DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

dansabbagh

Rebekah Brooks did not offer to resign, say NC insiders
16 minutes ago via web

also http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/07/andy-coulson-arrest-phone-hacking

Andy Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World.

i didn't know one was warned in advance of one's own arrest

Yeah, offering to resign means you're saying "I'll quit if you want me to", resigning means "I quit".

arrest warning isn't totally uncommon for high profile/political stuff.

The Guardian understands that a second arrest is also to be made in the next few days of a former senior journalist at the paper.

Leaks from News International forced police to speed up their plans to arrest the two key suspects in the explosive phone-hacking scandal.

The Guardian knows the identity of the second suspect but is witholding the name in order to avoid prejudicing the ongoing police investigation.

Clearly it's:

http://www.realbollywood.com/up_images/lineker-gary8463.jpg

Oh hang on...

Today, at 3:30pm, I put on my coat and left the office.

Over an hour later, I got a call from my boss: “Just a heads up,” he said, “but the News of the World is closing on Sunday.”

There aren’t really any words to describe the feeling I experienced at that moment – I don’t work for NotW, I’m not a journalist, but I do work for the company. And I know how much the majority of the people who work there – innocent, hard working people, getting all their information about the alleged past times of our predecessors from the TV along with the rest of the public – are hurting.

So apparently C4 news is where a lot of stuff is going down? This from friend Sophie on Twitter:

Anonymous sexual abuse victim on C4 news saying NOTW hounded her with info they could only have got from her confidential police statement.

wait is this where lol NOTW talk is going down?

Also:

Channel 4 News is screening a secretly filmed interview with Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for hacking phones.

Mulcaire said he was given the names of targets to hack "by committee".

This would appear to contradict News International consistent defence that the hacking was the result of one rogue reporter.

Mulcaire admitted some of his actions were morally questionable.

"It does bring you into areas that are grey," he said.

Mulcaire also said his family had suffered as a result of the hacking scandal.

c4 news killing it again tonight

xp to Ned C4 has been doing some good stuff on all this, yes, but the Guardian is at the centre of the investigation. i'm expecting the NYT to have some interesting stuff to say too, they've been running an investigation also/

Thanks; I only meant it in a 'hey check this out right now' sense in that I gather the Guardian had been doing the heavy lifting.

GatherED, rather. Tenses!

sorry, and gotcha!

telegraph picked up a bit over the last 48 hours. my brother is their security correspondent. called him tonight to find out what the atmosphere is like, but i think he's in a pub somewhere, as presumably are quite a lot of journalists tonight.

Caek are you secretly at the center of the UK control clique and we missed it? We should have gotten you more drunk during your visit out here so we could blackmail Prince Philip or something.

GeorgeMichael

Rebekah Brooks sat two feet from me in my own home and told me that it was never the public that came to them with information.....
6 minutes ago via web

on celebrities, and that the Police always got there first. I think thats enough to be going on with. (Don't ask me how she got there)..
3 minutes ago via web

Believe me I didnt invite her.
3 minutes ago via web

Really appreciate everything you come up with and post here Ned. Just hope you didn't hack someone's phone to get the news ;)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxps

did brooks break into his house?

Just hope you didn't hack someone's phone to get the news ;)

Would you mind not moving around so much, the signal is breaking up.

Sorry Ned, that was the van outside your home a-rocking. Will tell the boys in the back to be quiet from now on

Mail headline: THE PAPER THAT DIED OF SHAME

I can't even

haha omg

haha ned. my brother does usually have good (unpublishable) stories from gchq or about computer hacking, but sadly no prince philip stuff.

judging from the comments even mail readers are seeing right through this though

Allegedly the NOTW paywall is down. I am going to go and learn things! Behold!

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/notw/_lifestyle/good_sex_guru/

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00267/big_05_619x400_267141h.jpg

Is big really better?

Tracey Cox on whether size really matters and all your other relationship and sex questions

damn, daily mail. that is ice cold.

Wouldn't replacing the NoTW with a Sunday edition of the Sun just serve to highlight the link between the two papers, which would seem to be what they want to avoid?

Shhh, you're giving it away.

@Dowd, most people are morons. They wouldn't connect the dots and merrily buy the Sun on Sunday and be impressed by phone-hacked-together stories.

i think he's in a pub somewhere, as presumably are quite a lot of journalists tonight.

some of them as a result of today's events

More via C4/Guardian:

Mulcaire secretly filmed by one of his hacking victims, admitted that the decision to order phone hacking was made "by committee". A statement sent to the programme by his lawyer clarified that Mulcaire did not mean there was a specific committee at the paper responsible for order phone hacks, rather that it was carried out on the orders of several individuals on the newsdesk, not a lone reporter.

The phone hacking victim who secretly filmed the former private investigator was a victim of sexual assault whose personal details were leaked to the press. She told the programme that journalists were aware of the detail of her personal statement about the assault she suffered. She said it was "traumatic" that the press "seemed to know everything about me."

C4 News also spoke to Steve Roberts, former head of the Met Police anti-corruption squad, who said he was aware of information being leaked by officers to the press. But there was a reluctance to take on the media over the issue.

Paul McMullan, former features executive, told the programme more details about how payments were made to police officers for information. He said money was passed on via officers' relatives rather than directly. He repeated his claim that senior figures at the paper, including Rebekah Brooks, were aware of the practice. "If it wasn't a significant amount it would be put on my expenses and that would be authorised by my boss - Rebekah Brooks."

Passed on via officer's relatives? Doesn't that make THEM complicit as well? What's UK slang for lawyering up?

"brown envelope"

No Win No Fee

8.19pm: The National Union of Journalists has confirmed that journalists at The Sun walked out in protest at the treatment of their News of the World colleagues.

An NUJ official told the Guardian "the whole subbing desk" walked out – "around 30-35 people".

talking abt having yr cake and eating it

holding the country to ransom amirite

i'd send in the army

@subedited: All our execs have vanished. Suspect they're arming themselves and drawing battlemaps. Tonight's going to be busy.

this is the kind of worker solidarity that led to all those pro Miners Strike headlines in the 80s and that stunning appeal for everybody to vote Labour in 1992

Deep roffles:

Just when you thought it couldn't get funnier... tonight, David Cameron is at the police bravery awards hosted by The Sun!

"I'd like to salute the brave officers who...arrest suspects that...corrupt...press...can I go home?"

Some new Sophy Ridge posts:

sophyridge sophyridge
News of the World journo said staff were "milling around like zombies" after Rebekah Brookes announcement

Colin Myler has told staff they are free to speak to the media if they want. But many wary as their jobs are still up in the air

Told by a source at the Sun that editor Dominic Mohan was as "shocked" as everyone else to hear news of News of the World closure

NYT on what happened in the NOTW newsroom today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnVrK38xI-A&feature=share

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00620/cartoon070711_620970a.jpg

8.50pm: More on the reports that subeditors at the Sun have walked out in protest at the sacking of colleagues on the News of the World. A source told the Guardian that some subs left their desk for 30 minutes but are now back at them.