Is there evidence that they've actually "agreed to pretend" and that they aren't getting this on their own? UKIP politicians these days are like Canadian Reform Alliance Party[1] backbenchers before the muzzles came out and the message discipline kicked in - a fountain of terrible.
(I mean, I know that column claimed it, but that's something in gossip-column-format from a British newspaper. Should I take their unsourced claim seriously?)
[1]: Their real name. They picked it. Not a joke name.
Annoying long comment lost because this laptop isn't configured sensibly and I haven't done the settings swoop yet. Private Eye is a notorious news magazine with a history of publishing stuff that's probably true but not provably so, some columns more reliable than others, Street Of Shame is normally incredibly well sourced as half the entries are written by the journalists pissed off at the orders they've been given.
If they had a decent website they're be the go-to news organisation for most of us these days...
Similarly, Le Canard Enchaîné in France is a similar dumping ground for gossip that real newspapers either can't or won't publish, as well as genuine investigatory stuff. (It doesn't run ads, for instance, so it doesn't have to worry about pissing off advertisers.)
So, for instance, when it turns out that the French railways have ordered hundreds of trains that are too big (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/french-railway-operator-sncf-orders-trains-too-big) and the SNCF claims it's just a few hundred, and Le Canard Enchaîné says it's thousands, I'd believe Le Canard.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-20 11:51 am (UTC)(I mean, I know that column claimed it, but that's something in gossip-column-format from a British newspaper. Should I take their unsourced claim seriously?)
[1]: Their real name. They picked it. Not a joke name.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-20 09:21 pm (UTC)If they had a decent website they're be the go-to news organisation for most of us these days...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Eye
(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-21 01:36 pm (UTC)So, for instance, when it turns out that the French railways have ordered hundreds of trains that are too big (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/french-railway-operator-sncf-orders-trains-too-big) and the SNCF claims it's just a few hundred, and Le Canard Enchaîné says it's thousands, I'd believe Le Canard.