PARCA/Nosey

NoseyPARCA is an online newsfeed about Plantation, Fort William

Nosey press releases are typically issued by Jennifer Seitz and published on EMD's (=Mark Drayton's) eponymous 'Download' on SubStack - see link (in subheading) below. Most releases are drafted, or at least pre-drafted, by Mark, mercilessly edited by Jennifer, and subsequently released by her if she's prepared to put her name to them. (This is by no means guaranteed, but we usually get there eventually.)

2022 Archive (NB: This is usually updated first)

April/May 2022

<#1> (11th April), <#2> (13th April), <#3> (17th April), <#4> (18th April). <#5> (30th April). <#6> (1st May).

END of archive

NB: Occasionally, entries are added to the above list a few days or so in advance of the scheduled publication of a release.

Style and process

Nosey house style for press releases is, first, to refer to them as 'press releases' rather than 'news releases' because that's the vernacular. However, 'NEWS RELEASE' is used in the heading of the release itself because it is more accurate and genuine editors are familiar with both terms. Other than that, Nosey house style is basically Mark's own, and other contributors are encouraged to adapt theirs to his, within reason.

Each draft release begins with:

  /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/
 DRAFT ONLY - NEWS RELEASE - DRAFT ONLY
  /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/

Each issued release begins with:

  /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/
 NEWS RELEASE - NEWS RELEASE - NEWS RELEASE
  /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/

A typical release generally continues with something along the lines of:

 NEWS RELEASE
 
 Community councillor announces new initiative to [...]
 
 DD MONTH YYYY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As yet, Nosey have never needed to embargo a press release (but you never know, right?).

A typical release generally concludes with with something along the lines of:

 Entirely predictably, Mr Drayton couldn't resist further adding that,
 ideally, residents should join the <https://NextDoor.co.uk> social-networking
 platform/app rather than relying on Facebook, say.  "I don't trust
 that censorship-loving [Mark] Zuckerberg bastard any further than I
 could comfortably excrete him," Mr Drayton has previously explained.
 "Fuck that cunt."
 
 As we reported six days ago, Mr Drayton's views regarding Mr
 Zuckerberg are all-too-well known to readers of his 'Wednesday
 Headway' SubStack columns, part of his so-called 'Drayton Download':
 on 8th & 15th September 2021 Mr Drayton re-posted a long article by
 British-born science journalist Nicholas Wade defending the 'lab-leak'
 hypothesis of Covid-19's origin; Mr Drayton's brief introduction (at
 <https://draytonmark.substack.com/p/wed-head-xxv-pt1>) forthrightly
 condemned Facebook for censoring discussion of the theory.
 
 Mr Zuckerberg remains unavailable for comment.
 
 END
 
 NOTE FOR EDITORS
 Further information about this release can be obtained from the following:
 (for NoseyPARCA DOT WordPress DOT com)
   Jennifer Seitz (Secretary)
   that.tiresome.rationalist AT gmail DOT com
 (as a member of Fort William, Inverlochy, and Torlundy Community Council)
   Mark Drayton
   EddieMDrayton AT gmail DOT com
 
  /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/
 

The "Fuck that cunt" quotation is sometimes included, sometimes omitted. Kind of depends on whether it's my time of the month. -Jx


--

Drafting Area

News Release #5

<https://NoseyPARCA.WordPress.com> news release #5 - 26th April 2022

/*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/

DRAFT ONLY - NEWS RELEASE - DRAFT ONLY

/*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/

NEWS RELEASE

Community councillor accuses FITCC chair of "sartorial treachery"

26 APRIL 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fort William, Inverlochy, and Torlundy Community Council chairman Mr Mark Linfield is "in serious danger of becoming a traitor to his own T-shirt collection," jokes community councillor Mark Drayton as he relaxes after another long day in front of a laptop writing emails and drafting articles for his 'Drayton Download' SubStack. Drayton, presently the only community councillor presently to live in Fort William's only high-SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) estate, Plantation, has had rather more time to write since last Tuesday evening because he now has much less to read. "As well as barring me from future meetings, FITCC have apparently decided to remove me from the email list because I haven't heard a peep out of [FITCC secretary] Tricia [Jordan] since. I consider that to be pretty foolish, because both she and Mark [Linfield] have readily acknowledged the quality of the analysis I've done on several documents this year alone, with comments like 'good spot' and 'I totally agree.' I'm giving them a few more days - maybe a little longer - to cool-off before I go through the archive and marshall the evidence. After all, as [hard-left US activist Saul] Alinsky's fifth rule rightly states, 'ridicule is man's most potent weapon.'"

(TBC)

[..] He confirmed that his SubStack (at <https://DraytonMark.SubStack.com>) would be the "centre of operations" for this, but also that other social network platforms would be "drawn into the circle," enabling questions to be posed publically (as comments below the master copy of this very news release at <https://DraytonMark.SubStack.com/p/news-release-4>, or privately by email, NextDoor message, or even SMS (to 07933 760031).

Entirely predictably, Mr Drayton couldn't resist further adding that, ideally, residents should join the <https://NextDoor.co.uk> social-networking platform/app rather than relying on Facebook, say. "I don't trust that censorship-loving [Mark] Zuckerberg bastard any further than I could comfortably excrete him," Mr Drayton has previously explained. "Fuck that cunt."

As we reported exactly a week ago, Mr Drayton's views regarding Mr Zuckerberg are all-too-well known to readers of his 'Wednesday Headway' SubStack columns, part of his so-called 'Drayton Download': on 8th & 15th September 2021 Mr Drayton re-posted a long article by British-born science journalist Nicholas Wade defending the 'lab-leak' hypothesis of Covid-19's origin; Mr Drayton's brief introduction (at <https://draytonmark.substack.com/p/wed-head-xxv-pt1>) forthrightly condemned Facebook for censoring discussion of the theory.

Mr Zuckerberg remains unavailable for comment.

END

NOTE FOR EDITORS Further information about this release can be obtained from the following: (for NoseyPARCA DOT WordPress DOT com)

 Jennifer Seitz (Secretary)
 that.tiresome.rationalist AT gmail DOT com

(as a member of Fort William, Inverlochy, and Torlundy Community Council)

 Mark Drayton
 EddieMDrayton AT gmail DOT com

/*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/ /*\ \*/

How I'd Vote #2

How I'd vote if the Ward 21 council election was tomorrow (28th April)

Next week's third and final 'How I'd Vote' will actually be subtitled 'How I actually WILL vote in the Ward 21 council election being held the day after tomorrow' (on 5th May), because it's scheduled for publication on the Tuesday 3rd May, two days early. But if the election was a week earlier, I'd decide based on the following ranking, which hasn't changed at all since last week:-

-=- The GOOD -=-

Fiona Fawcett (Con)

 by far the most impressive;  focus on (i) mental health and (ii) environment

Thomas MacLennan (Ind)

 experienced; very clear focus on (i) spending and (ii) localism

Sarat Fanet (SNP)

 solid track record since December; emphasis on community inclusivity

-=- The BAD -=-

Angus MacDonald (LD)

 flip-flopped on Planny visit (laughable reason); hopelessly naive

Kate Willis (Green)

 flip-flopped on Planny visit (no reason given); crazy views; dense

(I'm still the UGLY, of course.)

Dr Fawcett remains in the top spot after her terrific visit to Plantation last Friday (see <https://draytonmark.substack.com/p/making-friday-finer>). But the really big news this week is that Lochaber's Chamber of Commerce (LCoC) has, at two days notice, cancelled the hustings scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Dr Fawcett for one was hugely disappointed ("I was so looking forward to it!") and FITCC chair Mark Linfield is fuming, too: he'd booked the day off to join in. I smell a rat, too: if Angus MacDonald's campaign was in trouble, there'd be be a goddamned hustings, no question. No way would LCoC CEO Frazer Coupland pull the rug out if that was the case.

Because Ms Fanet doesn't need my vote, I said last time that Mr MacLennan's having SIXTEEN times as much experience as ALL the other four candidates put together (!), combined with Dr Fawcett's outstanding mix of fine personal qualities and noble pre-occupations (many of the latter shared with Ms Fanet, by the way), makes it a toss-up between the Tory and the Indy. That remains true but my math was out some. Mr MacLennan actually has NINETEEN times as much experience as the rest, so the difference between him losing and not losing amounts to a factor of TWENTY!

In case I didn't make it sufficiently clear last week, I myself need no clothes peg to vote for a bloody good Conservative candidate (see yesterday's Wed-Head at <https://draytonmark.substack.com/p/wed-head-xxxiii-pt1>, although I know plenty of others who feel differently. If you simply cannot bring yourself to vote Tory, Mr MacLennan's your man. But if the election was tomorrow I'd vote for Dr Fawcett, and I hope many others will do the same in a week's time. (Flip me a text if you need a clothes peg.)