Virgin trains accused of censorship after removing Daily Mail from its shops

This means people getting on Virgin trains will have to buy them somewhere else!

A bit like Liverpool where hardly any shops stock or sell The Sun.

I suppose if you funnel all your profits offshore you can afford to make a stance.

I read a few newspapers on line pretty much every day but if I'm on a train I'll just get Metro or The London Standard before boarding for something to read. I do read the Daily Mail but I don't really do politics that much so just skim through it til I get to the sport and racing pages and I don't take too much notice of their journalism agenda personally.

Ryanair still sell the Mail onboard.

£2 Euros per page.

Sounds about right Dr. C.

Virgin own cable don't they?

I hope people don't suddenly realise how expensive it is, and swap to one of the other providers that are much cheaper.

Whats the difference between a newspaper "taking a stance" and a seller/provider of said organ "taking a stance"?

I thought Branson had got more sense than that.

He must be losing his grip.

Perhaps he's taking a stance.  Not sure the public will be falling over themselves NOT to book anything Virgin cos they can't get a particular rag.

I would had thought Virgin trains job was get people from a to b not decide what they may read, what next, blocking the internet connection on the train ?

what will folk use instead?

i've never seen a paper for sale on a train , sometimes see them left behind but never for sale

Why would Branson stick his neck out when he's got nothing to gain, it's very poor business.

Or scattered on the floor.

They stock them on the trolley.

IS - whatever their core business is, outside that they can largely do what they want.... Choose their coffee suppliers, decide what ciders to sell, choose their toilet paper supplier..... now there's an idea!.  Seriously though, what is the problem here.

Dr C......."Why would Branson stick his neck out when he's got nothing to gain, it's very poor business".

Think about that question??  and then think again about why.

Branson's taking a stance against the right.

Wouldn't it be funny if Corbyn won the next GE and nationalised all his companies.

DC - There's a bit of that, but the DM and Branson have history; Amongst other stuff, publishing in big print Lett's stuff on him didn't endear them to him. They of course are free to attack, he in turn is free to defend or attack in turn.

Couldn't he have an article published in the Guardian or Independent to slag off the daily fail.  Oh! Hardly any one reads that, and the other went under as a newspaper

oops  sorry about that

not the first company to make what seems a rather daft gesture. even though they may not read the mail around 50% of the population are right leaning

What would Branson know about this Country Does he even Live here anymore ???

Most news Papers Print what they think their readers want to Read it is up to the Individual to Chose what he/she wants to Read ...

This is a dangerous development . If it is a business decision that is one thing but if it politically motivated Branson and whoever made this decision should be arrested and charged with improper conduct and censorship of a free press
It's easily determined, look at the sales figures of the mail in relation to other papers sold

If there is a particular employee or number of employees involved in this decision then they along with Branson should have to justify this decision on business grounds in court .

Opportunity for the Mail to take the high ground and say 'are we bovvered?' Sadly they're getting all uppity about it.

What people like Branson, Blair and the BBC don't yet grasp is that the more they seek to punish people for voting Brexit the more we will lean to the Right.

Branson's losing the plot.
He's a businessman first and his personal opinions should take a second place to that.

Using his company as political tool is bad business in anyone's book.

there has been bad blood between Branson and the Mail for years,its got worse recently and the rebel has thrown his toys out of his pram

Do people really believe that by banning a truly awful newspaper that it change the way anybody votes, this is probably a personal feud  between branson and the mail , its is laughable though when a rotten rag like the Mail cries about being picked on

Does Branson still own Virgin trains? Like Donald Trump (whatever happened to him?) he makes squillions from selling the brand name.

In any case, one private sector business deciding not to stock one particular product is hardly the bolsheviks storming the winter palace.

I'm not a Branson groupie but most of his recent utterances seem to be thinly-disguised adverts for Neckar Island.

How long will it be before persons are denied PUBLIC services (such as NHS), because they may appear to hold the 'wrong' political view?


It wasn't that long ago when three foster children were outrageously and disgracefully removed from a couple's care because the couple were UKIP supporters. 

.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/20/council-mistakes-ukip-foster-parents

The only three papers Virgin trains will sell are the Mirror, the Times and the Financial Times.

Where's the thread for outraged Guardian readers?

In any case, one private sector business deciding not to stock one particular product is hardly the bolsheviks storming the winter palace.

Ramruma on fire!!

As usual people like ramruma don't understand, it is not a question of whether the newspaper is on the left or right or liberal
Why has Branson stopped the Mail , that is the question
Did they not sell and the times and financial times and mirror did sell ?
We don't know

mail readers more likely to be using free bus passes, imo

Ahh but we do know. The original story released was that there weren't enough sales, but it since then an internal memo has come out that it's poltically motivated, snowflake crap , quote from virgin memo:... "the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment"..

There is a principle at stake here imho. Do they make a loss if they aren't sold? The daily mail oversteps the mark but I'm sick to death of the attacks on freedom of speech and debate by the left, the no platforming, the safe spaces and so on, the calling everyone they disagree with racists and so on. I use trains, next time if there's a choice it won't be Virgin. Last Virgin train I used was cr*p anyway, virtually no luggage space and corridors piled high with it, shudder to think about what would happen in an accident.

Are there any instances of a public service such as the railways refusing to sell the guardian ?

virgin money have lounges up and down the country where you get a cuppa and can read the paper

i wonder if mail will be available?

Perhaps Branson has banned the guardian also from virgin rail shops ?
And made a statement that it wasn't possible to allow passengers to buy it , or for it to given free to use first class
I don't know

They AFAIK now only sell 3 papers: Mirror, FT, Times, all remoaner papers, which is one of the allegations as Bransons is a remoaner.
No figures that I saw on how many mirrors they sell. But the "they don't sell enough" angle was blown away when the internal memo surfaced.

TBH if I'm on a train I grab a metro for short journeys or buy a proper paper beforehand so I've something to read instantly, but that's not the point here really.

I sometimes grab the newspapers already on the table, preferably with a completed crossword and sudoko so I can lay it out in front of me and pretend I'm intelligent to the leggy blonde opposite :)

: ) very sensible just checking , I suppose they will want to stop you doing that as well

sitting opposite short legged birds is better on long journeys (nap)

something would feel like it was missing if the Daily Mail didn't exist
Who could deny that ?... probably only a pillock like Branson

What's so funny about this, is the same social justice warriors currently creaming their Oxford bags in joyous excitement at this story, are the same ones who were sooooooooooooo appalled by the Christian bakers that refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

What more 'LGBT rights' does Branson want and why does he care if the Mail has a different view??

The ignorance of his stance is incredible. Will he allow a UKIP voter to plant his or her arse on one of his seats? Would he feel guilty accepting a ticket fare from someone who reads the Mail Online during the journey?

As long as it upsets the usual suspects on here I cant see a problem with it.

there has been bad blood between Branson and the Mail and the final straw it seems is when the Mail had a go at Virgin at the weekend----SIMPLES.

Don't spoilt the political victimisation rantings with simple explanations, terry.
They'll have to find another thread now.

You said you were sick of threads being turned into an attack on the lefties?
But this is okay cos it's the right?

you can see how Sibier Russia ended up in such a mess with the mentality of people like studyform and fife

They are incapable of understanding the notion of a free press

Other than Branson (who a, deserves it, and b, can look after himself).

Hate to be pedantic but shouldn't that be Shush.

TBH Haud yer wheesht is much better.

it has nothing to do with right or left , it is about the freedom of the press . Look at it this way we need as many papers to survive as possible
Not just the Mail , the Guardusn and the Times and the mirror etc
That is the point . When that is curtailed by any one individual or and government then it is a dangerous precedent

You see you can't say Branson is merely and individual , he employs thousands of people , he is a multimillionaire and owns many companies including virgin rail , why he receives massive subsidies from the government
It's our money of course , but the government gives it to Branson

So the press should not be censored by either people like Branson or the government
Oftentimes as in Soviet Russia or Communist China they are the same thing , the government and the obliarchs

How they would crow if this were happening in the usa russia china etc etc Iran etc etc   ho ho
but then not many of them have a free press anyway.

You see the same people will be silent when they visit Iran , they will be silent when they visit china and Russia
Not a peep out of people like Branson but he will lecture us about the daily mail
When I hear someone like that in England something within me starts to laugh and jeer

But of course akabula is correct that in the minds of people like studyform it is always a matter of left and right ,
That is why so far he has found it impossible to condemn this , after all it is the daily mail

if it is a public service, with millions of people using that service and receiving public money and government money amounting to billions of pounds  it should not be in Bransons power to determine the type of newspaper that he sells or gives away that is a dangerous thing
That is why

It is for the very reason that newspapers are not his business that this should not be allowed
He if he wishes can start or buy a newspaper and it can live or die on
its sales
But he should not be allowed to use the cover and money and power of the railways to spread  his way of thinking and his goals

Its all about the Mail exposing his abuse of the bidding franchise for his rail business touching a nerve,could be he is in big financial trouble and desperate for the governmnt to let him off the hook( a well used tactic) ,his space programme is gone,his green business for clean fuel losing,his airline struggling with fuel charges and all he has is his brand to market. He dare not lose that but the Mail will headline him from now on.

surely if its about freedom then virgin have a right to not sell the paper without
harassment, they aint stopping old folk fetching the mail onto the train.

the man has always been a self-publicising cretin, but now he's a virtue-signalling cretin he's all the more loathsome.

Branson, sort out your extortionately priced trains with sh1tty service, worst broadband customer service on the planet, and all your other sh1tty companies and get your house in order before you preach to the plebs who fill your coffers every day.

I will make a point of buying loads of DMs and carrying them onto the carriage next time I'm on one of your sh1tty trains.

Daily Mail should do a PR stunt where they give away the DM for free on platforms with Virgin trains on them, that would wind the tax dodger up

In a way if he thinks this is a PR victory he's surely made a powerful enemy of one of the biggest newspapers in the country, I think their website is the biggest newspaper site by far.

Enemies of the people

Or maybe Enenema

Richard Branson is so left wing he actually rotates anti-clockwise

Buddy holidays on Moskito Island with Obama.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/07/barack-obama-richard-branson-show-friendship-sport-competition/

stickyvicky you are one thick ****wit if you honestly believe Richard Branson could be described as extreme left wing.

Never said extreme.

Branson left wing

Donny and Branson similar ages but never saw Dickie and Donny teeing it up a Mar a largo ever.
Nor on the same stages/get to-gethers ever in the last 30 years. Wierd that.

I wouldn't be the least surprised if  Studyform and Fife are pleased that Branson has banned the Mail
They can call themselves whatever they like that tells you all you need to know about people like Branson...
and Studyform and Fife

Is Branson a totalitarian?

If he isn't then he's sailing pretty close to the wind here by choosing what papers to sell based on their politics.

FFS TAKING POSTS OFF ON THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE F?
NOTHING I WROTE WAS AGAINST ANY "RULES"

BETFAIR MODERATORS YOU ARE USELESS.
THIS FORUM ISN'T FIT FOR PURPOSE.

TO THE TW'TS WHO DO THE REPORTING...
YOU REALLY NEED TO LEAVE THE BEDSIT SOMETIMES

You often use your undoubted intelligence to belittle people who are less so. Perhaps they hit back using other means?

lfc,
I couldn't care less.
Nor could the Mail, nor could Virgin.

It's a bit of publicity, nothing to do with Left and right.

saddo, I need to be stupid to post on here?

the possibility that saddle was being ironic might have crossed an intelligent and less arrogant persons mind

*saddo

That didn't occur to you for one moment did it studyform ?
Why not ?

Two can play at Virgin's game.

Don't forget, it's also your right as a consumer and democrat to boycott any business which you think might be operating counter to the general democratic well-being of this country.

As a consumer remember you also have the right NOT to give money to any business which you think might be owned by individuals whose, for example, beliefs or religious convictions might conflict with the well-being of your community. Exercise YOUR right as a consumer to spend YOUR money wisely. 

I'm surprised there aren't more of these boycotts. Maybe there are, but the liberal media do not wish to publicise the fact.

Next time I get any bumf from Virgin cable, I'll send it back with a note asking if they accept Mail readers as customers because I read the Mail on occasions?

And perhaps they might object to me reading the Mail online using their broadband.

The Grauniad appears to support Virgin when the agenda is concerened

Opinion
"Virgin is not censoring the Daily Mail – hate just doesn’t match its brand identity"



Though they are rather critical of them in another piece.

Richard Branson's Virgin healthcare firm scoops £1bn of NHS contracts
Virgin’s £1bn haul means it now has over 400 separate NHS contracts.

Its growing role has prompted particular anger among anti-privatisation groups. It pays no tax in the UK and its ultimate parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is based in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.

branson owns 51 percent ram

you are all raycyst if you oppose branson's or the guardian's view

branson should be pretty careful if he's got any skeletons in his closet cos for certain the DM will be all out to find them now. it's a powerful enemy to make

Crying about how a private company doesn't want to sell your favourite newspaper seems pretty leftist to me. Just saying...

The Daily fail the organ of the Tory lie machine

As long as you agree with me it is fine. If you don't then you have no right to publish or say anything.  This appears to be the mantra of quite a few in politics and on these really stupid twitter things etc. 
Particularly if it is related to the invasion or LGBTIQ/GENDER.  Gang and knife crime (khan slightly but only slightly backtracking on stop and search).  Raycism and all the usual.

TO THE TW'TS WHO DO THE REPORTING...
YOU REALLY NEED TO LEAVE THE BEDSIT SOMETIMES

I have to agree with you here SF.
All those who use the report button are the lowest of the low.

2nd to them, akabula, are the people running this thing who then delete the posts being complained about, without bothering to understand any context.
It's a joke.

Tis more than a joke but there is recourse.
If you ever complain to B?F direct they will say they will look into it but nothing ever happens.

It's gone WAY beyond that!
I've complained and exchanged loads of emails with BF, even phone calls with a manager apparently in charge of the forum - to a point where they've told me they won't explain themselves again (not that they did anyway), and they won't respond to me on matters relating to disappearing posts.
In response to this - I won't be running any more competitions, which actually helps BF.

The very proud idiot troll on youtube - some banned ex forum user, will be creaming his jockeys at the thought of being in any way responsible for this.
If you're reading this, loser, it's not down to you, you are not even a stain on a tramp's underwear.
It's down to the inefficient running of the entire thing.

Dickie has done a U turn and caved in to pressure by ordereding his operators to resume selling the daily mail tabloid in onboard train shops again.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/virgin-trains-daily-mail-richard-branson-twitter-newspapers-sell-policy-a8159446.html

We can all sleep easy again, phew.