The Official Newscorp/UK end of season finale/Rebekah Brooks did 9/11 thread

This is going to be an amazing Peter Morgan film.

provided that revelations keep spilling with this, it'll be interesting to see to what extent they remain partisan or agency specific; you almost feel there could be that level of fatigue that came with the expenses scandal, whereby at some point everyone implicated & it in some ways takes the heat off
xp lol

When I say this is going to be an amazing Peter Morgan film, that means I was speaking to someone who works with him today, and... XD

The MP who will lead the attack on Rebekah Brooks and Rupert and James Murdoch this week over their roles in the phone-hacking scandal has close links with the media empire, it is revealed today.

John Whittingdale, the Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, admitted he was an old friend of Mr Murdoch's close aide, Les Hinton, and had been for dinner with Ms Brooks.

The Independent on Sunday has also learnt that Mr Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, seen as the future saviour of the company, has also met Mr Whittingdale a number of times. Among her 386 "friends" on Facebook, the only MP she lists is Mr Whittingdale. He is also the only MP among 93 Facebook "friends" of Mr Hinton.

Fuck.

That was poetic, wasn't it? Just fucking exasperated.

Oh, well, that's all right then!

if nothing else there is political capital to be gained in opposing this ^^^, on account of it adding to the picture of the cosy, tory/murdoch group in control of everything. it should be opposed as a conflict of interest, surely ..?

Really worried that this whole death-of-News Corp business will be nothing more than a massive anti-climax. If there's one aspect that's guaranteed to endure it's the revelation of just how many hooks that bastard's got into govt etc. Thank christ Miliband has got some guts.

http://i.imgur.com/Idnup.jpg

TORY B

‘Wore a dog-collar for his whippings, but a nice guy’

A married man, tipped for a prime role in any future Tory government. Natalie claims she had five cocaine-fuelled sessions with Tory B, who got his kicks from being whipped while in a dog’s collar.

She said: “I really fancied him when we first met at the home of one of his friends. At first he had no idea what I did for a living, but his wife kept giving me the evil eye. Then one day his friend let slip what I actually did and he booked me for a session.

“A lot of the men I meet are cold and uninteresting, but he had a good soul. But he would soon go off on a rant as soon as anyone mentioned politics. He was very critical of William Hague, the Tory leader at the time. He said after hoovering up a line of coke ‘I’ll be Prime Minister one day’ and I joked, ‘And I’ll have all the evidence on you.’

“He paid me £360 plus pop, which means he had to pay for cocaine on top.”

http://imgur.com/4JZkx

A lot of the men I meet are cold and uninteresting, but he had a good soul.

So it wasn't Osborne then? Sounds like Dave but he wouldn't do this to the fragrant Sam...

Tories will be launching a full internal inquiry if it turns out somebody with a soul's infiltrated the party.

Yes, that's where the story breaks down

"police arrest 42 year old woman"; i wondered if that was brooks, but she's 43

oh, no, guardian says believed to be her

met has corrected its statement: 43yo. lol she lied about her age to the desk sergeant.

http://twitter.com/#!/BreakingNews/statuses/92569755323600896

"Sources tell Sky that Rebekah Brooks has been arrested as part of phone hacking investigation"

LOL xp

met has corrected its statement: 43yo. lol she lied about her age to the desk sergeant.

or they just got it wrong lol.

tweetminster

Rebekah Brooks is being held on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications & corruption allegations - Sky News #notw #phonehacking
2 minutes ago via TweetDeck

or they just got it wrong lol.

― lex pretend, Sunday, 17 July 2011 13:35 (40 seconds ago)

print the legend, it's the news int way

cover up the truth, it's the met police way

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said "At approximately 12.00 hrs a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting together with officers from Operation Elveden. She is currently in custody.

"She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

"It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details regarding these cases at this time."

before it gets lost under all the brooks stuff, & w/apologies for continuing to just c+p from the guardian liveblog verbatim, i thought this was interesting:

Just 24 hours before news broke that Milly Dowler's mobile had been hacked, Elisabeth Murdoch and her husband Matthew Freud hosted a gathering of the UK's political and media elite at their Costwolds mansion. According to The Mail on Sunday, Guests included Peter Mandelson, the BBC's Mark Thompson and Robert Peston, Labour MP David Miliband, Conservative education secretary Michael Gove, Tory policy guru Steve Hilton, his wife, Google communications chief Rachel Whetstone, Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch.

like so much of what's fascinating about this (to me, dilettante) is getting a window into the texture of the whole world these people occupied, how often they lunched & fraternised. & d miliband & brooks & the murdochs hanging out just seems like such a fucking underworld, like seriously when i imagine this soiree it is happening in the batcave, it is intriguing to me.

conspiring to intercept communications

is this the same charge everyone else is under, & what phone-hacking is categorised as btw? i just wondered if it might refer to one of the other supposed offences

like so much of what's fascinating about this (to me, dilettante) is getting a window into the texture of the whole world these people occupied, how often they lunched & fraternised. & d miliband & brooks & the murdochs hanging out just seems like such a fucking underworld, like seriously when i imagine this soiree it is happening in the batcave, it is intriguing to me.

it's def something which i want to see more analysis of, because in one sense it's like - duh, of course they're friends. why wouldn't they be? it's natural to socialise with people you meet in your professional life. it's natural for networking to elide with actual friendship among people who have similar interests and personalities. that's not a grand conspiracy, everyone does it. but riven through it are all these deeply gory interpersonal details (eg brooks and the browns) and the sense of having to navigate this minefield of fake friendship even amid the real frienships...it reminds me of, like, a medieval royal court or something.

really wonder how the crisis would have been different if david milliband was the opposition leader, as ed has been so aggressive in all of this.

also wonder if rebekah has been arrested so she doesn't have to go in front of the commons committee on tuesday.

She'll be out in time to go to the HCMS committee. Coulson was out after a long day of being held.

it'll provide her with an "ongoing police matter" out for every question though :/

They all need to go under oath on Tuesday.

mps will probably use some unused powers dating back to the 14th century to drag her from jail to get her to that committee if they have to.

http://i.imgur.com/U3uc6.png

wtf

Rebekah Brhttp://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/jumpboobs.gifks

Oh FFS. Which news outlet is that?

Yahoo! News

Yahhttp://media.photobucket.com/image/rolling%20eyes%20gif/88HAWK/GIFFs/th_EyesRolling.gif! News

Yahoo News seem to have a general problem with justification of images in their rolling news bits...decapitations are common.

oh if only

HEH

http://babysimpson.co.uk/info/arrests/8f20_sideshowbob.jpg

A+

18.20 Channel 4 is reporting that the Serious Fraud Office is now involved in the investigation of News International

Can UK folks tell me what this means in terms of ratcheting up pressure? Is this an SEC equivalent?

lol that sounds so fake

Fraud, For Serious

Some followup:

18.23 Tom Watson MP apparently wrote to the SFO to ask them investigate whether management had failed in its responsibilities to share holders. The SFO won't confirm or deny its investigation and News International are saying they've had no contact from investigators.

18.27 Channel 4 seems to be slightly back tracking now, stressing that the SFO aren't necessarily investigating but they have been asked to.

So who knows.

lol i thought the serious fraud office had been shut down

@rblandford: Mick Hucknall arrested by accident.

Sir Paul Stephenson has just resigned.

ooh, any indication why?