Tim Worstall

Doing an Irving

Further to the report yesterday by the Drink Soaked Trots. Is Neil Clark about to do an "Irving"?

Looks like it. Him. Oliver Kamm. Me on the original thing.

Some very well meaning advice here. Seriously, I have only the best intentions in saying this. Neil, drop it. The very last thing that any sane person wants to do is get involved with the UK libel system. Win or lose, right or wrong, defamed or not, the only people who ever win are the lawyers and they’ll take their quarter million whatever happens.

You simply don’t want to go through with this.

In

10 responses

  1. Henry Horse Avatar
    Henry Horse

    Don’t discourage him. There are two types of people who make idiots of themselves in the blogosphere. (i) People who start screaming for the lawyers because they can’t take criticism, even though they do nothing but slag people off all day long. And (ii) people who send insulting and threatening e-mails to X and who then freak when X declines to keep this fact confidential.
    Clark seems to embody both types.
    This could be the funniest thing for years.

    Reply
  2. Neil Clark Avatar
    Neil Clark

    (1) It’s not about not being able to take criticism-(for goodness sake I wouldn’t be a journalist or blogger if that was the case) it’s about not being prepared to put up
    with lies- and malicious ones at that. When you put a view forward on your blog or in a newspaper article, you expect some flak- what you don’t expect is people to make false and malicious allegations.
    (2)Informing someone formally of your intention to
    initiate legal proceedings against them- is
    not ‘insulting and threatening’. My emails to Kamm were marked ‘Private and Confidential’ and should not have been posted on his blog.

    Reply
  3. Henry Horse Avatar
    Henry Horse

    >(2)Informing someone formally ofour intention to initiate legal proceedings against them- is not ‘insulting and threatening’. My emails to Kamm were marked ‘Private and Confidential’ and should not have been posted on his blog.
    Wow. Clark lives in a fantasy world. This is going to be funny (if, that is, he really is serious about his threats of legal action, but I doubt that even he is that dumb).

    Reply
  4. Cheeky Bob Avatar
    Cheeky Bob

    My emails to Kamm were marked ‘Private and Confidential’ and should not have been posted on his blog.
    I’ve had a look at Kamm’s blog and I can’t see any sign of these e-mails. He gives the vague gist of their content in passing, but in the context of setting the record straight in the face of legal threats, which no reasonable person could possibly object to.
    Not least given that his accuser is someone who himself has form when it comes to publishing other people’s private correspondence without their permission. Not to mention subsequently accusing the author of said e-mail of libel – even though you yourself were responsible for its publication!
    Seriously, Neil, this is utter lunacy – and the only racing certainty is that you’ll end up with a shredded reputation whatever the outcome of the case. Do you seriously think that people commenting on this are going to take all the facts and nuances on board before dubbing you “the blogger who sued because he couldn’t take criticism”?

    Reply
  5. Mark T Avatar
    Mark T

    he really is very angry isn’t he? He seems every bit as obsessed with Oliver (and Steven Pollard)as he claims Oliver is with Chomsky. What really intrigued me however as I struggled through the name calling on his site was this quote on Oliver’s book ” I read excerpts (for free – would never pay a dime), read a few reviews, and then put it aside”. Wasn’t the original source of their spat that Mr CLarke wrote a review of Oliver’s book and Oliver suggested that he (Clark) had not actually read it? Looks like he has given the game away somewhat.

    Reply
  6. Neil Clark Avatar
    Neil Clark

    Mark, the quote was from an extract from Ernest Fuentes’ blog, not from me.

    Reply
  7. Stephen Avatar
    Stephen

    Although I don’t lightly wish on anyone the pain of legal proceedings, and of course only the lawyers win, I must confess I would be very entertained by this latest potential development in an already very amusing saga. My only wish is that more spambots become involved.

    Reply
  8. Matthew Avatar
    Matthew

    Bob, on the DSTW site you say:
    Since Clark is so demonstrably obsessed with Kamm, it beggars belief that he’s not aware of his ethnic origin.
    What is Oliver’s ‘ethnic origin’?

    Reply
  9. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    I am happy to act as a character witness for either side.

    Reply
  10. Mark Holland Avatar
    Mark Holland

    Milosevic Found Dead
    What now for Neil Clarke?
    Tim adds: There’s always Dydya Sasha Luckashencko.

    Reply

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