I bet he gets all kinds of chicks

May 7, 2009 2:20 PM

A short film about Andrew Gilligan and sock puppets.

Prepared by Tim Ireland. I am not, nor have I ever been, Tim Ireland.

posted by imperium (12 comments total)

"The only winning move is not to play"

That, or make another puppet to publicly shame your prior puppet(s)! Brilliant!
posted by filthy light thief at 2:26 PM on May 7, 2009

Let this thread start the new outting of puppets, real or fictional
posted by filthy light thief at 2:30 PM on May 7, 2009

I'd like to know who this dumb ass is.
posted by gman at 2:33 PM on May 7, 2009

Excellent! Remember being rather amused by his exposure as a sock puppet at the time - particularly his "canadian girlfriend" defence (as someone rather impressively described it at the time).

Gilligan is still a bit of a tit - but then, when it comes to accurate reporting on transport in London and the actions of the current Mayor he's not exactly the only one on the Evening Standard's staff prone to writings that bear only a vague relation to the truth. Normally the best strategy is to grit your teeth and ignore them, but even I found myself dragged into responding to a particularly insane piece about Crossrail that Simon Jenkins wrote in there the other week.

I, for one, welcome the Standard's new Russian Overlords, but sadly I suspect that the likes of Gilligan and Jenkins will somehow survive the current purge being carried out of the most odious and poisonous elements of the paper's writing and editorial staff.
posted by garius at 2:54 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]

Brilliant. That video is real get-under-the-skin material.
posted by fire&wings at 3:03 PM on May 7, 2009

But is sockpuppeting worse than using copyrighted backing music without permission (presumably)?
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 3:23 PM on May 7, 2009

Brilliant. That video is real get-under-the-skin material.

Definitely worth two thumbs up.
posted by Zombie Jesus at 3:27 PM on May 7, 2009

So Gilligan is a egocentric dick with a dubious sense of ethics? I am amazed. Amazed. Yes. Amazed.
posted by WPW at 3:35 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]

But is sockpuppeting worse than using copyrighted backing music without permission (presumably)?

Andrew? Is that you?


_{I kid, I kid...}
posted by garius at 3:52 PM on May 7, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was kinda sad since I was hoping to see a short film with actual sock puppets...

But the real story ended up being entertaining, too.
posted by JibberJabber at 4:44 PM on May 7, 2009

I support Ireland's recommendation of "Shaken and Stirred" which is indeed rather good.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:53 PM on May 7, 2009

Tim Ireland is an admirable individual - and I really mean that - but his shrill hectoring of opponents is hugely counterproductive, in my opinion. I wish he would find a way to make his points in such a way that he didn't come across as egocentric (he didn't reply to me!), slightly desperate and a bit tiresome.

He hasn't really grasped one of the basic rules of politics - if nobody gives a shit, and you can't make anybody give a shit, then it doesn't matter if you are right. He'd be a lot more effective if he worked on his PR better and didn't make himself so easy to ignore, or so hard to sympathise with.

I mean, Tim's stock in trade on his blog is to say that so and so failed to respond to a confrontational question from Tim on their own blog. Cue lots of agonising and I'm so right shouting about how that person is hiding from the truth, a bald-faced coward and so forth. I'd guess most neutral readers - because inevitably Tim's stories have all sorts of labyrinthine sub-plots - would sympathise with Iain Dale or Paul Staines if they didn't know better.

Which is a shame, because Tim is remarkably good at exposing a lot of crap that established media and new media darlings throw up, and his particular brand of investigative digging is a valuable check and balance.

Also, calling yourself "Manic" when you're long past your teens and trying to be taken seriously in the "real" world isn't a great bonus to your credibility.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:14 AM on May 8, 2009 [1 favorite]