Update: (4 August 2011)
This news is bound to set the heather ablaze! We were all ready attend a glorious shooting party in Perthshire and now we hear that "Hackgate" is also the talk of all the journalists and politicians in Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-14406348
Will this have an repercussions on the First Minister Alex Salmond or does it prove that he was politically astute in courting the Murdoch press, especially the Scottish Sun to support the SNP? In this there were certainly some strange bedfellows!
Introduction
This news is bound to set the heather ablaze! We were all ready attend a glorious shooting party in Perthshire and now we hear that "Hackgate" is also the talk of all the journalists and politicians in Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-14406348
Will this have an repercussions on the First Minister Alex Salmond or does it prove that he was politically astute in courting the Murdoch press, especially the Scottish Sun to support the SNP? In this there were certainly some strange bedfellows!
Introduction
Over the last 10 days a tsunami of sycophants, sewer rats, gutter press journalists, phone hackers, bent coppers and pillars of the community (Members of Parliament and Peers of the Realm not excluding Piers Morgan) have been dragged into the leader columns of the international press. We present a drama which is still unfolding as we write and reflect that tomorrow, Sunday, will be the first Sunday without the News of the World.
The main characters in this drama are:
Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, Les Hinton, Neil Wallis and Tom Crone
Politicians have not remained unblemished and David Cameron and Gordon Brown have both been guests at events organised by News International (NI) and News Corp. The Metropolitan Police has also been called into question, especially John Yates, Andy Hayman, Lord Blair and the current commissioner Paul Stephenson. The MPs who have been most active in using privilege are Tom Watson and Chris Bryant. In the House of Lords, John Prescott has been consistent in claiming that his phone was hacked and other Peers of the Realm who may have taken the Murdoch shilling have put in their tuppence worth. If this sounds like loose change, it is. It shows that the UK is no cleaner than some countries which the Establishment despises. In this scandal, we have seen politicians, press and police mingling to such an extent that one wonders whether this is the lubrication of the wheels of government or the raking of money, power and influence by very opaque means.
The attention of the public has been drawn to NI primarily because it has recently been disclosed they hacked into a child’s mobile phone after she had gone missing and was later found to have been murdered. The cover up then unfolded and has dragged in the great and the good, though strangely Whitehall, the civil service and some others pillars of the establishment have remained untouched. We present the following links which illustrate the status of the constitutional ramifications of the Murdoch saga, it’s unwinding and some calls for a statutory body to oversee the press, as the PCC has failed.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown: Murdoch’s News International operated a “criminal-media nexus”
Lord Prescott’s speech in the House of Lords
Lord Grade’s speech in the House of Lords debate:
Baroness Wheatcroft’s speech in the House of Lord’s debate:
Meanwhile, the constitution is being tinkered with by Nick Clegg and his chums. Charles Walker, MP, has made probably the shortest speech for many years in the House of Commons and other interventions are worthy of some notice.
Mr Charles Walker: No system is perfect, but we have had a fairly dynamic democracy over the past 350 years and by fixing parliamentary terms we will lose some of that dynamism.
(you will need to search for Charles or Walker on the web page)
Stain from tabloids rubs off on a cozy Scotland Yard
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17police.htm?_r=3&pagewanted=1
Hacking row: Theresa May to 'outline' concerns over Met
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14176339
Stain from tabloids rubs off on a cozy Scotland Yard
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17police.htm?_r=3&pagewanted=1
Hacking row: Theresa May to 'outline' concerns over Met
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14176339