![\"News](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stragnell.com\/weaklynews\/2011\/july\/news_of_the_world.jpg?resize=300%2C180\" "\\"News")
You will all recollect the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, one of Rupert Murdoch\u2019s News International titles. Clearly, the attempted cover-up has not succeeded and the story has been blown wide open this week with such a force and pace that it\u2019s difficult for a poor befuddled weekly periodical such as the Befouled Weakly News to keep pace. I don\u2019t imagine there will have been quite so much coverage in countries other than the UK so I\u2019ll try to provide a potted update of the latest developments. For fuller details have a look at the Guardian\u2019s coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\nYou will remember that the paper was discovered having hacked into the mobile phones of Prince William and some of his aides in 2005. When that story broke there was an \u201cexhaustive\u201d enquiry by both the paper and the Metropolitan police which concluded that this was all the work of one rogue reporter and a private investigator. No one at the top knew anything and the two were briefly jailed.<\/p>\n
Shortly thereafter \u201csecret\u201d compensation payments of nearly \u00a31m each were paid to two \u201ccelebrities\u201d whose phones were hacked. The payments were authorised by James Murdoch without the approval of the News International board. These payments included a \u201cgagging\u201d clause to prevent any further scandal leaking out.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately (for News International and Murdoch), the cover-up didn\u2019t quite cover things up. More details began to leak out and the \u201cone rogue reporter\u201d story began to crumble. Since then something in the region of a hundred celebrities, sports personalities and politicians have been informed that their phones were hacked; a few have settled for substantial compensation payments but the majority seem determined to have their day in court. The police now estimate that several thousand people had their phones hacked.<\/p>\n
Then, earlier this week, it emerged that the newspaper had hacked into the mobile phone of the teenager Millie Dowler who was abducted and later found murdered in 2002; (her killer has just been convicted). It seems that the newspaper hacked into her mobile phone soon after she disappeared and used information they gleaned from messages left by family and friends as part of their newspaper coverage. The public has found those actions pretty despicable but it gets even worse. When the mailbox in her phone filled up, the newspaper deleted the messages to free up space for more messages leading her family and friends to conclude that she must still be alive. Now, the police are taking a keen interest because it\u2019s possible that the newspaper\u2019s actions may have destroyed evidence. And, all of this occurred a full four years before<\/strong> the hacking into Prince William\u2019s phones. All the work of one rogue reporter and, of course, no one further up the food chain knew anything at all! And pigs will fly.<\/p>\n In the last few days a flood of further details have emerged. The police are now investigating the disappearance (i.e., deletion) of millions of e-mails <\/a>between editors, reporters and outsiders, including private investigators at the News of the World. This comes after a News International executive testified in a court case in Scotland last December that the e-mails had been \u201clost\u201d in a transfer to Mumbai. At almost the same time the company solicitor was telling the High Court that it was impossible to retrieve e-mails more than six months old.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, in January, News International handed three e-mails to the police dating from the period when the e-mails were supposed to have been lost and\/or irretrievable. This prompted the Metropolitan Police to launch their third \u201cexhaustive\u201d enquiry into the hacking scandal which then led to two separate attempts, allegedly by a News of the World executive, to delete half a terabyte of data (equivalent, apparently, to about 500 editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica).<\/p>\n On Thursday came the announcement that Murdoch undoubtedly hopes will draw a line under the affair \u2013 News International announced the closure of the News of the World after 168 years. Today\u2019s edition will be the last. Not surprisingly, there is widespread speculation that this is all a diversion. Interestingly, the internet domain names TheSunOnSunday.co.uk, TheSunOnSunday.com and SunOnSunday.co.uk were registered four days ago. (The Sun is Rupert Murdoch\u2019s daily tabloid which exhibits similarly sterling standards of journalistic integrity as the News of the World).<\/p>\n No doubt there will be more to come in the days, weeks and months ahead. It\u2019s all rather reminiscent of Watergate with The Guardian filling the role of the Washington Post. Don\u2019t these people ever learn \u2013 it\u2019s the cover-up that brings you down.<\/p>\n Oops! On another issue altogether: another example of the coalition government\u2019s inability to think things through has recently emerged thanks to a leaked letter<\/a> from the office of the Minister for Communities, Erik Pickles.<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve discussed in the past, the Conservative branch of the coalition government has been trying to pursue policies based on ideology rather than practicality, wherever they feel they can slip these past their Liberal Democrat partners. Generally, these policies are dressed up to make them somewhat more palatable and the bottom line always is the need to cut the deficit. Unfortunately, as in their attempts to deal with the costs of higher education, they don\u2019t always think things through and their policies, while obviously pleasing to their supporters on the far right, end up costing more than they save and doing nothing to cut the deficit.<\/p>\n One of the money-saving policies the government is currently trying to introduce is a cap on the amount of money paid to anyone on benefits. Clearly, this is very appealing to the right wing of the Conservative party who are convinced that everyone receiving any sort of public benefit is a welfare scrounger while at the same time the government estimates the policy will save something in the order of \u00a3270m per year. Win, win!<\/p>\n It now emerges, however, that Erik Pickles\u2019 department carried out an estimate of the likely impact and \u201csavings\u201d and their best guess is that the policy will make something in the region of 40,000 families homeless and that the estimated savings will be more than wiped out by the need for local authorities to divert resources to help the newly-created homeless, resulting in \u201ca net cost\u201d. Apparently, the letter, which has just surfaced, was sent by Pickles\u2019 department to the Prime Minister\u2019s office in January yet the government has been ploughing ahead regardless leading some MPs to accuse the government of misleading Parliament<\/a>, a very serious offence in British Parliamentary democracy. (I know \u2013 how wacky is that? After all, that\u2019s what politicians do, isn\u2019t it? When did you last hear a politician give a straight, honest answer to a straight-forward question?) Still, it looks like more lessons in \u201ccause and effect\u201d are needed if the coalition is ever to get the hang of this governing thing.<\/p>\n My sweetheart suggested, out of the blue one evening, that we should go to the cinema. Now, as you know, it\u2019s usually me who suggests such outings and only when I have received a free cinema ticket voucher together with some discounted dinner vouchers. On this occasion, however, Ms Playchute decided we should go to the cinema so go to the cinema we did.<\/p>\n Now I know why I always wait to get free cinema tickets before suggesting such excursions! \u00a317.20 for the two of us (and that\u2019s without any drinks, popcorn or other rubbish). I wouldn\u2019t have minded too much if the film had been value for money but, alas, I am afraid it wasn\u2019t (in our view, anyway). We went to see Bridesmaids<\/a> which we always knew was going to be a bit of light fluff. I guess we hadn\u2019t anticipated just how light and fluffy it was going to be. Don\u2019t go out of your way to see it, I guess is our review.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I was able to secure some half price vouchers for main courses at Pizza Express so at least that part of the evening was not a disappointment.<\/p>\n Finally, I ran across the following the other day which more or less sums up my perception of how meteorologists forecast the weather:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget \u2013 we are off to Tuscany on Saturday for two weeks. I hope that we will be able to maintain communication but can\u2019t promise anything.<\/p>\n Love to you all,<\/p>\n Greg<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Oh my goodness! Can it get any worse than this? I suspect it can! You will all recollect the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, one of Rupert Murdoch\u2019s News International titles. Clearly, the attempted cover-up has not succeeded and the story has been blown wide open this week with such a … <\/p>\n
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stragnell.com\/weaklynews\/2011\/july\/weather.gif?resize=525%2C158\" "\\"Weather\\"")
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