I've waited a couple of weeks before amending the link on my blogroll to Owen Barder's "Musings" in the hope that his complete blog may re-appear. But sadly there are no signs of its return. His blog was perhaps one of the the most - to use a modern expression-eclectic, in the blogosphere
Owen is now a civil servant with the Department for International Development (DFID). In the "simplified" DFID organisational chart- the organogram- his role in the is listed as "Director of Global Development Effectiveness". So a big-ish cheese!
So why are it's wonderfully literate and varied postings no longer available. Perhaps something to do with this inaccurate piece of crap in the Daily Mail.
Tim W here hits the nail on the proverbial.
"I have to admit that I think this piece in the Mail is really rather extraordinary..... you can see that it's a mixture of gross distortions, garbled (and wrongly attributed) quotes and in general a hit job.
Which is really something that all of us other bloggers might want to start thinking about. If they hound Owen out of his job on the basis of the above farrago and tissue of innuendo and misquotation then that's rather going to be the end of this enjoyable pastime for most of us, isn't it? Anyone writing tens of thousands of words over the years is open to such an assassination of the character.
Traditional here to start quoting Voltaire but the problem with that is that Voltaire never actually said it. I think we all know the Pastor Niemoller quote by now as well, don't we? So I'll just content myself with a small in joke shall I?
I am Spartacus!"
When government ministers like this one with his pre-pubescent moustache can blog a continual drip of self-serving drivel, it's a real shame that civil servants appear to be prevented from doing so.
By the way, you can still see a some of Owen's "less" controversial posts here
Comments