268 replies to this topic

[Wilfrid]

I think there are bigger issues. Wade will probably be gone very soon. She's believed to have offered her resignation and she's being reviled on every side. She's a lame duck.

[Wilfrid]

Auletta link.

I actually found it a thin story, listing activities by Murdoch everyone has known about and acquiesced in for many years.

Whether he knew about and approved criminal behavior by his staff actually is a different question than whether he created an atmosphere which encouraged it.

Auletta is on the wrong scent. Murdoch will not be punished for being what he has always proudly been. The question is - was he something worse?

[Wilfrid]

It's important not to lose track of the point that - as far as the public is concerned - the moral gulf between digging dirt on politicians, celebrities and footballers and listening to a murdered child's voicemail messages is vast: even if, legally, there's no difference.

[Lex]

I think there are bigger issues. Wade will probably be gone very soon. She's believed to have offered her resignation and she's being reviled on every side. She's a lame duck.

Reviled is one thing. Prosecuted is another. These aren't hard core Mafia types that will do hard time and keep quiet. (Hell, even the Mafia boys are turning states evidence lately.) I'm assuming prosecutors are rolling up the smaller fish and getting them to turn on their bosses. Working up the food chain. There will be enormous pressure on Wade to roll over on the Murdochs.

Then there's the question of whether James told his daddy. (I'm going to assume James, at least, knew the full extent of the wholesale message hacking. There's a pattern of widespread illegal behavior that would cause him to ask the hard questions. If he didn't know before the events, he certainly knew afterwards.) At least in that case I doubt if James would roll over on his 80 year old father. He'll fall on the grenade.

[Wilfrid]

I agree with all that. People are now looking at prison sentences and that does concentrate the mind.

James has said he did not have the "full picture" when approving the settlements. That's the beginning of the conversation, not the end.

[g.johnson]

There is the added complication that the Met are neck deep in this shit themselves. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Wilfrid]

They certainly are. I think the Met is capable of investigating itself; certainly it will be under scrutiny. And the added pressure is that a judicial enquiry begins as soon as they're done.

Cameron is right, despite all the howling, that you can't have a police investigation and a separate judicial enquiry running simultaneously.

[g.johnson]

They certainly are. I think the Met is capable of investigating itself; certainly it will be under scrutiny. And the added pressure is that a judicial enquiry begins as soon as they're done.

Cameron is right, despite all the howling, that you can't have a police investigation and a separate judicial enquiry running simultaneously.

They usually get is someone from the provinces, I think.

[Blondie]

[splinky]

There is the added complication that the Met are neck deep in this shit themselves. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

aren't these the met "flying squad" chappies that are involved? they are worse than the mafia

[Anthony Bonner]

These aren't hard core Mafia types that will do hard time and keep quiet.

One of my favorite comments from the DA surrounding the Raj insider trading trial was about how the perps all thought they were tough guys until the moment they got into the station house - and then they all rolled. Same thing'll happen here - up until you get the level the prosecutors are content ending the investigation - probably Wade I'd guess - then they'll just stop trying to get them to roll.

[Anthony Bonner]

Auletta link.

I actually found it a thin story, listing activities by Murdoch everyone has known about and acquiesced in for many years.

Whether he knew about and approved criminal behavior by his staff actually is a different question than whether he created an atmosphere which encouraged it.

Auletta is on the wrong scent. Murdoch will not be punished for being what he has always proudly been. The question is - was he something worse?

I thought the interesting take away was his relationship with Wade - which seemed far more personal than I would have expected given the way he's treated other historically loyal acolytes.

Also I thought the whole "She offered to resign" was being dismissed as spin?

[Wilfrid]

It might well be spin.

Wade is dead in the water. James Murdoch is already in the firing line with questions being asked about his approval of "hush money payments." Rupert is on his way to London. And the Telegraph beats Cameron into the dust again:

Ouch!

Of course, it does the non-Murdoch media no harm at all to stir the pot vigorously.

A good analysis of the problems now facing the BSkyB bid here:

BBC

[Anthony Bonner]

To put the Telegraph in perspective, its a bit like the WSJ editorial page going after a mainline conservative pol - like Reagan or Bush 1. But probably even more partisan. Its pretty remarkable. Did they ever go after the Tories for other scandals? BAE-Saudi stuff?

[Lex]

It might well be spin.

Wade is dead in the water. James Murdoch is already in the firing line with questions being asked about his approval of "hush money payments." Rupert is on his way to London. And the Telegraph beats Cameron into the dust again:

Ouch!

That Telegraph article is wonderful.

There were those who believed that Murdoch had debased and debauched British public life, and there is indeed great evidence that this was the case. For example, the News of the World was a respectable – if racy – family newspaper before Murdoch brought it under his ownership. As we now know, it converted into a flourishing criminal concern that took an evil pleasure in destroying people’s lives.
...
The bitter truth is that no major figure in British public life was prepared to take on and expose the Murdoch newspaper empire. Rival proprietors were silent. Senior public figures did not dare to speak out for fear of exposure and attack in the Murdoch newspapers. This is why, for more than a generation, Rupert Murdoch’s empire has been a spider at the heart of an intricate web that has poisoned British public life.