If our criminal justice system works at all, then the slimey Andy Coulson will soon be behind bars for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The Guardian has just published a whole raft of evidence released by the select committee, of which this is not the only bit which seems to have Coulson – the “editor” in question – absolutely bang to rights.
Of course, while the justice system can work 24 hours on convicting people who nicked some maltesers, Scotland Yard have still proved completely incapable of identifying any of the policemen who took Murdoch’s bungs, or in locking up Coulson and the other News International executives who are guilty as sin.
Given this letter from Goodman making plain that Coulson instigated a cover-up of the extent of culpability within N.I., it seems that Cameron must resign for having brought a definite criminal into the heart of 10 Downing Street, despite numerous warnings. Cameron is compromised by this beyond repair.
Cameron gave him a “second chance”, didn’t you hear it, he said at least ten times (or maybe more)..
If Blair et al didn’t resign over Iraq or Ecclestone, what makes anyone think Cameron will resign over employing a dodgy newspaper editor?
And of course, let’s not forget the fact that the criminal justice system has not locked up a single banker. Nor has it refused asylum to foreign oligarchs – who flee to London in order to seek sanctuary from their native populations. And as the often wonderful Laurie Penny points out:
“No police officer has ever been charged in connection with the death of a civilian in Britain or Ireland, and even in the digital age, where the public as well as the state can use technology to hold wrongdoers to account, there’s clearly no reason to interrupt that pattern. ”
What a wonderful judicial system!
Jonah
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Hasn’t PC Simon Harwood been charged with manslaughter for killing Ian Tomlinson?
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Maybe she meant convicted? I do wonder whether Harwood will get off, depite the video evidence.
“Cameron is compromised by this beyond repair.”
Absolutely, even if he wasn’t completely nailed beforehand.
But, will he act like a “Right Honourable Member”? Azra and John K have their doubts; so do I.
“Coulson for the pokey”
Oh I do hope so! My guess is that Cameron will do whatever it takes to worm his way out of resignation; it will not be an edifying spectacle.
@ John K
Excerpts from the Guardian’s website:
“The difficulties that would now confront any prosecution have changed in nature and scale from last year when a decision was taken not to prosecute, although it is clear that real difficulties remain.
Taking the evidence as it now stands, we have concluded that, even with those remaining difficulties, there is now sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of successfully prosecuting PC Simon Harwood for the manslaughter of Mr Tomlinson. That being the case, it is clearly in the public interest that criminal proceedings be brought.”
(‘DPP’s statement on the decision to prosecute PC Simon Harwood’, 14 May 2011)
‘The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, decided not to bring criminal proceedings against the officer last year because of complications with medical evidence. However, the decision was reversed last month after an inquest jury concluded Tomlinson was unlawfully killed while trying to walk home from work.’
(Ian Tomlinson death: officer to stand trial, 20 June 2011)
Seems like all is to play for. At this stage he has not been convicted. Let’s watch closely and see how it plays out.
Goodman’s letter is being rubbished as worthless because he is a convicted criminal!! Murdoch has retained Lord Grabiner at £3000 per hour. It’s only dirty money. http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/51857/lord-grabiner-chair-news-international-standards-committee
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Google queried my spelling in the search. Did I mean Grabber? LOL.
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Yes it was £3000 an hour and he is a crony of Green of offshore tax fame.
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‘Lord Grabiner QC is a heavyweight corporate lawyer unafraid of the limelight. The 66-year-old, who has been mentioned as a possible contender for the next lord chancellor, shot to public prominence last year when he acted for Liverpool Football Club in its legal victory over previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
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After the verdict Grabiner was given a hero’s welcome outside the high court with Liverpool fans rushing to pat him on the back and treating him to a rendition of You”ll Never Walk Alone.
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As the camera crews struggled through the scrum to get snaps of Grabiner, he let slip that it had been one of his “most satisfying victories”.
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Grabiner, named on Monday as the independent chairman of News Corporation’s beefed-up management and standards committee dealing with the phone-hacking scandal, is reportedly the second-best paid barrister in the country. He has also represented the Candy brothers in a dispute with Prince Charles over their plan for the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks. “If they didn’t want to pay that, they wouldn’t come to me,” he has said of his reported £3,000 an hour rate.
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Raised in Hackney, east London, the son of a fur cutter, he won a scholarship to the local grammar school. He collected a first and a Master of Laws with distinction from the London School of Economics, where he was chair of the governors from 1998-2007.
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Grabiner is also an accomplished City figure, having served as non-executive chairman of Sir Philip Green’s retail empire Arcadia Group and a non-executive director of Next.
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He has not yet been tempted to follow family members into the City full-time. One of his cousins is chief operating officer of Arcadia and two others have been directors of private equity firm Apax.
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Grabiner gave his views on Murdoch in a Times article: “Murdoch is astute, very clever and always listens to my advice, whereas Maxwell always argued, thinking he was as good a lawyer as a businessman. But, although he was extremely overbearing, I liked Robert.”‘
Keir Starmer is bent as hell and to get convicted you have to be charged in the first place.
Oh, and as for Harwood it was just too damaging for the Establishment not to do something. Anyone who frequents a lot of internet media will know the public verdict was almost unanimous that some charges shold be brought. These decisions are discussed behind closed doors by unelected scumbags and don’t doubt it. If he does get convicted, then you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be well compensated in some clandestine fashion.
One suspects this is the real reason why Cameron supposedly said he “hadn’t slept” since the riots, and why he made himself appear to be ‘busy’ about them. His behaviour resembles that of a guilty schoolboy, and the hard man image is obnoxious.
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“I hadn’t slept since the riots” – Bullshit!
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And if anyone really believes Cameron would resign over such a thing, then I’m afraid you are simply hopeless.
Can’t read the article, my steam iron still operates on Internet explorer 6, or was it 9, can’t remember.
Will it cost cameron his job? Not on its own, but if there are other matters, don’t expect twofacedness will count, but more revelations and a Lib Dem revolt, how limp does that sound, maybe.
If this coincides with loud noises from the cacti burning Lib Dem leader, not that any of our politicians wants to offer any different, more refreshing thoughts if they can avoid it, then it might happen.
Without Clegg asking him to go and voice his hypocritic ‘no confidence’ due to x and y, aaand the wind blowing from above, this weasel will worm his way out, shedding his Coulson tanned skin.
From hug a hoody to 800 million insurance damage, to be paid for by the police, i.e. us, in three easy steps, with media sleuth Coulson competing with the MI’s, what a load of electronic traffic on offer. Have these newspapers hacked into other state bodies, not just the police, alledgedly?
Is it perceivable that they can hack into Government security services, embassies, the MOD employees private phones? They have proofed that they have no scrupels and who is to say there are no other private detectives beavering away?
In which case we never get to hear about it!
Off course if there is a war to fight and Britains commitment demands that we postpone small side issues as such, pimpley riots, inequality, it all just falls away like water of a ducks back and strong willed leaders emerge to fight another day, hooray.
Put your self in Coulson’s shoes, why would he think that his crimes and lying would never be uncovered? Why would Cameron under warnings from many quarters go ahead and employ this criminal?
It took video footage, broadcast worldwide for Harwood to be charged. The met went to the Guardian’s offices and tried to force them to take the video offline.
Lord Grabber gets £3000 per hour. Gosh, that’s one expensive whore! Wonder precisely what it is he’s ‘grabbing’. Does he do oral? Ah, that is exactly what he does. Oral. Yes, I see. That’s his core Job Description. Yes, good. Does he do…? Yes…? Ah, yes, he does that too. Covers both ends. Yes, that makes sense. A multitasker, then. Indeed, comprehensive coverage, with the gloves off, yes, good, we do want the gloves off. Old-style, you know. Kind of ‘retro’, ha, ha, ha! Upper… erm, well, up everything, really. Yes. I say, old boy, give the hooker a rise, what! And a baronetcy, yes, a baronetcy at least.
Could
photography website templates
please f off.
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[Mod: I keep spamming this one but it keeps coming back. It must be zombie spam.]
Tut tut Suhayl. You really must be more respectful about My Lord Baron Grabiner of Aldwych. He was after all one of Tony’s cronies and was ennobled in 1999.
http://www.adrianallen.com/rage/tonyscronys.htm
Ingo, would you like me to sort out a new superheater for your steam computer? You can find my e-mail address from the link on my name on the left.
News International and the Murdochs have said they relied on the advice of Harbottle & Lewis in their failure to investigate the full exent of alleged criminal behaviour at the News of the World till this year.
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A 46 page PDF copy of the written evidence response by the media law firm Harbottle & Lewis has been published on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee website here.
Future management of the internet under discussion? It’s all because of those rioters don’t you know!
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http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/369334/mi5-and-gchq-join-hunt-for-riot-data
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MI5 and GCHQ join hunt for riot data
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The Government has asked the security services to join the online and mobile search for people who helped organise last week’s riots in the UK.
The communications tapping centre GCHQ and MI5 have been called in to track down the riot instigators by sifting through social network and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) traffic, which is conventionally difficult to access due to encryption.
According to a report in The Guardian, the decision marks a sea change in domestic public disorder control, which is normally handled by the police rather than the secret services.
They have a statutory right to target criminals or those suspected of being involved in crime
According to the report, MI5 and GCHQ will also try to get ahead of any further organisation of disturbances.
At the heart of the move to involve GCHQ and MI5 is the desire by authorities to get their hands on messages passed over BBM, which due to its encryption and network design is more private than other social media.
According to Ofcom, BBM is the chosen platform for 37% of UK teenagers, and was widely blamed for helping to co-ordinate looting and other violence, with PIN-protected messages proving difficult to access or trace in real-time.
China happy over web action
The difficulty in managing social traffic during the recent riots prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to consider cutting access to services, but the plan has been met with scepticism at home and gloating overseas.
The Chinese Government leapt on the proposals to restrict access to Twitter and other services, claiming the move would help ease relations between the West and more restrictive regimes throughout the world.
“Cameron’s suggestion to block social-networking websites smashes basic concepts of freedom of speech in the West, which always takes the moral high ground in criticising the reluctant development of internet freedom in developing countries,” ran an article in the Government-backed Global Times.
The article praised Cameron and claimed that the proposals marked a change in direction for online controls at a time when communications are increasingly under the spotlight as a way for protesters to organise themselves.
“The open discussion of containment of the internet in Britain has given rise to a new opportunity for the whole world,” the Global Times said.
“Media in the US and Britain used to criticise developing countries for curbing freedom of speech. Britain’s new attitude will help appease the quarrels between East and West over the future management of the internet.”
Careful about what you folks write here. You could get 4 years.
But I don’t have to worry about that!
Bwwwwaaahahahahahahhaahaaaa!
For sure, it will be 20 long years in Spandau for you Lamby. I will make sure to drop in for a visit if i’m ever in the vicinity, as i’m sure the other bloggites would too.
Baaaahhhhh! 🙂
“Put your self in Coulson’s shoes, why would he think that his crimes and lying would never be uncovered? Why would Cameron under warnings from many quarters go ahead and employ this criminal?”
Hubris.
Jaded, the Open Rights Group have a petition related to your post; not MI5 / GCHQ monitoring, but proposed suspension of services:
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http://action.openrightsgroup.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1422&ea.campaign.id=11632
I’m sure YugoStiglitz is safe. He’d never want to take a photo “with no apparent esthetic value” near Long Beach:
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http://www.lbpost.com/life/greggory/12188
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Yugo, you’re being daft; your US government is selling out to corporatism and authoritarianism just as badly as our UK government. Maybe you know it, and that’s what continually draws you back to this blog. Consider joining the struggle.
‘“The open discussion of containment of the internet in Britain has given rise to a new opportunity for the whole world,” the Global Times said.
“Media in the US and Britain used to criticise developing countries for curbing freedom of speech. Britain’s new attitude will help appease the quarrels between East and West over the future management of the internet.”’
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I think that suspension of services, under certain circumstances, is the least of our worries.
Heh Clark – I’m sure that issue in L.A. (is it L.A.? – don’t know) will soon get resolved; that’s how it works. And when it does your compatriots will still be in jail for some misguided Facebook posts.
Cue ‘America The Beautiful’ (all together now, while wearing fixed smiles from the Osmonds circa 1973).
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Now, children, repeat after me:
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There is nothing whatsoever wrong in the US of A
Nothing is amiss – why, just look at me!
Everything works wonderfully well
We are all perfectly happy and content and free
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Air-raid! Air-raid!
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US Nationalist strikes again!
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To paraphrase Victor Hugo: “The drones, the drones…”
If, as it seems to have been decided, that Sir Paul Stephenson is not guilty of any misconduct, what happens next? Does he get his job back?
The link. What a surprise. Pity the IPCC cannot act as quickly as this in the Duggan killing case.
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“A misconduct investigation into the involvement of Scotland Yard’s former commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson in the phone-hacking scandal was dropped today.
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Allegations against top officers John Yates, Andy Hayman and Peter Clarke have also been thrown out, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced.”
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scotland-yard-hacking-probe-dropped-2339073.html