These is a lack of subtlety evident in the use of “public inquiries” to whitewash governmental wrongdoing. The appointment of Sir Peter Gibson, the former Commissioner for the Intelligence Services, to head the judge-led inquiry into UK complicity in torture was a brazen act of corruption. Sir Peter has a choice; either he exonerates ministers and the security services, or he finds himself guilty of corruption or gross incompetence. He has already, in his capacity as Commissioner, certified as correct the conduct of the intelligence services in the period he is now “investigating.” If he had any honour or genuine intentions, he would have turned the inquiry appointment down. There is no conclusion possible but that Gibson accepted the appointment with neither honour nor good intentions.
It is equally astonishing that Judge Leverson accepted the leadership of the inquiry into News International when he had at least twice been a guest in Elisabeth Murdoch’s home. I simply cannot understand why in these circumstances he does not feel he must refuse the appointment. The concept of honour appears to have disappeared entirely from public life.
This was very predictable. Thirteen days ago I blogged “Murdoch’s main priority on this visit will doubtless be to work with Cameron to get the right safe judge appointed”. Power people like the Murdochs do not entertain people merely because they like them; everyone around that dinner table is there because they hold power or influence. If you wonder why precisely the Murdochs were cultivating judges, of course you now have the answer. Ordinary people have to wake up to just how real is the shroud of corruption cast over British society.
Craig, was it EVER going to be anything else!!!.
This is also relevant to the composition of the inquiry panel. At least Scott Lee will know about the consequences of hacking on someone’s life.
.
‘Michael Todd, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, feared that a string of affairs was about to be made public by a Sunday newspaper, when he died while walking on Mount Snowdon in March 2008.
It is believed that his lover at the time of his death, Angie Robinson, had her phone hacked by journalists. It is not known whether those journalists worked for the NOTW. However, it has emerged that another woman romantically linked to Mr Todd, Andrea Perry, who at the time was reporting for the NOTW, is to be interviewed by detectives investigating hacking.
.
An inquest into Mr Todd’s death said he had not committed suicide, but in the hours before his death he sent tortured text messages to women with whom he had been involved. A report into Mr Todd’s conduct by Sir Paul Scott-Lee, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, concluded his affairs made him vulnerable to blackmail.
.
Coincidentally, Sir Paul is now on Lord Leveson’s inquiry panel.’
.
same link above.
http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/2008/10/michael-todds-murder-refuses-to-be.html
Ah yes Anon, isn’t he missed.
http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/2009/06/edward-teague-blogger-known-as-postman.html
Google… Michael Todd/Ray Mill/Sergeant Richard Fuller/Inspector Neil Munro
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/jun/12/pressandpublishing.mondaymediasection
Many people have known this for a long time but the problem has been that few people have believed them. Take for example Gerald James of the Astra Case and Scotts Inquiry, who stated, ‘The underlying problem is secret unaccountable government which bypasses Parliament and how the law is administered in the UK, gives aid and succour to such a state of affairs. The most common device is the concealment of evidence and manipulation of cases. There is a tendency when challenged for those in authority to talk of conspiracy theories. My experience is that those who do so are usually part of the conspiracy.’
and
‘The legal mechanism and Judges and the court system need to be beyond reproach. Sadly they are not and the chronicle of abuse and manipulation of cases is appalling. Judges are not independent in most government related cases and are no different to salaried and pensioned civil servants. The independence of the Judiciary is an allusion fostered by the Judiciary. Too often a Judicial Inquiry is a system for cover up and concealment. Too often the courts are influenced by political considerations as in the Scott Inquiry and the recent Lloyds of London case.’
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:Whistler_against_the_wind_-_Gerald_James
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:Gerald_James_2007_FOIA_Appeal_Statement
Considering Murdoch’s exemplary record in promoting wars for Israel, does anyone think it a coincidence that this particular judge has all of the hallmarks of a zionist? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Leveson
The ‘ordinary people’ we need to get through to is the majority, but that includes Sun readers, who I suspect buy their newspaper for scandal, bingo, horses, lotteries and the like. Murdoch is getting through to them with his front-page lies. Compared to other newspapers in my newsagents the Sun pile yesterday was three times as big as any other, may be four times as big, and virtually sold out by 8 p.m. with one of the biggest front-page lies ever told. What do these readers want to know about Leveson and Gibson? Do they care who Murdoch has to dinner? How can we get through to them, Craig?
Compare & contrast the latitude allowed to Judge Leverson in his private life to the strictures imposed upon Judge Conerotte at the outset of the Dutroux investigation in Belgium 15 years ago.
Conerotte (who only got appointed to investigate the case because Dutroux happened to be arrested in mid-August, when most of the legal establishment was on holiday) showed himself, in the two months he was on the case, to be a determined & capable investigator- the last thing the PTB in Belgium wanted. When it was discovered he had attended a benefit event for some of Dutroux’s victims, and accepted a gratis plate of spaghetti, he was removed from the case because his impartiality was allegedly compromised by the acceptance of this meagre hospitality.
It seems that the authorities in the UK in 2011 take a more relaxed view when in comes to the acceptance of hospitality from interested parties- and anyone who ponders on this fact unduly is dismissed as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ -LOL!
“Do they care who Murdoch has to dinner? How can we get through to them, Craig?” John Goss
.
Work long-term to end the hegemony of News International and all cartels like it.
.
Work long term to end fundamentalist capitalism and its modus operandum of war, war and war.
.
I think most people ‘on the Cairo-to-Clapham bus’ are more savvy than we give them credit for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWh6xkVNPmw
There are lots of these kind of details that seem to be escaping people – for example ex Met chief Sir Paul Stephenson is best friends with Stephen Purdue and often uses his spa facilities. Keith Vaz is investigating Stephenson et al. Vaz is also best friends with Stephen Purdue and often uses his spa facilities….
Sounds like pleasure first and business after. I thought that Vaz looked a bit kinky.
And talking about bent judges, what more evidence do people want than the Supreme Court’s ruling on bank charges? They accepted that charges were a part of a bank’s core business model. Funny how banks even existed preripoff charges then!
Old Mark, I was going to mention Connerotte as well. A great example. I didn’t realise he had actually accepted some spaghetti. I thought he just had the temerity to show his face at the function. Considering he ate some pasta I may have to reconsider my viewpoint on this matter.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5298267/Keith-Vaz-75000-for-a-flat-12-miles-from-home.html
Vaz at the expenses trough. Slimeball.
.
Just thinking – Cliveden 50 years ago, or Champneys 2011 – little difference. Corruption is corruption wherever you look but I can’t imagine there’s any hanky panky going on at Champneys but who knows. Their guest list looks rather B list.
“I simply cannot understand why in these circumstances he does not feel he must refuse the appointment.” – Yes you can.
I’m not saying there’s Hanky Panky going on at Champneys, more pointing out how closely associated these people are….
@ Mary.
“It is believed that his lover at the time of his death, Angie Robinson, had her phone hacked by journalists” – If this is true, I find it interesting the think about how they knew it was she who was his lover, when Todd would (presumably) be taking steps to keep her identity secret.
.
Someone at the lodge with a big mouth perhaps???
Found a good word for it all at last: Cuntocracy.
http://www.christiebooks.com/ChristieBooksWP/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cuntocracy.pdf
Heres an in depth analysis of the removal of examining magistrate Jean-Marc Connerotte from the Dutroux case. VERY deep shenanigans were afoot
Vronsky. From the same site that you linked to, I thought this looked rather good and it’s viewable there too. Lindsday Anderson was prescient.
.
Britannia Hospital (1982 – Lindsay Anderson) – see FILMS
Anarchist cinema, Drama, Feature, Films, Society, Socio-political theatre
Jul 072011
Britannia Hospital, by Lindsay Anderson, is a social satire, a bleak metaphor for British society in the early 1980s, an allegory of Thatcherism (and a prophetic vision of Cameronian Britain). Strikes, police violence, police corruption, riots, all present in daily life today, and all represented in this black comedy. In the hospital’s 500th anniversary year, Britannia Hospital administrator, Vincent Potter (played by Leonard Rossiter), is desperately trying to restore order prior to a visit by the Queen Mother, who is coming to open the Millar Centre for Advanced Surgical Science. Meanwhile, in an effort to produce a supreme being — which he calls Genesis — Professor Millar himself (played by Graham Crowden), is secretly conducting Frankenstein-like experiments on human cadavers. With the British government’s failure to provide funding for hospitals, the new Centre is being financed by the Japanese company, Banzai Chemicals, the owners of which are also present for the special day. Intermittent telephone services and a faltering electrical supply add to Potter’s frustrations, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. An undercover team of journalists (led by Malcolm McDowell, the rebel public schoolboy from If . . . ) are about to stop at nothing to uncover Millar’s clandestine project, and there is a growing number of protesters (including many of the staff) at the main gate demonstrating against the preferential treatment of the hospital’s private patients, including an Idi Amin-type African dictator (Val Pringle), who has installed most of his aides and servants in the hospital too (Anderson’s original inspiration for the film came from the staff of Charing Cross Hospital in the 1970s who refused to treat private patients). The kitchen staff go on strike when they learn that the food for the special guests has been ordered from top London food specialists Fortnum and Mason. Potter wins over their union representative by promising him an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List …
.
http://www.christiebooks.com/ChristieBooksWP/?p=3971
It has to be the drip-drip-drip, death by a thousand cuts, Occam’s Razor approach to success, the edifice has been erected over a long time and will not fall overnight, there are too many vested and powerful interests for that, but fall it will once the foundations are eaten away. The Sun reader population are not ever likely to care as long as they get the poisonous nourishment they yearn for, it is the rest, mainly younger and as yet untainted who can make a difference. They are more internet savvy and less likely to buy or be influenced by Murdochs withered organs.
Katabasis I know that you didn’t say that about Champneys. I did.
Miliband is saying the same as Craig about Leveson.
.
http://xpovx.blogspot.com/2011/07/ed-miliband-shares-concerns-raised-over.html
.
The piece contains this paragraph.
.
According to Geoffrey Cox MP, speaking in parliament last week, the original police investigation into phone-hacking had the scope of the inquiry ‘narrowed’ on legal advice from the previous Attorney General, Peter Goldsmith. Later the same day Goldsmith appeared on BBC’s Newsnight to deny all knowledge of the matter. In his testimony before parliament, Peter Clarke, the policeman who undertook the 2006 investigation, could offer no explanation as to why he didn’t examine more than 11,000 documents of evidence seized from the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Vronsky, ‘Cuntocracy’ sound a bit like a Jimmy Giro invention!
What about the possibility that policemen in London will murder for money?
Staff from Southern Investigations are called to give evidence at an inquest at Southwark coroner’s court. Kevin Lennon, who worked as an accountant, tells the inquest he had watched Rees’s relationship with Morgan deteriorate.
Lennon says Rees told him six months before the murder that he had found the perfect solution to the problem: “My mates at Catford nick are going to arrange it. Those police officers are friends of mine and will either murder Danny themselves or will arrange it.”
Rees is asked if he murdered Daniel Morgan. He replies: “I did not.” The inquest returns a verdict of unlawful killing.
“The concept of honour appears to have disappeared entirely from public life.”
Right. And that’s because the Committee of Standards in Public Life is itself bent otherwise it would be looking into cases like these. It is supposed to uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life, but my guess is it doesn’t actually know what they are.
In a way I feel good about not having tried for British nationality, because I have no confidence in the justice system and hence shall not accept any judgement by them, period.
Suhayl, Work long-term to end the hegemony of News International and all cartels like it.
.
Work long term to end fundamentalist capitalism and its modus operandum of war, war and war.
I do try to change things, as I’m sure many others do, like yourself. To end the hegemony of News International is a different target than changing the opinions of Sun readers. Kier Hardie managed to change a 2 party system to a 2 party system but it took the depression to change things. When investors and shareholders throw themselves off skyscrapers because their God is dead there is a good starting point to begin again. The only trouble is scum floats on the surface, as it ever did.
Thought this might interest you Craig after your request about JSTOR
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/21/aaron_swartz_prosecution_protest/
Did you know this was big brother?
http://www.legal500.com/firms/9595/offices/9595/lawyers/9873
.
David Cameron: I grew up in my brother’s shadow Mr Cameron talks about his family in the Big Issue
.
David Cameron lived in his brother’s shadow while he was growing up, he writes in a column for the Big Issue.
.
The PM, who guest edited the latest edition of the magazine, said his older brother Alex had been a role model but he always felt “a few steps behind”.
.
/…..
{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14267088}