Mike Joslin

Mike Joslin|Founder & Chief Executive

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Mike Joslin

Mike Joslin|Founder & Chief Executive


Mike Joslin|Founder & Chief Executive

Trump is just lying about the opinion polls

When something offends Donald Trump's giant ego, he normally tweets the first line of abuse that comes into his head regardless of whether it has a basis in truth or not. It's completely unpresidential and we need to call out such acceptable behaviour. 

Take this morning's Twitter outburst. 


Here is a link to the last opinion poll of the Presidential cycle. It was 48-46. 

The final result is here:


Just a flat out lie. 

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Why Crooked Media is a deeply welcome development

Earlier this month three alumni of the Obama White House Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett launched Crooked Media. I shouted very loudly when I saw it. This is an extremely positive development for progressives.

Anybody who has listened to me over the last few months (especially my wife who has heard it so much she wants to bash me round the head) will have heard me saying that the only for progressives to compete in the current environment is to work out how to communicate in this Internet age. 

I’ve blogged extensively on this issue (this is worth a read) & presented to leading politicians in the UK. There is more to it than just partisan news but this post will focus on this.  

In October 2016, the month before the election, Americans visited Facebook 5 billion times. That’s about 150 million visits a day. Globally it’s 1 billion every day. Facebook is the biggest newspaper in the history of the world.  No one single media outlet has ever come close to reaching this many people.

Twitter too, whilst not as well read, has shaken up the media industry. Donald Trump posts something on Twitter and it’s international news within 30 seconds. Intelligence agencies spent billions in previous decades finding out what in the modern age you can find out from Twitter in seconds. It has changed the news media forever.

Thanks to the smartphone people are subjected to a relentless information assault 24 hours a day.

In this environment it is extreme elements that have worked out how to communicate using the Internet.  Media outlets pushing partisan agendas are the stories that are spread the most. In the UK the extreme left outlet, the Canary, came from nowhere to get more monthly hits than the New Statesman and other major national institutions. Partisan sites representing more mainstream views don’t really exist.

The war for the hearts and minds of the electorate is raging on social media every day. Some people have turned up with a water gun. Some people have turned up with an army.

In this context the way to campaign for an agenda is to be outrageously partisan, persistent and fragrantly daring. This website is a non-partisan social newspaper and we are very proud of that. But in many ways as the CEO I find that very limiting for pushing what I believe in. We are working on a new project around this that we will be announcing soon.

However what Crooked Media is doing with Pod Save America is so desperately needed. It is a relief frankly that people of such ability, contacts and drive have decided to do this.

I met Tommy when I interned for Barack Obama in Iowa 10 years ago. He is one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever met and his quality and personality is much needed in the media space. I wish Crooked Media every success and hope they succeed in providing balance.

Progressives need more and more people to take up the mantle and campaign for what they believe in through partisan news. 

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Sandhill Ward wasn’t Jeremy Corbyn’s fault


Inevitably Twitter has exploded with denunciations of Jeremy Corbyn but here a cursory Internet searches show a different story.

1. The reason for the by-election is the previous Councillor Jacqui Gallagher didn’t turn up to meetings. In that context, given the Lib Dems renowned ability at local campaigns, it would have been more of a shock if Labour had held the seat. http://www.sunderlandecho.com/our-region/sunderland/sunderland-councillor-loses-seat-after-failing-to-attend-a-single-meeting-for-six-months-1-8259792

2. The Lib Dems had an open goal and they kicked the ball in the back of the net 


This of course is a wider and more worrying issue for Labour. It is places like Sandhill ward that need a Labour councillor the most. It is where Councillor’s don’t take their roles seriously and engage with and deliver for the community that tensions and anger arise. 

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Why shouting at Sean Spicer doesn't work

Yesterday’s Trump press conference was easily one of the most surreal things I’ve seen. I watched in awe as the President-Elect of the world’s most powerful nation wildly veered between making cabinet appointments, denouncing people, referring to himself in the third person, telling flat out lies, making sweeping policy statements on the spot and changing his business arrangements. The unrivalled Trump PR machine once again managed to smash up the media cycle in a full frontal shock and awe assault.

It was great TV, but absolutely terrifying. Last night I called out Trump’s Communications Director on Twitter, Sean Spicer, for revisionist tweets about what happened with CNNs Jim Acosta. One of the tweets got over 500 likes. Similar tweets from other people had thousands of retweets.

You think how can someone watch this stuff and actually vote for these people? It’s incomprehensible.

But then you read articles like this in the New York Times and you come back to reality with a bang.

Trump can brag about sexual assault, call on Russia to hack the former Secretary of State, mock disabled people, refuse to release his tax returns and offend pretty much everyone and still be popular. People who voted for him genuinely believe he is going to change their lives. I think in this climate Trump could shoot someone and post a video of it on Twitter and it wouldn’t change the view of his supporters.

There’s something going on in the world that is profound and the deepest question of our time. I am in the process of working on a detailed study that shows the two-tiered world that we live in. This article from the former MP Colin Burgon is a must read on free movement of labour and why it is becoming so critical. 

The reality is that the interconnectedness of the world as brought both cultural and economic development. People in cities on the whole have rich cultural experiences and are wealthier. Those who live outside cities don’t and are getting increasingly angry about it. As people in cities become more global in their outlook, people outside cities are being increasingly anti-immigration, nationalist and isolationist. This work from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation gives more grounding to this theory. 

Joe Biden is one of the only politicians talking about this topic. For progressives this is the only thing we should be talking about. How do we create a world where everyone contributes and everyone benefits? How do we combine the two increasingly diametrically opposed world views together in one electoral coalition? Obama managed to convince rural America he would make their lives better. Hillary and other democrats have consistently failed to do that. Ed Miliband failed to do it in 2015 in the UK.

This brings me back to the central point of this article. How do we beat Trump when pointing out all his character flaws don’t work? The simple answer is we show people that he has made their lives worse. The only way to beat him is to destroy the foundation of his support.

We must challenge everything he does and use the internet to convince his supporters they are worse off because of him. As much as shouting as Sean Spicer made me feel better it didn’t change minds. If anything people like me make it worse.

Let’s do something that makes a difference and creates the change we want and believe will make the world a better place.


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Was it change we could believe in? The time I interned for Obama.

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Bernie Sanders on Wealth

Following the news that Trump's 17 cabinet picks (excluding him) are as wealthy as a THIRD of all American households, it reminded me of a speech from Senator Bernie Sanders. The speech is at least 5 years old. 


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9 times Donald Trump lied on Twitter since the election

Since the election Donald Trump has told 9 outright lies on Twitter. There are many other dubious claims but he is has told 9 complete lies. 

Here they are:



This quite simply isn't true. Trump himself mentioned the hacking on numerous occasions, as it did Intelligence Sources in the US Government. Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/donald-trump-falsely-denied-russian-9443569



Forbes "The President-elect will stay on the show as an executive producer—a role that FORBES estimates will translate into a $7 million payday". Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2016/12/13/heres-how-much-trump-will-earn-from-producing-celebrity-apprentice/#1c739f2f56c3



This is very unlikely to be true. The Washington Post wrote an article entitled "The dubious claims about SoftBank’s investments in the U.S". Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/12/08/the-dubious-claims-about-softbanks-investments-in-the-u-s/?utm_term=.a16f4cd6c72e





The press conference was cancelled and didn't happen. Source: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-cancels-conflict-of-interest-press-conference



"The New Hampshire Secretary of State's Office said Monday that there's no indication of widespread voter fraud in the Granite State, despite a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump that there was". Source: http://www.wmur.com/article/no-evidence-of-widespread-voter-fraud-in-nh-officials-say/8372048



"On Sunday, President-elect Trump unleashed a barrage of tweets complaining about calls for recounts or vote audits in several closely contested states, and culminating in this message:


This is a lie, part of Mr. Trump’s pattern, stretching back many years, of disregard for indisputable facts".

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/opinion/donald-trumps-lies-about-the-popular-vote.html



Donald Trump wrongly tweets that he 'never said' more countries should have nuclear weapons. Source: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/nov/14/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrongly-tweets-he-never-said-more-cou/



"Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that the New York Times is losing thousands of subscribers. As it turns out, that’s not true". Source: http://fortune.com/2016/11/17/trump-new-york-times-subscriptions/

9. Screen_Shot_2016-12-15_at_15.46.16.png

"Nowhere in the letter did the authors write anything like an apology. Nor did they say that the organization’s overall coverage of Trump was "bad." Source: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/nov/15/donald-trump/donald-trump-says-new-york-times-apologized-bad-co/



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How Donald Trump manipulates Morning Joe

Donald Trump doesn't follow many people on Twitter. In fact he only follows 40 people, despite having over 17 million followers.

2 of the people he follows are Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe.







Donald Trump is a huge fan and avid watcher of Morning Joe. “Trump has been watching Joe for 15 years,” Willie Geist, one of Scarborough’s co-hosts, said in a phone interview with the Washington Post. So it's fair to say that Trump watches Morning Joe most days.

As I argue in this piece, Donald Trump is one of the greatest manipulators of the news who has ever lived. Throw whatever criticism you want at him but he is a PR genius. He sees something he doesn't like on the news and he uses Twitter to create a bigger story. When the British media was talking about the Trump University law suit and his trade policies he tweeted about Nigel Farage being the British Ambassador. When the media was talking about the CIA Director criticizing him he tweeted about making a press conference (that never happened) about his business arrangements. Yesterday when Morning Joe was talking about Russia, he tweeted about Lockheed and the F-35. Every time it dominates the news. What he says inevitably never happens, like he made it up on the spot. 

Donald Trump time and time again manipulates Morning Joe in this way. 

Let's take yesterday as an example. I woke up and turned on Morning Joe. They were talking in detail about Russia. 

Trump then tweeted this:







 Just 4 minutes later Trump tweets this:





Within a minute this happened:






With one tweet Donald Trump changed the entire course of Morning Joe. It isn't a one off. This happens all the time. 

I don't say this as a criticism of him or Morning Joe. I don't like Donald Trump but I admire his PR skill. His instinct and ability is unparalleled. The way he manipulates the media cycle is awe inspiring. But the stark cold reality for the left is until we learn how to compete in this modern social media age, we are consigned to electoral Armageddon for a generation. 

It also creates a huge dilemma for the media. When Trump tweets it is the news, but do they continue to give him airtime when he is deliberately tying to manipulate them? Until they work it out, Trump has a free reign. 


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4 reasons why Donald Trump won the Presidential Election

Having spent most of my life fighting for left wing that causes I believe in, it is hardly surprisingly that my social crowd tends to be, shall we say politely, not fans of the new President of the United States.

Something I hear all too often is that Donald Trump is “an idiot” or “stupid” or “led by others”. For those of us who wish Britain was still in the EU, Ed Miliband was Prime Minister or Hillary had won the Presidential election, believing these statements rather than confronting the cold hard truth, is a recipe for electoral Armageddon.

Donald Trump is a lot of things. Nasty, vain, thin skinned, arrogant, sexist, racist and just plain wrong. Let me tell you an idiot he is not.

He is President-Elect of the United States because he is one of the most instinctive manipulators of the news in modern times. The man was so on message he literally wore his message on his head wherever he went.

The information age has transformed the world as we know forever. You may think this is hyperbole or exaggerations but then consider that last month Facebook received 28 billion hits, 5 billion in the US alone. Its traffic levels make other sites look like roadkill. It is the biggest newspaper in the history of human civilization. Facebook's algorithm means you see news that you agree with reinforcing your bias.

The advent of the smart phone means that people receive a constant onslaught of news 24 hours a day. And Twitter means you can reach millions of people in seconds. Facebook means that news is shared around the world in the hundreds of millions every single day. The data these companies hold on you means that highly targeted adverts can follow you around the internet. 

Much to my utter frustration it’s not people of my politics, who yearn with every fibre of our being for a Labour Government  or 100 more years of Barack Obama, but lunatics like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Beppe Grillo and many many more who are grasping the possibilities of the digital age.

We live in the horribly real and terrifying world of Donald Trump waking up in his 66th story penthouse and deciding he doesn’t like the morning media cycle, so he will just tweet something more interesting. When it’s possible for one person to change the entire agenda of the news media with a single button, Houston we have a very very very serious problem. Beppe Grillo’s digital media outlets in Italy get more daily hits than any mainstream news source.  It sends a chill down my spine.  

The liberal mainstream is in a malaise. With the exception of Barack Obama (who was elected twice) the left is falling so far behind the right.  Our message isn’t as good. Our tactics are outdated. We aren’t communicating with the public. Across almost every major country in the world, the left is failing.  A radical overhaul of our methods is needed.

There is so much to be said on this topic that I have written a 70-page presentation that would bore most of you to tears. Instead I have summarised briefly below the 4 reasons why Donald Trump is the President. If you want the full version please email me at mike@writeyou.london


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Mark Dredge joins WriteYou

I am delighted to announce that Mark Dredge will be joining WriteYou as our Beer Editor. Mark Dredge is an award-winning beer and food writer based in London. Mark has written four books about beer: Craft Beer World, Beer & Food, The Best Beer in the World and Cooking with Beer.

I've followed Mark's work for sometime and it is a real sign of our ambition to shake up things up that we've managed to get one of the country's leading beer writers to join us. 

I'm really looking forward to reading Mark's work. 

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