The Wardman Wire

Picked up from the estimable Spy blog a huge long title but I cannot do any better.

The Reynolds defence against libel is a way for a journalist targetted in a libel action to prove that they were diligent in writing the problematical article. It has a record of not being very effective, but the Spy blog has an analysis of this defence in the Alisher Usmanov / Schillings “Reputation Protection” operation:

The Sunday Times has two articles which add some details to, but which do not fully explore, the Alisher Usmanov affair and the disreputable tactics of his shysters Schillings.

It appears that the rich Uzbek has secretly owned Sutton Place for the past 3 years or so…

The second article is an attempt to present a sanitised version of Alisher Usmanov’s history. - Arsenal billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, recalls six years in penal colony

We do not begrudge the author Mark Franchetti having lunch with Usmanov at his country estate near Moscow, but, given the number of other UK journalists who have been flown to Moscow in Usmanov’s private corporate jet, and put up at a luxury hotel, we wonder if The Sunday Times paid for the travel expenses for this trip or not.

Go to the Spy blog for the full article. Worth a read. A lot of work in it, and I don’t want to steal their well-deserved thunder.

Tags: usmanov, schillings, reynolds test checklist, sunday times, alisher usmanov[tags]usmanov, schillings, reynolds test checklist, sunday times, alisher usmanov[/tags]