Adam Faith spied on Fidel Castro!

[Seaton]

This may not be the right section for this, but the new forum doesn't have a "60s idols involved in cold war espionage" section any more!

Good story. Not really cold war.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...castro-for-mi6

[Steve Crook]

Hearsay, rumour, and you can't libel the dead so he can't deny it

Steve

[Mark O]

Went bankrupt in his latter years, didn't he ?

Adam set up 'the money channel' for TV, and it collapsed, as I recall.

Went on tour again, and had a heart attack shortly after a concert, just eaten fish and chips, which he was fond of.

[Seaton]

Yep. He died too young. But he left us Budgie, What a Whopper, Mix Me a Person, and among others ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pjZ82KwNWw

(This performance complete with c**k-up)

[Shirley Brahms]

Hearsay, rumour, and you can't libel the dead so he can't deny it

Steve

Not sure if it's libel......?

[Steve Crook]

Not sure if it's libel......?

Potentially libellous, but you can't libel the dead so people feel free to write any old nonsense about those who are no longer with us

It's up to a judge to decide whether it's really libel

Steve

[Shirley Brahms]

Potentially libellous, but you can't libel the dead so people feel free to write any old nonsense about those who are no longer with us.

It's up to a judge to decide whether it's really libel.

Steve

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was not nonsense.

I suspect it would be more likely to be libellous if the claim was that he was spying for Castro rather than on him!

[Steve Crook]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was not nonsense.

Why, it was in the Guardian. Anything in any British newspaper should be discarded as rumour or speculation, or just as lies. Or maybe a rewriting (usually copied verbatim) of a press release

Steve

[Seaton]

Why, it was in the Guardian. Anything in any British newspaper should be discarded as rumour or speculation, or just as lies.

I can't agree with that. It should be checked, and scrutinized and challenged - but just discarded? No.
And you say "British newspapers" ... are other countries' press any better? I know Spain's is just as full of bias.

[Steve Crook]

I can't agree with that. It should be checked, and scrutinized and challenged - but just discarded? No.
And you say "British newspapers" ... are other countries' press any better? I know Spain's is just as full of bias.

Everything from any British newspaper should be checked, double checked, challenged, scrutinised - and then discarded

Not everything in every British newspaper is a lie. They usually get the date right
But most of it is lies

I don't know how they compare with newspapers from other countries. I only live in this country and British newspapers are the ones most often quoted or cited here. Many of them are all owned by the same people

Steve

[Shirley Brahms]

Everything from any British newspaper should be checked, double checked, challenged, scrutinised - and then discarded

Not everything in every British newspaper is a lie. They usually get the date right
But most of it is lies.

I don't know how they compare with newspapers from other countries. I only live in this country and British newspapers are the ones most often quoted or cited here. Many of them are all owned by the same people.

Steve

That doesn't really apply in this particular instance. The Guardian is merely reporting what has been claimed in a book written by a former colleague and close friend of Faith.

"It is claimed in a new book by David Courtney, whom Faith managed, that the singer told of being asked by MI6 to spy on Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro, during a visit there in 1997."

So IF anyone is lying, it's not the journalist, it's either Courtney or Faith himself.

[Steve Crook]

That doesn't really apply in this particular instance. The Guardian is merely reporting what has been claimed in a book written by a former colleague and close friend of Faith.

"It is claimed in a new book by David Courtney, whom Faith managed, that the singer told of being asked by MI6 to spy on Cuba’s communist leader, Fidel Castro, during a visit there in 1997."

So IF anyone is lying, it's not the journalist, it's either Courtney or Faith himself.

That comes under the heading of "rewriting (usually copied verbatim) of a press release" without fact checking it at all

Steve

[Bernardo]

If true! I wonder why he did it? After all, "What do you want if you don't like money. What do you want if you don't like gold?"

[Steve Crook]

If true! I wonder why he did it? After all, "What do you want if you don't like money. What do you want if you don't like gold?"

You wonder why who did it? Faith, Courtney or the Guardian journalist?

Steve

[Shirley Brahms]

That comes under the heading of "rewriting (usually copied verbatim) of a press release" without fact checking it at all

Steve

Did you fact-check that the Guardian journalist did not read the book?

If true! I wonder why he did it? After all, "What do you want if you don't like money. What do you want if you don't like gold?"