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Coalition Daily Mail: police, anarchists, ‘violated’ lovers, cheated-on wife

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In its spacious coverage of the story of P.C. Kennedy, aka Mark Stone undercover environmental activist, the Daily Mail looks for the upside. At the end of its account it says,

In a message posted on an ­environmental website, a ‘friend of Mark’ wrote yesterday: ‘Mark is taking a rest abroad with his ­family, and is planning to write a book about his experiences.

‘He wishes it to be known that the whole episode has deeply upset him, and he now wishes for him and his family to be left in peace. Best wishes to all those in the activist movement. He hopes that they will forgive him eventually.’

That is unlikely to happen.

Signing himself ‘Not a Friend’, another activist replies: ‘Does he think he is the aggrieved party? Mark is taking a rest abroad with his family? Would that be the same family he’s been cheating on all these years?

‘I doubt you will ever find peace yourself because you will never have the guts to face up to us all for what you have done. **** you were never anyone’s friend.’

Then the Mail strikes an unusual note

On that much, at least, all sides — police, anarchists, ‘violated’ lovers, cheated-on wife — can surely agree.

Perhaps it too has been influenced by the the Coalition and the Prime Minister's suggestion that "we are all in it together".

Anthony Barnett

Anthony Barnett

Anthony is the honorary president of openDemocracy. He was its founding editor-in-chief (2001-7), the co-director of The Convention on Modern Liberty (2009) and the first director of Charter 88 (1988-95). His most recent books are ‘The Lure of Greatness: England's Brexit and America's Trump’ (2017) and ‘Taking Control!: Humanity and America after Trump and the Pandemic’ (2022). He is a trustee of openTrust. His collected articles can be found on Authory and he posts on X at @AnthonyBarnett

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