Rebekah Brooks charged with perverting the course of justice

Not smirking now!

So just now we've heard that Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie are to be charged with the very serious matter of perverting the course of justice. If convicted, it's definitely jail time for them both. And you can reckon that David Cameron's texting days will be over as far as she is concerned. LOL!

She says the decision to prosecute is a case of “posturing” by the CPS. "We deplore this weak and unjust decision." Really? There have been an unprecedented number of officers detecting all the nuances of this scandal. No stones have been left unturned. Having been rapped over the knuckles for cosy relationships with press types in the past, the police will be quite desperate to see that they have a near perfect case. The CPS lawyers will have perused each page of the files with the heaviest magnifying glasses available. Ms Brooks may think it unjust but she should not have been so fickle with the law before. One rogue reporter, indeed!

News International has more skeletons in its cupboards and closets, of that I have no doubt. Rupert Murdoch was always disdainful of the political classes in Britain. Why the likes of Blair and Cameron ever thought his empire was worth courting, I do not know. I well remember Murdoch making an acidic remark about the British soon after he got his hands on The Times. He had no time for us then and has no time for us now. Ms Brooks was just doing his bidding. Will we ever see Murdoch and his amnesiac son in the dock with her? Could be, and that might be the culmination of it all. As someone has said of this, it is a story that keeps on running.

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Rebekah Brooks and husband arrested on phone hacking charge

Conspirators or what? Police arrest these two and detain them

One rogue reporter, eh? Not any more! It's a whole bevvy of sleazy News International operatives including the erstwhile editor of the Sun, Rebekah Brooks. She's now been arrested, along with hubby Charlie, on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. That's a big time offence in the judicial minds. Judges might have seen phone hacking as a measly crime, but this is something else. Should she be charged with this and subsequently found guilty, she won't be flouncing out of court waving her locks at passing camera lenses. She will be incarcerated.

Now it appears that the police are taking all this more seriously. The whole edifice of the News International temple is beginning to crash. Every day we hear of money either being paid out or going to be paid out to wronged celebrities and people caught up in the cheap and cheerless gossip gathering enterprise that Rupert Murdoch was so keen to establish. It's a sort of pincer operation with more than one set of pincers being used. Leveson is inquiring, the police are probing, the courts are finding in favour of those who have been hacked and the rest of the press is delving deep. Murdoch must be wondering when and where it will all end. Probably in tears. But he has only himself to blame for that.

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Rebekah Brooks gave back police horse in poor health

I have just seen on the BBC News website that Rebekah Brooks, News International red top and former editor, did not treat the horse she was lent as well as she should. He was described as being in "poor condition". The animal died of natural causes after being returned to the police. Maybe one or two unnatural causes as well, such as prolonged inactivity due to inconsiderate horse borrower. That horse won't say anything now, but maybe Mystic Meg, the Sun's spirit world person, could muster up a seance to engage the presence of the horse from his duties in the Elysian Fields?

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Bob Diamond's Deal, No Deal as taxman delves deep

Bob Diamond keeps schtum!

Barclays Bank just announced that they have done very well in the profits department. Bob Diamond, chief executive and counting house boss, got a hefty bonus. Smiles all round. Now the government has just announced that a bank (it was Barclays - they admitted it) has done very well in the tax avoidance department. Smile wiped off Bob's face as money is demanded back by HMRC. Of course, Barclays say they didn't do anything wrong. Well, not criminal, that is. But banks today are little more that clever casino operators. What they do may not be a felony but it isn't always morally right.

Saving £500,000 in tax by using a tax avoidance scheme. Not exactly the corporate citizenship that Barclays aspires to. Corporate sleaze needs watching.

And this bank is joined in the murky waters of corporate land by that huge bottom feeder that is News International. One rogue reporter, eh? More like a whole school of rogues. Rebekah Wade/Brooks, the erstwhile editor of one of the red top rags, got a horse from the police. On loan, so we are told. That horse must know a bit. Corruption all round, dodgy dealings and well-feathered nests.

I have a horrible sense that the British people are not really bothered. These corporate types have hides of rhinoceroses. Nothing much pricks them. Yet enterprising businesses, the self-employed and the general workforce have to struggle along as the economy falters and fits. If we were all in this together, this nonsense at the top level of business would stop. But we aren't and I don't think it will.

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Taking us for a ride

Theodora Dallas looking suitably chastised

There seem to be any number of intelligent, well-paid people who, when confronted by mistakes or wrongdoing, decide they either did not know they were doing wrong or just feign forgetfulness. One such is a Greek woman who found herself on a jury. Dr. Theodora Dallas is obviously no thicko and must be quite bright to be a university lecturer in psychology. I assume she lectures in English and not Greek, seeing as this job is held in England. All jury members are advised by the judge not to consult or communicate with the outside world. Obviously if in doubt the maxim is "ASK". She gaily fingered her way across the internet to find lurid details about the accused in question. Found out he'd been convicted of rape and then shared this juicy detail with fellow jurors. Did she think this acceptable jury duty? She's now produced a waffling statement basically suggesting she was a total innocent in the whole thing. Thankfully three judges beg to differ and have found her in contempt of court.

In the "taking us for a ride" department the whole sorry saga of phone-hacking tops the pile I think. News International's rogue reporter has suddenly been joined by a huge group of phone-hacking hacks and Murdoch's seedy outfit is shovelling cash in the direction of wronged celebrities. More roller-coaster nonsense comes with the HS2 promotion. "It will create jobs" the pro campaigners shriek. Well I could stand in New Street shouting that I'll create jobs, but the words will be worthless. This is not about job creation, but about wealth creation for those promoting the 20-minute time-shaving high-velocity railroad. I really think that if it ever comes to pass, "businessmen" will be expected to knuckle down and do business on the HS2. No looking out of the window or having inane conversations on fiddly blackberries. If anyone is found not hard at it, it will be enforced ejection at Coventry. These business leaders need to put facts first and not waffling rhetoric. Answers are currently in the slow lane.

Tesco share dealings, Antony Worrall-Thompson's cheese heist and the daily round of nonsense about the euro all contribute to us being taking for a ride. Why people can't just admit mistakes or tell it as it is, I do not know. I thought the days of spin were over. I somehow think they are here to stay.

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Lord Sugar says 'Jail phone hacking editors and proprietors'

The Apprentice boss and Labour peer Lord Sugar has called for newspaper editors and proprietors to face prison sentences over the phone hacking scandal. This contribution in the House of Lords certainly found favour going by the response from fellow peers. Nobody is above the law. But before the newshounds get put in jail perhaps the prisons could be reformed. We don't want them picking up any bad habits or unsavoury contacts, do we?

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Hackers hoax story on Murdoch not funny

Rupert Murdoch - Alive and Kicking!

There's a group of hackers called Lulz Security which targets corporates and their alleged wrongdoings or excesses. News International has just been targeted or more precisely the website of The Sun. Readers were redirected to a hoax story which said Rupert Murdoch had been found dead in his garden. The hackers say that what they do is only for laughs. I disagree. I think it a rather sick joke if joke be the word. The story was entitled "Media mogul's body discovered". It suggested that Mr Murdoch had been found after he had "ingested a large quantity of palladium". Why on earth do they think this helps the cause of justice? Of truthfulness in business? For a return to integrity in business? Do lies help to unmask lies?

These people do not help the cause of openness. There will be no transparency from them. Let the select committees delve deep for the truth. That is what we require. Not juvenile nastiness from faceless cyber anarchists.

It's not funny, it's not helpful and it's not going to do anything other than give a cheap thrill to the perpetrators.

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Rebekah Brooks quits News International

Rebekah Brooks resigns

The news that Rebekah Brooks is leaving her post as chief bottlewasher at News International has helped me clear my cold and let my head think more brightly. I've been sneezing and sniffing. Not good to view a computer through watery eyes. So she's gone. Thrown in the towel. Can't say I'm surprised. If she was still in post when she sat before John Whittingdale and his cultured colleagues next week, all we would have got is "Why are you still there?". Well now she's not. But the rumblings still rumble on.

The trouble with large corporations is that they think they are above the flotsam and jetsam of daily life. Banks, oil companies, utilities, airlines, newspapers...they have all been ducking and diving, with integrity getting the blows. I think they live in a parallel universe. The banks are getting stress tested today. Is fractional reserve banking going to be tested to the stress limits? I doubt it. Keep pushing the buttons guys!

Matthew Wright of the Wright Stuff fame on Five TV thinks Rebekah Brooks is OK. She's a decent person he says. Well, if she is let her just tell the truth and shame the devil. We can't have this going on for years, with one titbit following another. The FBI are now digging around for nuggets. Somebody has suggested the phones of 9/11 victims were hacked. If they were, then Rupert Murdoch might as well go and hide in the outback of Australia. This could be like a political Mount St.Helens. At the moment, American TV is treading carefully as is their wont. But if the FBI get a bite on something, the game plan changes immediately.

Far better to own up now, tell it all and say SORRY! Otherwise if something nasty is revealed, it's News Corp in the trash bin.

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News International going up in smoke

Damian Thompson blogs under the title of Holy Smoke. He's smoked out that News International obtained details from Gordon Brown's infant son’s medical records. They were obtained by the Sun, who published a story about the child’s serious illness. Thompson was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". Well, the church has been dealing with the ferrets at News International. We need the Reverend Jack Russell back. He knew what dog bit ferrets the best.

No smoke without fire? News International is going up in smoke. An unholy smoke at that!

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Andy Coulson to be arrested tomorrow

Red Top to be axed?

The News International scandal carries on more or less like night following day. Tomorrow morning Andy Coulson will get his collar felt by members of the very police force he is alleged to have funneled over £100,000 to. He will be arrested over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World. Murky stuff indeed. But he can't be the only one, apart from the two who we were told were the only ones.

Rebekah Brooks is having trouble keeping that butter in her mouth from melting. She strikes me as being the very worst kind of modern day corporate executive. Humpty Dumpty said he made words mean what he wanted them to mean and she has taken his advice literally. She isn't going to resign. She has the hide of a rhinocerous. Giving stick to others in a high moralising manner was her stock in trade. Now she's getting it back in spadefuls from the public and jittery business.

We need a proper judicial inquiry, no smokescreens, with a judge who can get Rupert Murdoch before him under oath telling the world what exactly went on in his newsrooms. Anything else will just not do.

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News Of The World to close over phone hacking scandal

Caught out at last!

Rupert Murdoch has decided to throw in the towel and close down the News Of The World rather than, I suspect, have his media empire done over with a dose of very strong salts. I used to read the NOTW but when Murdoch took it over the whole thing went downhill very fast. Gossip became tittle tattle and then the tittle tattle became sleaze and now its just a rag to make money for a grumpy git with a chip on his shoulder.

Murdoch never liked Britain. His revenge was to take The Times and other titles under his wing and hold our politicians to ransom. More fool them. Now he's got his comeuppance. The only sad thing is that a paper that could have been fun and fiesty has been ruined by the greedy morally corrupt people that took the Murdoch shilling.

That's a lesson indeed. Don't mess with the emotions of the Brits Mr.Murdoch. We tend to bite back!

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News International under fire and under pressure

Hacked off over the hacking!

Rupert Murdoch let his minions do what they wanted mostly. In the newspaper world if it sold papers then it didn't matter how the story was obtained. If it was largely untrue, so what. The News of the World started out by being a reasonably good read for gossipy news. Then Murdoch got his hands on it and the content became far more than gossip. It contained half-truths, innuendo and malice even. Now they are embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal that they cannot control or contain.

Max Clifford, the ubiquitous publicist, claimed his phone was hacked. As he puts it, "they listened to me!", and he got a £1 million plus settlement. Then others came forward and then two journalists got sent to jail and then.....it just goes on. We hear it's not just News International but the whole of Fleet Street involved.

Now News International has admitted there were at least eight victims and has put aside £20m for compensation. This after all their protestations that there was only one rogue reporter on the loose. Either they are incompetent at managing a newspaper business or they are actively involved in a cover-up and this is onion peeling time.

All types are involved. Tessa Jowell, former culture secretary, Andy Gray, erstwhile Sky Sports pundit, the designer Kelly Hoppen and actress Sienna Miller. More are emerging, no doubt emboldened by the revelations and believing that the authorities are taking their claims seriously.

Max Clifford said one good thing today. Journalism should be about exposing wrongdoing and hypocrisy. It most certainly is not about employing wrongdoing in order to obtain tittle-tattle and private conversations.

This is going to roll on until Murdoch rolls over.

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