Despite being exposed and discredited and vilified by Nicky Hager’s ‘Dirty Politics’ nearly two years ago Cameron Slater is wearing it as some sort of badge of honour – or dishonour.
It was announced during the week that Slater was leaving Whale Oil, at least temporarily (“a month, perhaps two – depending”).
Pete Belt, who is taking over sole charge of Whale Oil, posted “From today that changes for a while. No doubt this will come as a shock to many, but Cam’s no longer here after the weekend.”
So things changed on Thursday but don’t take effect until after the weekend.
It is unclear whether Slater will actually return or not. This may be a way of gradually removing him from Whale Oil, or it may just be a break as claimed, for a vague length of time.
It will be interesting to see exactly what changes, as Slater’s name has been inextricably interwoven with the Whale Oil brand, and both have been inextricably interwoven with Dirty Politics and playing politics dirty – and promoting dirty politics as if it is a good thing.
One thing I can assure you of: even though we won’t have Cam’s usual menu of topics and catch phrases every day, Whaleoil will continue to deliver stories with information that comes from the same network of people who have been the ‘invisible hand’ behind the blog for some time.
Most of the Slater ‘authored’ posts for some time have been cut and pastes from mainstream media with a bit of added comment. Is that the “same network” that will continue to “deliver stories”?
And will Whale Oil continue with it’s dirty brand of politics?
The Whale Oil Twitter profile still prominently features Slater and Dirty Politics.
The same graphic is on the Whale Oil Facebook page.
Will this change after the weekend?
Belt sent a letter to MPs that appears to be trying to sell significant change:
I’ve worked with Whaleoil for the last five years and have been primarily responsible for transforming it from a cringe-worthy shock-jock blog into a well-moderated web site.
On Whaleoil rude language and baseless and gratuitous attacks are no longer acceptable.
Dirty politics is synonymous with cringe-worthy shock-jock blogging.
How much will change at Whale Oil?
How much re-branding will be done?
Will Slater ever have the same prominence at Whale Oil again? Even if he returns it will be to a different environment under even more Belt control..
Or is Slater’s break another step in easing him away from the brand?
Some of this won’t be known for a month or two. Perhaps.
But whether things remain largely the same but without Slater’s name on posts, or whether there is significant rebranding, will give some indications about where Whale Oil may be headed.
Your NZ 
Pete Kane
/ 3rd July 2016What a sad fellow.
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016I remember him. Didn’t he used to be someone people listened to?
Corky
/ 3rd July 2016I have a picture of model Jean Shrimpton hanging in my study. The picture is of her standing centre stage, in a white mini skirt- at the Melbourne Cup -circa the 60s. To her left are society matrons made up to the nines in expensive, but frumpy clothing styles, harking back to the 50s. The hate these matrons have for this upstart making them look like redundant second hand news is palpable. The photo has captured the vibes. I look at that photo whenever I think I have things sussed, or when people tell me I must have something because its the in-thing.
Blazer
/ 3rd July 2016so you’re a fan of mini skirts then.Those matrons are from Moonee Ponds….of course…dear.
Corky
/ 3rd July 2016Darling…get your hemline up. And shave.
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016I’m worried about you Blazer. Are you getting enough sleep?
Blazer
/ 3rd July 2016are you going to be a tit…today….or a ….
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016Depends what I get back when I’m being serious.
Maggy Wassilieff
/ 3rd July 2016You must be looking at a different picture than this. The shrimp wore a white shift dress to the Melbourne Cup….. & I reckon the matrons are smiling in approval.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=jean+shrimpton+melbourne+cup&oq=Jean+shrimpton&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0j5j0.12879j0j4&client=ms-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=aMQIvUrBL7wEBM%3A
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016Had a look. You’re right, Maggy.
Blazer
/ 3rd July 2016‘British model Jean Shrimpton caused a huge uproar after arrving at the Melbourne Cup Carnival in 1965 wearing a minidress five inches above the knees, with no stockings, gloves or hat. … All eyes were on British supermodel Jean Shrimpton as she arrived at the …’…..just a mini…not a micro mini…
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016How do you reckon many Muslims would feel about how she dresses & having a mind of her own?
Blazer
/ 3rd July 2016was not an issue in 1965 Gezza,this is before heavy bombing and invasions in the middle east.
Gezza
/ 3rd July 2016Exactly. Do you think they should get out & let them sort it out for themselves?
They’d still sell us oil if we wanted it.
I saw John Kerry giving some speech on Al Jazeera. It’s about the third time I’ve heard him saying that regime change in Syria would be able to be accomplished when Putin starts co-operating with them and stops attacking the moderate muslims. His head seems to be so far up his own arse he hasn’t noticed the ceasefire they negotiated has never been observed and Putin is winning there—they’re not.
Corky
/ 3rd July 2016I’m sorry dear. You have the event, even the said matrons, but not my picture. The nearest to it is top line, third in from the left.
Corky
/ 3rd July 2016It was all a bit much for Kitty back in the day. Third picture down.
Corky
/ 3rd July 2016http://www.heraldsun.com.au/features/spring-racing-carnival/the-iconic-moments-that-shaped-the-melbourne-cup/story-fnjpkgxg-1226751434313
Steve Taylor
/ 3rd July 2016Such mis-directed talent…seems like a waste to me.
Pete Kane
/ 3rd July 2016Heaven forbid, one doesn’t want to give credit where itis not due (understatement), but isn’t this rather like ‘John Bull’ without Horatio Bottomley.
jamie
/ 3rd July 2016And what about “Incite”?
Is that actually Cameron’s work as we were led to believe or is that put together by “Invisible hands” too?
Gets messy when the whole enterprise is built on lies.
Right Said
/ 4th July 2016http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2016/07/pollsters-can-trust-bought-paid/
Fraser House spies are now telling this new author??
Me thinks Slater is afraid of his own shadow and is still posting on the site but as a different author.
Sailor jerry
/ 5th July 2016Have read whaleoil for years and made my first comment today after the 20th post attacking every national MP who isn’t named Judith Collins.
Merely stated that the agenda was becoming tiresome and see through ……got the commenting ban closely followed by the IP ban. Incredibly heavy handed given a couple of readers posted genuine responses to my post which would of lead to an actual discussion – not the circle jerk that seems to be happening now.
Whaleoil and his “200,000 readers” is going right down the toilet now with Pete posting threats and telling people to bugger off. Cam is losing relevance as it is, ain’t nobody going to Stick around for the musings of Pete belt.