Sound of Silence

Sometimes news can be just unbearable. I find I cannot engage with the coverage from Norway, when I did, briefly, I felt consumed by rage and despair at such loss of young innocent lives. The assailant is in court today and has prepared his foul, fascist manifesto in which he intends justify his murders to a shattered nation.
Democratic zealots say he has every right to make this speech. He does not. He has absolutely rejected all the principles of democracy by his actions and so has forfieted his right to have his free speech protected by it. To allow it would be to trample on the memories of the dead.

You Cannot Be Serious

In the phone-hacking scandal, there has been an assortment of farcical reasons given to cover outrages and crimes. From the Murdochs's ignorance of most of their companies' matters to Andy Hayman's dining with those he was investigating.

But No.10's reason for not seeking the apt level of security clearance for Andy Coulson on the grounds of expense is the clear winner. Any civil servant knows DV clearance is the minimum for anyone working in a private office, even junior staff for a nobody DEFRA Minister. The very idea that cost was prohibitive factor for the PM's head of Communicatons is simply mocking people's intelligence.

From the Cabinet Office, run by the Tory Gus O'Donnell (pictured), we have only learned the higher usual level of security for Coulson was not sought. Until any papers are released by FOI, we can only speculate that he was likely to fail. Papers will also reveal it was almost certain Coulson was copied into papers more sensitive than his clearance allowed.
Although there has been a slight lull in the intensity of revelations in the last day or so, there will be many more to come. The story has seeped deep into business, police and politics. The law is next. The cops are considering the evidence Coulson gave under oath in the rancorous libel case which saw former MSP Tommy Sheridan jailed for perjury.

Although our Tom's lifestyle appeared dubious and jail beckoned he may have played a master card in getting Andy to testify and may be smelling the heather again very soon.

Then, the case would be altered.

I am I Said

When former England football boss, Graham Taylor, resigned from his job at Aston Villa, he began with a long eulogy of his own achievements. So long, in fact, one sport hack interupted him and asked, "You resigning or what?"

Sir Paul Stephenson's farewell yesterday was even longer. I missed this latest huge news story as it broke, which wasunderstandable having not watched the headlines for two hours. All sorts could happen in that period of time on a Sunday afternoon.

So a tedious self-justification was to be expected. And even wishing to have the cake and eat it on his own "integrity". But what was not expected was his reasoning for not informing the PM about his employing of hack, perhaps even hacker, Wolfman Wallis. Not wishing to "compromise" Cameron should be translated as, "the PM is actually implicated in this too by hiring Wallis's boss, Coulson. "

The political tide has washed away Rebekah Brooks, the takeover deal and the NotW itself. The scandal has now forced the Chief Commissioner to resign and maligned other senior cops. We now turn to the third side of this triangle; the politicians. Many have confessed their general regret at cosying to NI. But only Cameron hired one of them and continues to defend him even after his arrest.

Coulson's appontment was challenged from day one, by opposition parties and some grey beards in the Tory party. This could be very tough on Cameron, depending on what comes out in the next few days. His defence of saying Wallis was a "quite different" case because he was at the Met where the criminal investigation was taking place is paper thin. Coulson in Downing Street had access to highly sensitive material including Top Secret which hardly makes it a risk-free appointment. How was he security cleared exactly?

Dave's style of premiership seems quite different from his political mentor, Blair. Although Tony was safe in terms of his Commons majority, he was always very conscious of vulnerabilities from scandals, bad judgements, and sheer events. Cameron has arrived into No.10 with a false sense of imperviousness, borne of his privilege.

The recall of Parliament this week is unavoidable but there is nothing in it for Dave but serious questions on his judgement and even idle thoughts of his life expectancy.

I am Satisfied with my own Integrity

So said Chief Commissioner of Met Police yesterday, after it was discovered he had hired Andy Coulson's deputy editor, Wolfman Wallis, as his personal Comms adviser. Wallis is currently on bail suspected of ordering phone-hacking.

I always thought having integrity, like being a gentleman, was a quality which was for others to judge on. It is not an attribute which can be wholly self-declared.

Sir Paul Stephenson was very much on the defensive, being grilled by the pesky Met Police Authority (his employers) having avoided declaring this monumental conflict of interest to the MPA, the Mayor, Home Sec, Parliament, PM and wider media.

While the relations between press, police and MPs became laid bare, arrests made, execs sacked, a five billion dollar deal floundered and even a major title folded, Sir Paul sat on this embarrassment like an anxious teenager with an STD.

Wallis's appointement makes Andy Hayman's chumminess with NI bosses look quite mild, just a few days on. Hayman's performance was jaw-dropping and hilarious in equal measure, his misplaced casualness borne from his intellectual inferiority.

There is still one last Committee day before recess and Sir Paul will face withering criticism, his familiar Lancashire robustness will not do here. And only two weeks ago he was said publicly he wished his officers working on Operation Wheeting were out there solving real crimes.

Also on Tuesday but just down the Committee corridor will be Rebecca Brooks and a couple of geezers called Murdoch also giving evidence on their part in this farrago. They were the first Select Committee witnesses to be receive a summons for about 50 years and looks like their testimony will be under oath. Just to avoid any doubt, that means telling the truth.

The theatres of London will not be able to compete with these extraordinary afternoon matinees.

Nostalgia Deficit

When Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, was asked whether he was happy the News of the World had closed he replied, "No".

I would guess he was commenting more on the capriciousness of newspaper proprietors and the fate of the sacked workers than on the salacious content of the 'screws' over the last 40 years.

When Steve Coogan was asked on Newsnight if it was a good day, he said it was a "wonderful day for journalism...a small victory for decency and humanity."

Now the moment has come, I side with Coogan. I feel no sadness at NotW's demise at all. Its final cover was a mosaic of old famous front pages many of whom were contemptuous. For example, the 'Naming and Shaming' of paedophiles (above) was an unmitigated disaster; wrong individuals were named and intimidated and gangs of semi-literate vigilantes were inspired to march the streets of Portsmouth. There was even an attack on a paediatrician's surgery. We know 'stranger danger' is very rare but inducing such fears in our nation took away a little more of our peace and innocence - just for the sake of their circulation.

One edition, I recall, was stoking fear and hatred of sex offenders, then over the page there was an article which in essence said "Corrr, Peaches Geldof may be only fourteen but what a stunner!"

Inside this final edition, there is a mendacious piece about "fat-cat" public servants' pensions when the majority of these wokers actual retire into poverty. No, I shall not miss their poison, bigotry and cheap patriotism. Nor its obsession with celebrity trivia, its reactionary soul and its bare-faced hypocrisy.

There is no denying today is highly significant. The omerta of News International has been broken but not fatally. There are still pervading attitudes in the tabloid end of the business which will never change.

This was perfectly encapsulated when Steve Coogan barked at former hack Paul McMullan he was "morally bankrupt". McMullan's shrug of pure indifference to this charge said it all.

Yesterday's News

What is the news angle from hacking war widows exactly?
Other equally illegal and amoral acts were carried out by News International staff. The aim was always for NotW to reign as the prurient supremo which included creating endless spirals of gossip about any issue in the public domain. Here there was no material difference between sportsmen, celebrities and tragic cases of terrorism, murder and abduction.
That is bad enough but war widows are just that. There was nothing to be gained and now all is lost.
Clearly hacking became as an essential tool to the editorial staff as a laptop and a mobile. More than that, it allowed breath-taking hypocrisy to be added to the list of charges hurled at the News International. Their blunt, crude patriotism was fatally undermined by the British Legion's withdrawal of support and leaving the Head of armed forces, "speechless with anger."
No-one had called for the News of World to close but perhaps it was the only option left once CEO James Murdoch had found the courage to look 'Ad Profundis'. The illegal collusion with corrupt police officers, the hacking of the innocent victims and bare-faced lies told to Parliament and the courts must have made him despair.
So in an attempt to salvage the BSkyB take-over, he took the decision to simply shut a long-established and world famous title. It is like a shipping baron of the 1920s closing the gates of a yard for wider business reasons, with no regard for the work force remaining.
News International's defence over the last five years or so has been highly legalistic until now when business bottom line became dominant. The rub is that their biggest liability is Rebekah Brooks and she is still employed presumably maintaining her comical role of investigating the extent of hacking even under her own editorship.
Cameron chose to defend Andy Coulson on his resignation in April - Coulson faces arrest. Milliband has chosen his lines of attack well but both parties are mired in mud from years of courting Murdoch.
Perhaps only one face to emerge from the nuclear fission of tabloid media we have witnessed this week is actor High Grant. He has shown a tenactity and intelligence which sailed far above all his known acting skills. He has surprised his opponents and the wider country by his knowledge and articulate challenge to the status quo. He also had the final reposte to a hack, now unemployed, when he said, "You're an intelligent bloke, why not try your hand at journalism?"
The next round of revelations we can expect will centre on the other titles who did the same. What we have learned may be the tip of the iceberg, but there are other icebergs.

Look both Ways

Strikes Part II.

When writing an article, a journalist should be clear what the piece is about. Yesterday's Evening Standard wanted to portray the public sector strike as highly damaging to hard-pressed families but equally say the strike had little effect. So pretty serious and at the same time not at all serious.

No.10, now crossing the line into unjustifiably overt political statements, deemed the closure of 6,000 schools as having "minimal impact".

The Conservatives and their Liberal Conservative colleagues had their message of austerity strengthened by an alliance of propagandists led by the Sun, the Mail and the Times. Through those papers, Francis Maude appealed for volunteers to help out in the spirit of "Dunkirk" implying the strikers were at least unpatriotic if not actually "the enemy within."

Clearly there is a war of ideology going on here and, judging by the slightly too hysterical messages from the Govt and media, they are feeling under pressure. Cameron's big line about pensions system being close to bust is not matched by the figures from the Govt's own report. The cost of public pensions is already falling a percentage of GDP and will fall 25% by 2050. The main reason is there has already been a huge overhaul of public sector pensions carried out by Labour in 2007.

The Sun did not need to deal with such trivia when it could focus its efforts on ludicrous character assassination. The portrayal of mild-mannered Christine Blower, head of the teacher's union, as a Scargillite was like a parody of news media. They alleged she is a "hate-filled extremist" driven by her "twisted politics." The Mail gave their estimates for those "on strike" but substituted the phrase "on the picket line" instead, implying they were all hardened, loony-left activists warming their hands over burning oil drums.

All those papers were disappointed there was no violence although some scuffling outside No.10 was somewhat enlarged by the Mail into something quite threatening and seditious. They reported all police leave was cancelled to deal with these nutters but the truth was thousands of police civilian staff were on strike so officers were needed as cover.

I wandered through the crowds in Westminster on Thursday, spotting just one anarchist type who looked very disheartened by the jolliness of the beard and sandles brigade, marching politely through the streets.

Cameron has tried the big bluff which seems to be failing. He has tried to show teachers and public servants as a group distinct from the hard-pressed taxpayer. Firstly, they are taxpayers too but second, the plight of the teachers is not something going on in the distance. Parents know their children's teachers and mostly recognise they have been treated poorly. Cameron's problem is he preceives people to be as remote from each other's day-to-day problems as he has always been from the wider world.