This Is Not Just About The Press And The Police

[poliphilo]

The Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police employed a News of the World journalist as an adviser and has resigned.

The Prime Minister employed one News of the World editor as his chief of staff and was very good friends with another and....

Comments

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

See also the Leader of the Opposition who employed another ex-NI journo as an advisor - one who sent a memo to all serving Labour MPs telling them NOT to link the phone hacking with the BSkyB takeover.

See also the former PM whose wife organised Rebekah Brook's 40th birthday party and has since lied about having his son's medical records hacked so he can look like a victim.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, this scandal embraces the whole political establishment- except for the Lib Dems, of course, who aren't corrupt because until recently they weren't worth corrupting.

If Milliband, Brown and Blair are getting less attention than Cameron it's because they're not Prime Minister at the moment and he is.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

I suppose that I was about 16 when I picked up a copy, and wondered why anyone would ever want to read it - perhaps I should be the next Chief Commissioner/Prime Minister?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't remember when I last looked at a copy. I do remember feeling like I needed to wash my hands afterwards.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

...

my goodness.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The avalanche keeps on rumbling down hill.

Since I put up this post another top policeman has resigned.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The WSJ (another Murdoch property) has a scathing editorial about "Schaudenfreude so think you couldn't cut it with a chain saw."

You can't tell me that the Murdoch tabloid is the only malefactor among the tabloid press. Well, you can tell me but I won't believe you.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No, it's not the only offender. It's the one that has been found out. The scandal will very probably spread to other papers- including ones that are not owned by the Murdoch family.

Murdoch has loomed over (and corrupted) British public life for a generation and more; you bet there's schaudenfreude!

[unbleachedbrun.livejournal.com]

Forgive me for being dense, but I don't understand what all the fuss and outrage is all about.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's about law-breaking, sleaze and the laying bare of a nexus of corruption in British public life, involving Murdoch executives, politicians of all parties and senior officers of the Metropolitan police. The turning point in what had been a slowly developing and not particularly gripping story came when it was revealed that a detective working for The News of the World had hacked into the phone of a teenage murder victim.

Murdoch has wielded enormous influence in Britain over the past 30 years. Blair, Brown and Cameron all paid court to him and shaped government policy to his wishes. Suddenly that power has been broken.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

And now, there's a dead body, too.

One shouldn't celebrate the death of another, obviously, but a corpse just adds a certain something to an already baroque tail.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Sean Hoare (the dead man) had some very interesting things to say about the gonzo culture at the NotW.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Yes, he did. I also understand that he was a fundamentally decent man drug down by his superiors and the 'professional' culture they encouraged in their organization.