Mike Reed's tumblings

My email to Paul Dacre

I couldn’t resist writing to the Daily Mail’s editor about the staggering Jan Moir article that’s all over Twitter today. Here’s what I said.

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Dear Mr Dacre

I wish to add my voice to the many hundreds, if not thousands, who are protesting today about Jan Moir’s article regarding the late Stephen Gateley.

I am strongly opposed to the Mail’s stance on most issues. But I believe in a free press and would rather suffer the existence of what I regard as a shrill, scaremongering, vitriolic and divisive publication than allow censorship to creep into our national press.

That freedom has been utterly abused by Ms Moir today, and her article is a disgrace to your newspaper. She has written a poisonous spew of tittle-tattle, insinuation, conjecture and naked homophobia that is quite abhorrent. She offers no facts and no insight - except an inadvertent insight into her own prejudice.

If I were a member of Mr Gateley’s family, I would be consulting my solicitors. I very much hope that’s what they do. Although of course they have a funeral to attend tomorrow - Ms Moir could not even wait for her defenceless victim to be laid to rest before unleashing her baseless tirade.

I have lodged a complaint with the PCC, which I know is one of many such complaints made today. And I can see no way to redress the very serious wrong done by Ms Moir other than to dismiss her immediately, and publish a full apology in tomorrow’s paper, ideally on the front page. I look forward to reading it.

Yours sincerely

Michael Reed

PS: I have made the text of this email publicly available via my Twitter account. Unless you request otherwise, I would also hope to make any response from you public in the same way.