrested on suspicion of plotting these despicable and unjustifiable terrorist acts. See here or here. Page 4 gives column inches to the terrorists' political wing attempting to blackmail the UK into a change of policy. This rag gets worse - who or what do they stand for? So I thought I'd do a bit of digging.
The Guardian Media Group's annual report makes interesting reading. As required by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) the group's performance is recorded by segment. One segment is the "national newspapers" division comprising the Grauniad, Grauniad Unlimited and the Observer. The operating loss in this segment was £49.9m (a cynic might suggest £50m+!) compared to a £48.3m loss last year. Net assets (the balance of assets less liabilities) in this segment were a wafer-thin £2.2m at the balance sheet date so they must be charting negative territory by now. So far so bad for the Grauniad. However, it appears that the Grauniad editor and GMG board member Alan Rusbridger (pictured) who trousered an increased bonus has little to fear from the financial disaster at the Grauniad. 
Although the newspapers are losing money hand over fist, a less politically correct arm of the group is making incredible profits. The "Trader Media" division which includes print titles such as Auto Trader, Bike Trader and Motorhome & Caravan Trader and successful on-line sites such as Autotrader made operating profits of £119.5m last year easily offsetting the problems at the print division.
So, if you want to hurt the Grauniad, don't buy your cars through autotrader.
2 comments:
The pieces you quote giving background for the would-be UK terrorists give just that- background information. Which is probably true and which makes it all the more chilling. If evil people had horns or the words 'beware - evil' stamped on their foreheads, they wouldn't be a threat.
I'm not denying that these guys "ordinary" backgrounds. What irritates me is that this is all subtext to the Guardian's over-arching view that it is completely reasonable for an ordinary young Muslim to want to kill as many countrymen as possible - AND THAT IS A REPREHENSIBLE VIEWPOINT in my opinion.
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