Chris Bryant on Rupert Murdoch

Quote of the Day during the News of the World Phone Hacking debate at the House of Commons by Labour MP Chris Bryant on Rupert Murdoch "We have let one man have far too great a sway over our national life. At least Berlusconi lives in Italy"

 

It is nice for the tables to be turned on a former tabloid editor. Many times they have called on individuals to resign from their roles when the case against them is not proven. This is what has been asked of Rebekah Brooks, of the News of the World who was the editor at the time of the alleged hacking of Milly Dowlers phone.

Vince Cable - Empire strikes back

I understand that the Torygraph don't like us Lib Dems. Thats ok, they can join the back of the increasing queue. But why are they going after the Lib Dems in order to destroy the coalition. Do they really want a minority Tory government with no power or another general election that could result in a Labour win or even worse for them a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition.

 

It's also interesting that papers are increasingly using entrapment and the Telegraph claimed to of published the full details but held the Murdoch story for their own gain as they still wanted Cable to rule on Murdoch after the Ofcom report. The Telegraphs chief executive wrote to Vince Cable along with other newspaper editors and the BBC to ask Cable not to allow the takeover of BSkyB). Now that Jeremy Hunt is in charge of this decision I can see this entrapment back firing for the Telegraph.

 

Vince Cable with his eclectic wording was always going to become unstuck. He like many Lib Dems are not used to being in government and some are finding it hard to adjust. 

 

Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat party president tweeted 'congratulations to the Telegraph who've uncovered the shocking truth that Lib Dem ministers have... err...got minds of their own. good work! ' And that's just how I judge this story. Liberal Burblings have an excellent blog on this More Libdem ministers open up to undercover surgery constituents and Carons Musings on Tim Farron in Tim Farron ill not be checking birth

 

It's also no secret that many Liberal Democrats don't like the Murdoch empire and that empire does not like us. It's not a secret that the coalition is not producing perfect Liberal Democrat policy. I expect there are plenty of Tories that would also be unhappy with some Liberal Democrat policies installed in the coalition agreement.

 

All politicians who have to make judgements should of course consider the evidence that Ofcom will provide. But MP's cannot be expected to keep their politics out of these decisions. That is why they are elected. In reality if Cable had kept quite I expect he would of looked at the findings and then also applied his own  political views to the judgement. If we expect politicians to make independent judgements then this power should be moved away from the policies and into the had of the regulator. but again that's not why we vote for politicians, we vote for them to have power to make decisions.

 

Liberal Democrats like to say what they think, that's what we have been used to in opposition. If government means that we can no longer be honest with our constituents then maybe government is not for us. Although I would prefer everyone else to change so that members of other parties can say what they believe (after all we vote for what MP's stand for and believe in) surely this is allowed to effect policy. I would also like the papers to understand that its ok for coalition partners to not agree on everything as this is good for democracy to represent more views.

 

As I keep on blogging. Soon your MP won't hold surgeries and soon they won't be able to provide any opinion or information to any interviewer or constituent, because that is where we are heading.

Employing WebCameron

I'm actually disgusted that David Cameron is employing his filmmaker who produced the 'WebCameron' videos and his personal photographer in government. During a time when hundred's of thousand's will lose their jobs in government, Cameron finds a role for them, totally disgusting. Frankly the explanation that they could replace many departments individual photographers and save money is total rubbish. Why not redeploy those in government already instead.

To me it is simple, it looks like they could have been promised a roll in government and received one. Do we know how much they are being paid for these rolls? Are they being paid more than before? Did they take on the original jobs on a promise of getting rolls in government? This raises many questions. Frankly it makes me feel sick!

While I'm on this subject, I still can't believe that David Cameron is still employing Andy Coulson, It seems inconceivable that he didn't know about the phone tapping. Is Coulson really worth holding on to? I hope Tom Watson MP can keep the pressure up on Cameron see 'Letter to David Cameron regarding Andy Coulson'.

I would of been physically sick if it wasn't for Vince Cable ordering Ofcom to investigate News Corporation's plan to take full control of BSkyB. I'm very concerned that Sky News could turn into Fox news and thats apart from the power Murdochs media already have. I'm now expecting a full assault by the Murdoch press on Cable.

Now excuse me as I need a lie down.

Sky v Skype

As reported yesterday in the Independent 'Rupert Murdoch claims to own the 'Sky' in 'Skype'' Skype (the free to use international internet video link service) has noted in its application to the Nasdaq stock exchange that "in respect of the Skype name are being opposed by BSkyB plc".

Shame that will not help them achive the price they may have been hoping for. Rupert Murdoch must be quite concerned about Skype. He is not a fan of free to use services.

In honour of what Sky does not yet own with the word Sky in it Stephen Glenn lists 'Ten Things that Rupert Murdoch Doesn't Own'. Dangerous as Rupert Murdoch may use this list next.

Murdoch Sky petition

38 Degrees are holding a petition to question the 100% stake in Sky that Rupert Murdoch is currently aspiring to.

As stated on the 38 Degrees site;


'Rupert Murdoch has his sights set on gaining complete control of BSkyB and increasing his stranglehold on a free and independent media in the UK. He currently owns 40% of the company but wants to increase his stake to 100%.


This would be a disaster. It would give Murdoch even more political influence and it could open the door to biased, right-wing news like Fox News in the US.


A free and diverse media is a huge part of what makes democracy work. We can't rely on big business to make the right decisions about Murdoch's plan to buy BSkyB. It needs full and proper scrutiny by government.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Business Secretary, has the power tell regulators to investigate the purchase before it goes ahead.


If thousands of us e-mail Vince Cable, we can persuade him to make the right decision and oppose Murdoch's master plan.'

Please do sign this petition if you agree. I would like to maintain the currently fair television news we still have in the UK. I personally do not want to see our TV news become as biased or aligned as some of our
printed press.

The petition link http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/murdoch

Cancelled my Sky Subscription‏

I have just cancelled my Sky subscription after watching the debate on Sky News. This is because I was horrified to see Adam Boulton point out the Telesgraphs Nick Clegg donation story during the debate. This is surely in breach of the rules of the debate as Adam Bolton should be impartial and its for the party leaders to bring this subject up during the debate. I also complain to ofcom about this which can be done here.

These attempts at smears on the Liberal Democrats or indeed smears on any political party are totally discussing. How is that type of reporting (if I can call it that) of incorrect infomation or half truths good for democracy. There are now a number of stories showing the growing right-wing press campaign in a bad light. Nick Robinson has details of Tory-backing papers being called in one by one to discuss how Team Cameron would deal with "Cleggmania".

A story in the Independent on 'The Sun' censoring a poll that showed support for Lib Dems' plus details of the truth and lies told in the recent articles.

I believe, unlike others, that this will lose the Liberal Democrats some points in the polls. There might be a backlash but this is smaller than the paper reports themselves and these stories stick in the mind. The papers are losing their power and influence but they do still have influence

Of course its not just the right-wing press. Perhaps one of the craziest stories other than the Daily Mails Nazi slur is this TV presenter Louis Theroux claimed he was the Lib Dem leader's "fag" at boarding school. What a load of rubbish.

Needless to say I won't be giving Rupert Murdoch any more of my money.

Todays link is to the Daily Mail-o-matic where you can get 'A new Daily Mail headline every time you click the button. For a limited time only, every headline is about Nick Clegg'. Enjoy.