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

Genuine lol at second comment on that Alton youtube clip, 'Harry Hill is a bit of a twat these days'.

Roger, David, what is it about blokes called Alton and hating women?

Genuine lol at second comment on that Alton youtube clip, 'Harry Hill is a bit of a twat these days'.

genuine lol seconded. alton's clip is some of the most vile and entitled shit i've seen in this whole brouhahaha. also i love it when dudes who work for right wing papers get all vexed when capitalism comes up and bites them on the arse for a change. in short: i hope much pain happens upon him soon.

The Mail especially is in up to its nuts, but will be v surprised if FT or lesser so Indy were also at it.

What's needed is for the Sun to be implicated next.

will be v surprised if FT or lesser so Indy were also at it.

well yeah but the FT is kinda niche/probably not included in caek's brother's list (?) while the indie isn't really a newspaper

kind of funny that conrad black drew the line at phone hacking tho

haha yeah he probably totally forgot about the indie and the ft

he says there is some tinker tailor shit coming

*puts on glasses menacingly*

*bangs russian chick*

*reads newspaper at cafe in european city*

*tweets*

if the observer was at it under alton, i wouldn't be surprised if the indy was as well.

the indy jackpot will be a johann hari interview where the answers have been taken from voicemail intercepts

I've probably been reading the NotW, uh, since I could read basically, 'cuz we got it every Sunday. It was always shite but it actually got shiter over the years - the celebrities took over completely from the randy vicars and perverted scout masters - but all of the British press is obsessed with celebrity these days.

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Sunday, July 10, 2011 11:56 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

So having read this piece of shite for all of my life, let me say (make something up here - ed.) it's pretty good fucking riddance. Print that.

Amused that they're running an Orwell quote about settling down after lunch on Sunday to read the NOTW, stripping it of its context in an essay about the public's love of sensationalist murder stories. Murder stories they managed to get by financing the legal defences of some of the UK's most famous serial killers, incidentally.

i don't really follow what might be coming from the other papers, but i would've thought that, if others are revealed to have done the same kind of thing, there's a potential danger in future conversations rotating around who called out who on what. like NI titles calling the others sanctimonious for having criticised etc, and it becoming a matter of degrees and intent, all obscuring the general grossness.

this is all v tantalising anyhow

daily mail's relative silence on this is pretty telling rly

what a funny newspaper the mail is...

http://i52.tinypic.com/jk905z.jpg

not sure anyone anywhere thought 'crap' there

from twitter
arusbridger: sun times says a 2007 internal NI report found widespread hacking & paying cops Claims 9 journos face jail
arusbridger posted this link http://is.gd/U0iztO

Rather good from Paul Mason: Murdoch: the network defeats the hierarchy

News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch exited his London home on Sunday with his arm around embattled newspaper chief Rebekah Brooks, and told Reuters that she was his first priority.

Murdoch, who flew into Britain earlier on Sunday to deal with an escalating phone-hacking scandal at his News of the World tabloid that Brooks used to edit, answered: "This one," gesturing at Brooks, when asked what his first priority was.

The two, both smiling, then went into the Stafford hotel opposite Murdoch's apartment in the upmarket Mayfair area of London.

quite like mason's retro '1980s marxist' vibes

In addition, even as the tabloid press has money out of the "sexploits" of the famous, mainstream TV drama - including that produced by Mr Murdoch studios - has come to revolve around a single theme: the supposed rampant corruption of the entire political, media, police and legal systems.

Once it was only at places like National Theatre, with plays by David Hare and Howard Brenton, where you could see such stories aired (Hare's Pravda, about Murdoch's takeover of the Times, is worth re-reading; the script was sent by the playwright to the Culture Secretary as a submission in the BSkyB case.) Now it is everywhere, from the Batman movies, to The Matrix, to the Bond movies - leave aside series like State of Play.

the bond movies?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Never_Dies

nice to see mason keeping up with the times <---pun

ha ha oh yeah

im pretty sure you had lefties on the bbc (and mason should know) well before 'pravda' though [via ken loach]

He seems to approve of this "everything is fucked" theme, though it goes against his "hurrah,good press busted the evil press" refutation of Chomsky. But cynicism/nihilism is the numbnuts undercurrent relexivity handy for merchants of righteousness (mostly "conservative". re most lucrative merchandising). Overall, he does make some good points. Yet however or to what degree consent is indeed manufactured (in US certainly, however true in UK), there's also a more respectable, and insidious brand of topical theatre, etc: all about the gamesmanship, how will Famous Monster X handle this new challenge?

reflexivity, that is (sorry).

http://twitpic.com/5o7t1a

I think Paul Mason's article is remarkably good and I'm somewhat surprised that the BBC site is hosting such a thing.

Yeah, almost like the Beeb is temporarily intoxicated by not having to be paralysed by neutrality, and going kinda apeshit while they can

well mason claims richard bacon makes a "good point" so yeah, apeshit*

*seem to recall ilx decided this word was racist? sunday night is taboo-busting night

Was kind of expecting this...

http://twitpic.com/5o9wj1

Mirror alleges 9/11 victims hacked:

http://twitpic.com/5o9wj1

main thing i disagree with about that mason article -- and he often writes that sort of thing -- is the link between this, the 'expenses scandal', and the financial crisis, i.e. the idea that all these big institutions are coming down. they aren't. the banking crisis hasn't diminished the power of the banks at all. much bigger and more shameful and harmful story than murdoch, much more to do with the cost of living.

the expenses scandal was pretty trivial and imo it benefitted the conservatives by raising the theme of wasted public funds as a prelude to the tory redefinition of the banking crisis as a question of government overspending.

How's this playing in the US? Is it getting a shout beyond NYTimes etc? I imagine the 9/11 victims line would not play well there.

I heard a couple of stories on NPR newscasts during my long drives this weekend. Not as much play as I'd like from them. There's quite a bit at HuffPo's Media tab. No idea regarding the tv broadcast media.

media types and news corp-hating liberals love it

most people couldnt really give a shit... yet. if the 9/11 victims thing is true, that might change

Carl Bernstein wrote this:

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/10/murdoch-s-watergate.html

luckily no one reads newsweek

From 2002:

Last week, Charles Begley, the News of the World's former Harry Potter correspondent, revealed his humiliation at being required to impersonate the schoolboy wizard.

His breaking point came on the afternoon of September 11, when he was summoned to the office of the editor Rebekah Wade and rebuked for not being "in character". Begley, then 29, was told to appear in full Potter regalia at the next day's news conference. He parted ways with the paper a few weeks later and is now considering legal action against his former employers. (His initial claim was turned down because he had been on staff for only six months.)

Begley's account was this week dismissed by Stuart Kuttner, the tabloid's managing editor, as "deeply flawed". In a letter to this paper, he said that his former reporter was a "fantasist" and Ms Wade had "made no request" for Begley to "parade as Harry Potter".

It's a shame he left, Brooks could do with some wizardry, or at least some cheering up, at the moment.

Meanwhile in other news - Cameron's going to privatise everything.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14101481

Or rather...""So let me tell you what our change looks like: It's about ending the old big-government, top-down way of running public services, releasing the grip of state control and putting power in people's hands."

Pictured: some people, yesterday.
http://reuniting-europe.blogactiv.eu/files/2011/07/Brooks-Murdoch1.jpg

Ultimate smug face:

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0dU34xG1HB7MM/x610.jpg

i dunno, i see a hint of fear in there for a change

Trevor Kavanagh agrees with the 'unauthorised' tweet about who's to blame for the News of the World's demise

Don't worry, not a link to the Currant Bun.

"EBAY bidders were last night offering up to £30 for a historic final edition of the News of the World."

Heh, The Sun. Totally made up. Should have gone with the £10,000,000.00 figure, anyway.

Brand new condition

Last ever copy of Britain's oldest newspaper.

Complete with supplements & still in sealed bag.

£850,000 of the proceeds will be donated to Save the Children to make a difference to the lives of starving children in Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Kenya.

- Will ship Internationally -

To be fair, one seems to have been bid up to £45, judging by the 'completed' ebay page.

Mostly, they're going for around £2.50 or less.