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

Or rather, when it was a case of door-stepping and paying neighbours and work colleagues to dish the dirt, the public didn't seem particularly bothered. Obviously the response to the phone hacking is in part a reaction to the suddenly-revealed reality of what hacks consider fair game.

There's a reason why the aggressive doorstepping of family and friends and neighbours of tortured/killed children didn't get covered by the media.....

it's PMQs later; i wonder if cameron'll actually answer when asked what the deal is on rusbridger's warning & his chief of staff

watson's got a q booked

*prepares headphones, cleans headphone socket with Q-tip and alcohol, burps*

There’s a faction in the Conservative party (red meat Tories – the party’s ideological conscience) who are understandably desperate for the BSkyB deal to go through. It’s not because they love or even trust Rupert Murdoch but because they recognise that – ironic though this may seem – he currently represents Britain’s brightest hope for freedom of speech and the promulgation of the kind of small government, low tax, liberty-loving ideas you almost never hear expressed on the BBC except when donutted by a Lib-Dem, a Socialist, a Green and Fake Conservative telling you how dangerously extreme they are.

Jesus

the purpose of Murdoch’s BSkyB bid is essentially so that he can set up a UK version of America’s most popular news channel Fox News.

Uh no.

I'm gonna pretend Diplopole doesn't exist but I think there is a reasonable concern that, in the mid to long term, this week's shenanigans might lead to a rebalancing of power away from the press and towards the control-ist tendencies of today's exciting post-democracy political parties. I tend to assume that almost nobody is acting in good faith here, with the exception of guys like Watson and Rusbridger. It isn't completely bananas to worry about scumbaggery being used to further a restrictive agenda a la the Patriot Act in the US.

i think that's a reasonable fear. if politicians want a press that behaves more like the US, then they should give them a US-style freedom of information act.

how is the UK one different (serious question)?

my understanding is that the govt can just say "no" to a whole raft of stuff, and even stuff they can't say no to they can delay til the end of time

till the end of time you say? well that doesn't sound right.

30 year rule has all sorts of "because we say so" exemptions tho iirc

Yes, tho I'm loving every minute of this story, positively wallowing in it in fact, there's a little seed of doubt at the back of my mind that politicians lording it over the press is not such a great idea. That and Hugh Grant becoming a Lumley style national hero.

Tho personally I'm thinking about more draconian privacy laws being introduced under cover of a moral panic. I don't think papers shd report on the private non-criminal actions of public figures if they don't impinge on the well-being of society in some concrete way, but i'm not sure i wd legislate to prevent papers being shitheads like this. and i certainly wdn't wanna see a tightening of the legal restrictions on how reporters can investigate legitimate crime and public interest stories. not that most of them seem to wanna do dangerous shit like that when they cd just hang out in nightclubs stalking footballers.

caek, some of the absurdly broad exemptions are things that "inhibit the free and frank provision of advice" or "prejudice commercial interests": it's basically a list of anything that might be interesting. then the public body applies a "public interest" test to itself and usually decides that it's best to go about its business without publicity.

Having expressed my doubts about the future decisions that might be taken with regard to the press and its relationship to the law, to balance that out I merely say Fuck Tha Police. Andy Hayman was described to me, on Monday night, by someone who would know, as being like 'Michael Barrymore on acid'.

pathologically Heathite (from the Delingpole article)

Funnily enough I've been thinking about Heath recently, anyone recommend any good reading on the subject?

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg reports that David Cameron will not attend the BSkyB debate in the Commons

What a divvy

Is there a legal definition of public interest?

xp - conflict of interest innit.

The laws and guidelines that are in place currently - such as 'no writing about kids', 'no phone hacking', 'no collusion with law enforcement' etc - would be fine if they were ENFORCED.

It is the exceptionalism here that is the problem - the bods at NI were under the impression that they could behave with impunity because the politicians were coming to their summer parties (which one would attend for both the sake of form and also to keep an eye on other attendees but if I were throwing a 'slumber party' a la Sarah Brown I would totally be putting Brooks' hand in warm water as she slept) and the police were, like everything else, apparently for sale.

I would totally be putting Brooks' hand in warm water as she slept

OK, you're going to have to explain this, because i saw this in a episode of Family Guy once and I didn't understand it then either

It's supposed to make you wet yourself

Ah, never heard of it before

Ah, Tom: you never went to an American junior high school, with mean girls.

Guaranteed method for getting the victim to piss themselves.

Hope she's got the electric blanket switched on.

Ah, Tom: you never went to an American junior high school, with mean girls.

It's one of my big regrets in life

the purpose of Murdoch’s BSkyB bid is essentially so that he can set up a UK version of America’s most popular news channel Fox News.

Uh no.

i thought that WAS one of the main objectives?

No 10 says Cameron won't be at debate or vote because he is "too busy". Jesus he really is just hiding from this.

Having expressed my doubts about the future decisions that might be taken with regard to the press and its relationship to the law, to balance that out I merely say Fuck Tha Police. Andy Hayman was described to me, on Monday night, by someone who would know, as being like 'Michael Barrymore on acid'.

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 10:31 (27 minutes ago) Bookmark

Worst pool party ever.

Last night Cameron apparently promised Miliband he would attend the BSkyB debate in the Commons but has since changed his mind. If I was Ed I wouldn't give him too hard a time, I'd give him a second chance.

Ah, Tom: you never went to an American junior high school, with mean girls.

Guaranteed method for getting the victim to piss themselves.

― rural lidl (suzy), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 10:52 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I believe it to be untrue, fwiw.

ah, looking around, it seems inconclusive either way.

It certainly worked at every slumber party I attended between the ages of 11 and 14! #lightasafeatherstiffasaboard

the purpose of Murdoch’s BSkyB bid is essentially so that he can set up a UK version of America’s most popular news channel Fox News.

Uh no.

i thought that WAS one of the main objectives?

― Dear Projectionist (blueski), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 10:57 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm willing to be wrong here but broadcast regulations are totally difft in the UK; you can't be partisan with TV news the way you can in the US. (though with newspapers it's vice versa)

Yes, but I'm sure Jeremy Hunt would have had a look at that. Not now tho I suspect.

the other point is that murdoch was planning to sell off sky news to avoid the plurality issue.

In relation to the information from the Guardian about Coulson hiring Jonathan Rees, Coulson says this was not directly passed on to him. The information was almost the same as the information published in the Guardian in February 2010. A month later Cameron met the editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, and Rusbridger did not mention it. A year later there was another meeting and it still was not mentioned.

fwiw
seems kinda shameful to make this a 'you told me once why didn't you tell me again' thing at the guardian, particularly as it was kind of a sensitive action to take. this is super frustrating to me. i wonder if there's intended ambiguity/leverage in 'not directly passed on'. it came after a question from EM about whether politicians should be answering questioning under oath.

Miliband says Cameron has made an important admission. If Ed Llewellyn, Cameron's chief of staff, did not pass the information about Jonathan Rees on to Cameron, will be be disciplined?

Cameron says that he could ask questions about Tom Baldwin, the former Times journalist whose conduct has been questioned by Lord Ashcroft. But the public don't want politicians who focus on these matters [...] The public want politicians to focus on the police and the media.

i just cannot understand how he is getting away w/this bullshit it is egregious. as if 'we don't need to interrogate that any further' isn't what this whole thing is about now.

That's not going to work. The meeting where Coulson's transgressions were raised was between Ian Katz and the Llewellyn guy. The question to be asking is why Cameron never raised it with Rusbridger.

well, it seems he's shooting for i was totally insulated; had no cause beyond a tepid q&a on phone-hacking to query coulson's appointment because no warnings to the contrary reached him. part of rusbridger's original claim was that he & many others at fleet street felt compelled to talk to the tories about this - refuting the efficacy of individual lines of contact just seems insane.

eg why would cameron raise it w/rusbridger, in light of the clear skies presented by the possibility of hiring ex-notw editor coulson

So obvious that Little Lord Cameron is just not used to being asked to explain his actions, it's almost like he can't understand why anyone would demand him such a thing of him

Also why should I take notice of any giving me advice?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/11/article-2013310-0CF697B600000578-434_634x436.jpg

the pictures taken by the photographers you see through the window depict the other passenger just screaming. just screaming.

lolvom

There's a lot of photos recently of Uncle Rupert with his personal trainer recently.