Gerard Hastings: Utter Clown

Belinda reports that the Stirling University "Oh poor ickle us being forced to comply with the law" Facebook page - which I mentioned last week - has been taken down.

She subtly suggests that it might have something to do with the brutal kicking they were getting in the comments, something which is difficult for control freaks - such as they are - to guard against when someone else is in charge of the code.

It was the brainchild of Stirling's chief bansturbator, Gerard Hastings, as announced by this Kiwi anti-tobacco site.

Professor Gerard Hastings is inviting people to express their views on whether or not they should comply with the request. Visit their Facebook page (or search for ‘Stirling University Freedom of Information Request’) to take part in their poll, leave a comment, or ‘like’ the page.

Well, that explains the appearance of so many upside-down prodnoses in the early exchanges, then.

But hold on, is this the same Gerard Hastings who was pouring forth on how Facebook had been tainted by vested interests in the Graun yesterday?

Gerard Hastings, director of the Institute for Social Marketing and the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at Stirling University, who gave evidence to the health select committee on alcohol marketing to children, said: "I think what unnerves me most is the insidious nature of social networking being used for marketing purposes. Facebook is supposed to be about genuine friendship and real relationships, not commerce."

Genuine friendships like Stirling University and anyone who'll listen, perhaps? Or real relationships such as a publicly-funded Scottish Uni Prof and random people directed to a page via a New Zealand-based pressure group?

Or just a case of marketing bad, 'social' marketing fine and dandy?

Hypocrisy simply doesn't get much more monumental than that.