Do newspapers have blood on their hands?

Yesterday two of the families who had their phones hacked stated that the phone hacking stories had led to a suicide in their respective families.

There is of course no way of proving this 100 percent. But it does seem very plauseable.

The Leveson inquiry has heard from the parents of a schoolgirl murdered by a classmate in 1991 who claim press coverage of her death had contributed to their teenage son's suicide.
Margaret Watson said articles were ill-informed and inaccurate.

Former Blackburn footballer Garry Flitcroft claimed that he was persecuted by the press after he obtained an injunction preventing the Sunday People revealing details of an affair.
He said his children were teased and his father, who suffered from depression, stopped attending his games because of chanting from fans.
Flitcroft added that he believed that had contributed to his father's suicide several years later.

So I'm not sure if there is a direct link. But there is a link. Somewhere along the line the papers could have blood on their hands.

Don’t be fooled by the fuel price escalator debate

The debate and petitions calling for the for planned increases in fuel duty to be scrapped is hiding the real debate, which would otherwise be the subject of decreasing the duty on fuel prices. I suspect the government has kept Labours planned increases in duty simply because the chancellor always intended to not increase the duty but can use this debate to fed of any debate on a decrease in fuel duty.

 

I also remember that Labour did not always increase the price of duty on fuel to be fair to them. But the chancellor wants to use this opportunity to remind people that Labour would of increase the duty (when I suspect they actually wouldn't). It's just a vehicle to attack Labour and defect any tax decrease on fuel.

 

Personally I would very much support a rebate for UK haulier firms as a way of reducing the cost of transport for Britain's struggling lorry drivers and therefore business in general and with a knock on effect of holding of any further increases in food costs.

Some advice for an MP's political career

If the Prime Minster offers you the Home Secretary job. Do not under and circumstances accept it, simply politely decline.

Don't blame the Greeks

I was going to blog on the Greece referendum but events have been moving so fast that every few hours I would of had to of changed my blog.

I can't blame Greek PM George Papandreou for wanting to hold a referendum. It's his attempt to make something happen and to give the people a voice and a democratic choice in a country which has seen so much unrest and anger.

The Greek people never wanted to join the euro and were never given a choice by their political elite. Greece was able to use the power of the euro to borrow cheaply and that they did. But all this was false.

So what now. Would a government of national unity really help. I would be willing to bet it would only prove to the Greek people that the politicians are all the same.

The Greeks are playing for the mistakes of their leaders and for the control and pressure being placed on them by France and Germany for their own ends.

The sooner Greece and leave the euro the better for them because even if they are saved this time. the currency is not right for them or their economy. It never was.

Good luck Greece.