Hitler, HMRC and how we were all played yesterday

316

Do you know the story of the Hitler Diaries?  A shamelessly brilliant German got into the business of selling forged (and some genuine) Nazi memorabilia to sympathisers.  In the 1980s, his masterstroke was to handwrite 60 volumes of, largely mundane, diaries, which he claimed were the personal memoirs of Adolf Hitler.  He sold them for millions.

The Times was the first UK publication to verify the authenticity of the diaries, paving the way for their publication by their sister paper, the Sunday Times.  Both papers had a bit of form in this area, promoting and buying rights to fake Mussolini diaries.  The Hitler Diaries were a sensation when the Sunday Times ran them, at the time, it was regarded as the story of the decade.

Within weeks, the world knew the diaries were fake and wondered how the Times group could so easily be duped, after falsely promoting yet another fascist dictator’s documents.

An entertaining dramatisation of these events, Selling Hitler, was broadcast in 1991, which portrayed Nazi sympathisers and a few historians as gullible fools, but it reserved a different verdict to the Sunday Times.

The newspaper paid £750k for UK rights to fake documents.  On the surface, this looks ridiculous, but the point the TV dramatization made was that the authenticity of the ‘news’ was neither-here-nor-there, enough people bought the newspaper to make the exercise an overwhelming commercial success.

You and I may think The Times made a fool of themselves yesterday by getting a story so wrong, that HMRC took to Twitter last night to protest, “As widely reported today and to clarify: HMRC won against Rangers’ tax avoidance in the Supreme Court, and did not miscalculate anything”.

But we are missing the point.  The Times newspapers know that the authenticity of the story stands independent of its commercial viability.  Their story yesterday was a commercial success, perhaps their biggest in Scotland for years.  Fake news has been successful news for Times publications since they bought the Mussolini diaries in 1968 and nothing has changed since.

And yes, gullible loons are still prepared to believe any revisionist nonsense. The truth is, Hitler, Mussolini and Rangers were each solely responsible for their own destruction, no matter what Times Group newspapers erroneously imply.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

316 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9

  1. Never forget I Am Nothing.

     

     

    HH

     

     

     

    The mad wan in the Book of Isaiah – wow the Fallen One let rip.

     

     

    I Am

     

     

    I Am

     

     

    Blah blah blah.

     

     

    Adverts for decades now giving the I Am…..

     

     

     

    Lenny is a gift from the Almighty.

  2. John Kennedy.

     

     

    Me and Arthur were looking so much to seeing you be an Amazing defender @ Celtic.

     

     

     

    Thank You for staying John. And also the St Pats Bhoy that improves Every Goalie.

     

     

     

    Lenny is the very best.

  3. Good morning CQN from a -4 fecking freezing Garngad

     

     

    I’m already fed up scraping the bloody car.😒

     

     

    Any news on the injury list clearing up??

     

     

    D. :)

  4. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    Good morning CQN from the frozen wilderness that is the Central Highlands. Mercury has shrunk to minus 6c, so it’s officially the coldest day of this winter in my back garden. I always try to concentrate on the positives though, so I can report that there are blue skies overhead, for as far as the eye can see, and… eh… the mozzies aren’t a problem.

     

    This international nonsense is almost over. Hopefully our players, with the possible exception of Taylor, get left out of the game on Tuesday. Then they can return to duty on Saturday for our revenge mission against the only team that has beaten us domestically this season.

     

    🍀⚽️

  5. My friends in Celtic,

     

     

    November the 27th is a date which we keep reading about it will be interesting, and priorities will vary depending on circumstances

     

     

    I thought Robinbhoy’s letter to GCC regarding transport to and from Parkhead was excellent and deserves a wider audience. He at least deserves an answer.

     

     

    To reitterate; imo this is the most important subject to the many fans who make the effort to attend. The transport links from the city centre to and from our ground are absmyal and deter many fans, especially those who are unable to contemplate walks of marathon proportions.

     

     

    Our fans flock to Merchant City, surrounding pubs and eateries and the city centre hotels. We generate millions and receive no acknowledgement of substance.

     

    This situation is more pressing due to the amount of Sunday games we play and will continue to play.

     

    More parking restrictions are a certainty, road closures are inevitable and the demonisation of cars will accelerate. ( Rightly so many will justifiably argue )

     

     

    We need a credible transport policy to meet the needs of our supporters , remember we are an aging population.

     

     

    How many times do you read on numerous Celtic forums. ” I used to go but I don’t bother now because of our board, I won’t give them a single penny ”

     

    Fine, it’s still a relatively free country and that choice is their perogotive.

     

     

    However let’s prioritise the supporters who do attend and make Paradise the magnificent arena we all love, the supporters who buy our merchandise and subscribe to our channels .

     

     

    Off the playing park, this should be our number 1 aspiration. Bar none.

     

     

    HH to all.

  6. LA BELLA ITALIA .

     

     

    Serie D –Palmese 0– Palermo 0 .

     

     

    Away support of @ 300 . Travel 175 miles to go to a game . Have a fight among themselves at half time . 21 arrested / 16 required hospital treatment .. Media claim the fight was due to ” ideological differences ” between 2 groups of Ultras .

  7. bigrailroadblues on

    Good afternoon all from sub zero Govanhill. Taking the good lady to the Star Bar for lunch. She wants the fish! An extra 50p. Penury, penury I tell ye!

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9