Sent: 18 March 2017 16:02
To: john.simpson@thetimes.co.uk
Cc: [Solicitor]; general.enquiries@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; PCVC.Media@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; pat.glass.mp@parliament.uk; echo.news@northeast-press.co.uk; mail.news@northeast-press.co.uk; news@eveninggazette.co.uk; ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk; jnl.newsdesk@ncjmedia.co.uk; richard.moss@bbc.co.uk; mark.denten@bbc.co.uk; tellmystory@bbc.co.uk; look.north.comment@bbc.co.uk; pamandian@itv.com; george@galloway.global; letters@peoples-press.com; articlesubmission@thewordmedia.org.uk; daviesjamesalan@hotmail.co.uk; bringdownsun@gmail.com; peter.stefanovic86@icloud.com; giles.fraser@guardian.co.uk; rliddlemonkey@hotmail.com info@counterfire.org; brendan.oneill@spiked-online.com; editor@weeklyworker.co.uk; peter.hitchens@mailonsunday.co.uk; peter.oborne@dailymail.co.uk; admin@durhamminers.co.uk; durhamcsc@gmail.com; lanchestervillagevoice@yahoo.co.uk; strobes@private-eye-co..uk; afshin@afshinrattansi.com; enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk; contact@hmic.gsi.gov.uk; inquiries@ipso.co.uk; canonspence@btconnect.com; team@order-order.com; martindaubney@hotmail.com
Subject: Further to your piece about me on page 19 of yesterday’s Times
Dear Mr Simpson,
Further to your piece about me on page 19 of yesterday’s Times:
First, I was not “planning to stand as an Independent” for the council and for Parliament. I was planning to stand with No Description, since, although I am a member of no party, I am part of several partially overlapping political networks. That remains my firm intention.
Secondly, when Fidel Castro died, then I wrote as a qualified critic of the Cuban Revolution, accepting its achievements in healthcare and education both at home and abroad, and pointing out that it had persecuted homosexuality only while that was also the case in the United Kingdom [I ought also to have mentioned its role in the war in Angola, which dealt a body blow to the apartheid regime in South Africa], but otherwise saying merely that it had replaced a ghastly regime, that its enemies in Miami remained morally and politically bankrupt, and that Cuba had at least fared better than neighbouring and comparable Haiti.
Thirdly, I have not worked for The Times’s rival, the Daily Telegraph, in around 10 years.
Fourthly, I had been given to understand that the offensive letter, which of course I did not write or send, had not left Police hands. How, then, did The Times obtain it, in order to quote from it very extensively? In covering this case, The Times alone has named me, and The Times alone has carried my photograph. [No other media outlet has been in touch, to this day. But the local ones, in particular, know me, and they certainly know where I live.]
Fifthly, the enormous sums of money cited are beyond my imagination.
Sixthly, as many readers of The Times will have noticed, “Blood will have blood” is a quotation from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Seventhly, I have never written about Rojava, I have rarely mentioned Kashmir (and never in any depth), I have only ever reproduced other writers’ work (with acknowledgement) about Rousseff and Brazil, and I have never written about Duterte and the Philippines.
Eighthly, as will be set out in a further email to my solicitor and in a note appended to the Police copy of this email, the irrelevant fact that I live with my mother, which you mention without reference to my disability, is certainly known to a senior member of staff on The Times, Oliver Kamm, a column by whom pointedly also appeared yesterday. Kamm has pursued a vendetta against me, among others, for many years. He has tweeted gloatingly about your piece.
Ninthly, Kamm and his circle have a history of snide remarks about the fact that my books so far have been self-published. Those books, Essays Radical and Orthodox and Confessions of an Old Labour High Tory, are both available on Amazon. The eminent persons who commend the latter, which you name, include two members of the House of Lords and three Professors, one of whom is a former MP, Shadow Cabinet member, and Labour Leadership candidate. By contrast, the vicious reviews on Amazon bear a strong resemblance to the views of Oliver Kamm or of those who might be seeking to curry favour with him.
When questioned by the Police, I was asked if I knew of anyone who hated me enough to do this to me. In shock, and thinking purely locally, I could name no one. I am no longer in shock, and I am no longer thinking purely locally. I do not accuse Kamm of anything. I say that he hates me, and that his name would be my answer to that question if it were to be asked of me again. He has certainly had some kind of contact with Durham in the past, such that he has been able to do me damage. You name only the Daily Telegraph and the Huffington Post as publications for which I have previously worked. There are others, and I have a current column on a print newspaper, The Word. But it was Kamm who conspired with forces at Durham (my then tutee, Vincent McAviney, who was the Editor of the student newspaper, Palatinate, and who is now at LBC) to have me removed from the Telegraph. I also strongly suspect that his influence is the reason why the Huffington Post no longer publishes my submissions. The man who sacked me from the Telegraph, Damian Thompson, has retweeted Kamm’s tweet about your piece.
Tenthly, I did work at Durham for Teikyo University in Tokyo, but I have never been to Japan. Eleventhly, the quotation from my friend, Councillor Carl Marshall, is a week or more old, and it therefore predates my arrest. And twelfthly, although I was given no opportunity to accompany the Police and to answer their questions without needing to be arrested (as I would gladly have done), nevertheless I am uncharged, I am on unconditional bail [I would not be on bail at all anywhere other than here in the 1960s theme park that is Poulson County, Mississippi], and I am continuing to campaign and to raise funds, including by means of crowdfunding, for May’s local elections.
By my own hand, a printed out, paper copy of this email will be at Durham City Police Station on New Elvet within one hour of its having been sent electronically. [It was.]
Yours sincerely,
David Lindsay (Mr)
To: john.simpson@thetimes.co.uk
Cc: [Solicitor]; general.enquiries@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; PCVC.Media@durham.pcc.pnn.gov.uk; pat.glass.mp@parliament.uk; echo.news@northeast-press.co.uk; mail.news@northeast-press.co.uk; news@eveninggazette.co.uk; ec.news@ncjmedia.co.uk; jnl.newsdesk@ncjmedia.co.uk; richard.moss@bbc.co.uk; mark.denten@bbc.co.uk; tellmystory@bbc.co.uk; look.north.comment@bbc.co.uk; pamandian@itv.com; george@galloway.global; letters@peoples-press.com; articlesubmission@thewordmedia.org.uk; daviesjamesalan@hotmail.co.uk; bringdownsun@gmail.com; peter.stefanovic86@icloud.com; giles.fraser@guardian.co.uk; rliddlemonkey@hotmail.com info@counterfire.org; brendan.oneill@spiked-online.com; editor@weeklyworker.co.uk; peter.hitchens@mailonsunday.co.uk; peter.oborne@dailymail.co.uk; admin@durhamminers.co.uk; durhamcsc@gmail.com; lanchestervillagevoice@yahoo.co.uk; strobes@private-eye-co..uk; afshin@afshinrattansi.com; enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk; contact@hmic.gsi.gov.uk; inquiries@ipso.co.uk; canonspence@btconnect.com; team@order-order.com; martindaubney@hotmail.com
Subject: Further to your piece about me on page 19 of yesterday’s Times
Dear Mr Simpson,
Further to your piece about me on page 19 of yesterday’s Times:
First, I was not “planning to stand as an Independent” for the council and for Parliament. I was planning to stand with No Description, since, although I am a member of no party, I am part of several partially overlapping political networks. That remains my firm intention.
Secondly, when Fidel Castro died, then I wrote as a qualified critic of the Cuban Revolution, accepting its achievements in healthcare and education both at home and abroad, and pointing out that it had persecuted homosexuality only while that was also the case in the United Kingdom [I ought also to have mentioned its role in the war in Angola, which dealt a body blow to the apartheid regime in South Africa], but otherwise saying merely that it had replaced a ghastly regime, that its enemies in Miami remained morally and politically bankrupt, and that Cuba had at least fared better than neighbouring and comparable Haiti.
Thirdly, I have not worked for The Times’s rival, the Daily Telegraph, in around 10 years.
Fourthly, I had been given to understand that the offensive letter, which of course I did not write or send, had not left Police hands. How, then, did The Times obtain it, in order to quote from it very extensively? In covering this case, The Times alone has named me, and The Times alone has carried my photograph. [No other media outlet has been in touch, to this day. But the local ones, in particular, know me, and they certainly know where I live.]
Fifthly, the enormous sums of money cited are beyond my imagination.
Sixthly, as many readers of The Times will have noticed, “Blood will have blood” is a quotation from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Seventhly, I have never written about Rojava, I have rarely mentioned Kashmir (and never in any depth), I have only ever reproduced other writers’ work (with acknowledgement) about Rousseff and Brazil, and I have never written about Duterte and the Philippines.
Eighthly, as will be set out in a further email to my solicitor and in a note appended to the Police copy of this email, the irrelevant fact that I live with my mother, which you mention without reference to my disability, is certainly known to a senior member of staff on The Times, Oliver Kamm, a column by whom pointedly also appeared yesterday. Kamm has pursued a vendetta against me, among others, for many years. He has tweeted gloatingly about your piece.
Ninthly, Kamm and his circle have a history of snide remarks about the fact that my books so far have been self-published. Those books, Essays Radical and Orthodox and Confessions of an Old Labour High Tory, are both available on Amazon. The eminent persons who commend the latter, which you name, include two members of the House of Lords and three Professors, one of whom is a former MP, Shadow Cabinet member, and Labour Leadership candidate. By contrast, the vicious reviews on Amazon bear a strong resemblance to the views of Oliver Kamm or of those who might be seeking to curry favour with him.
When questioned by the Police, I was asked if I knew of anyone who hated me enough to do this to me. In shock, and thinking purely locally, I could name no one. I am no longer in shock, and I am no longer thinking purely locally. I do not accuse Kamm of anything. I say that he hates me, and that his name would be my answer to that question if it were to be asked of me again. He has certainly had some kind of contact with Durham in the past, such that he has been able to do me damage. You name only the Daily Telegraph and the Huffington Post as publications for which I have previously worked. There are others, and I have a current column on a print newspaper, The Word. But it was Kamm who conspired with forces at Durham (my then tutee, Vincent McAviney, who was the Editor of the student newspaper, Palatinate, and who is now at LBC) to have me removed from the Telegraph. I also strongly suspect that his influence is the reason why the Huffington Post no longer publishes my submissions. The man who sacked me from the Telegraph, Damian Thompson, has retweeted Kamm’s tweet about your piece.
Tenthly, I did work at Durham for Teikyo University in Tokyo, but I have never been to Japan. Eleventhly, the quotation from my friend, Councillor Carl Marshall, is a week or more old, and it therefore predates my arrest. And twelfthly, although I was given no opportunity to accompany the Police and to answer their questions without needing to be arrested (as I would gladly have done), nevertheless I am uncharged, I am on unconditional bail [I would not be on bail at all anywhere other than here in the 1960s theme park that is Poulson County, Mississippi], and I am continuing to campaign and to raise funds, including by means of crowdfunding, for May’s local elections.
By my own hand, a printed out, paper copy of this email will be at Durham City Police Station on New Elvet within one hour of its having been sent electronically. [It was.]
Yours sincerely,
David Lindsay (Mr)
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