As many of you will already know, some big news hit the UK yesterday that has some pretty big ramifications for the Brexit campaign. Despite Prime Minister Theresa May planning to trigger Brexit by the end of March in 2017, yesterday the high court ruled that parliament must vote on the decision before Article 50 can be triggered. We won’t go into all the details (we’re not political journalists after all), but suffice to say that it’s thrown a substantial stick in to the government’s derailleur.
As predicted, the news of the high court ruling triggered various reactions from British newspapers and tabloids. Tabloids including The Sun, The Daily Express, and The Daily Mail were furious with the high court’s ruling, suggesting that the judges have gone against the will of the seventeen million Brits who voted in favour of leaving the European Union. Some of the tabloids have gone on to attack the three high court judges who ruled on the case. Here was the headline from the Daily Mail Online yesterday:
“The judges who blocked Brexit: One founded a EUROPEAN law group, another charged the taxpayer millions for advice and the third is an openly gay ex-Olympic fencer“
As you can imagine, the website drew some substantial criticism for pointing out the sexuality and previous sporting achievements of the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terrence Etherton. As the Head of Civil Justice in the UK, Sir Terrence Etherton is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, and was one of three judges who passed down the high court ruling yesterday.
As reported by The Independent, the headline has since been changed by the Daily Mail. “The paper’s website has since changed the headline and removed any reference to the master of the rolls, Sir Terrence Etherton“, states The Independent in its article. “It’s unclear which bit Mail Online was most embarrassed to have included: the ‘openly’, the ‘gay’, or the ‘Olympic fencer’ part.”
Despite the Daily Mail Online editing its headline, it hasn’t stopped Singletrack Premier Dealer, Soho Bikes, from making a point outside the front of their store in Soho in London;
And the sign has been noted too. Deputy Editor of BBC Newsnight, Jess Brammar, saw Soho Bikes chalkboard sign and issued the tweet below;
Soho fights back against the Daily Mail pic.twitter.com/q1pZ5CIXp1
— Jess Brammar (@jessbrammar) November 4, 2016
As quoted by The Independent, Nick Hawkins (owner of Soho Bikes) was moved enough by the Daily Mail Online’s headline to warrant the statement on his shop’s chalkboard;
“Out of frustration, you come into work every morning having read the headlines, and it beggars belief“, stated Hawkins in his interview with The Independent. “You want to do a small bit, so that you feel slightly more on par for the rest of the day. We’re here to sell bikes and make coffee and not worry about running the country, that’s what politicians are here for, but they seem to have forgotten at the moment – and the media seems a bit out of control at times…”
You can read the full article from The Independent here.
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Excellent work there. Though that’s quite a restrictive target demographic for your business plan…. 😉
Since when did, “52% of the British population that voted in favour of Britain leaving the European union” . Your words quoted there, not you quoting that right wing muck.
I didn’t realise we had a 100℅ turn out!?!?
Isn’t the % of those eligible to vote who voted to leave 27℅?
Probably worth pointing that out.
Oh and well done to that bike shop! 🙂
Well observed mint5auce. Blimey, anyone’d think some of the newspapers are in a desperate rush to get out of the EU in case they bring in new tax avoidance legislation.
Ah – you might be interpreting the language a little differently there @mint5auce!
“52% of the British population THAT voted in favour of Britain leaving the European Union”. But I can see where your confusion came from, so appreciate the comment.
I’ve made an edit so to avoid any further confusion 🙂
I must admit that as an Australian who arrived in the UK shortly after the referendum, I do find this whole Brexit thing to be thoroughly fascinating. I’m also intrigued by the above tabloids – their front pages are not particularly subtle at all!
Much better now! 🙂
As a magazine you appear to be pro europe. How about a sticky on the forum with a link to a group such as the European Movement ?
Lots of people are talking on the forum ,hopefully we can inspire them to do something constructive rather than just preaching to the converted.
Looks like STW has used soho bikes as an excuse to write something political. Please stick to bike stuff.
(I’m a hater of the right wing press and a fervent remain voter FYI)
Suspect hating the Mail is the motivation rather than a political point.
You may be right.
Anyone know the Mail’s stance on e-bikes? 😉
They cause cancer
…and Polish ones will kill your lawn.
Fair enough on the sexism front BUT…..
Are Soho Bikes in favour of paying Sir Philip Sales £500,000 out if the public purse for one year’s work?
Would they like to increase their payments to the public purse to fund this man’s hideous greed?
Sales was paid a retainer of £15,000 for doing nothing, so that he wouldn’t work for anyone else. What do they pay their staff for doing nothing?
As one of those sad bast Ards who can see both sides of this argument both Brexit and the judgement. No matter what happened people on one of the sides would be a tad upset. As for the tabloids toilet headlines both sides of the media are continuing to stir either side up. To be honest am somewhat petrified about where it goes from here. People are really divided and upset.
Nothing to see here