Andy Coulson arrested [now charged]

[Fedayn]

interesting. I suppose its similar in a way (but not the same) to americas 'taking the fifth' in order that legally, and morally, you shouldn't have to grass yourself up when the case has nothing to do with your misdeeds. If it was a trial on your misdeeds and you lied, perjury.

I was explained last night that if a defendant lies in the course of giving evidence then it is generally accapted that the sentence for their crime alone is sufficient and as such no need to add on a further sentence. Plus the fact that just because someone was found guilty it does not de facto mean they lied.

The fundamental issue here, apart from don't be a fucking scumbag Tory cunt who phonehacks and does Tory dity work, or don't be a silly liar when it would have blown over, why did the Crown not look at the relevance issue re Coulsons evidence. A few programmes on Scotland last night looked at the pressure for charges following Operation Rubicon re phone hacking, the guilt of Coulson re the trial at the Old Bailey etc...

 

[Fedayn]

Not if it's a special kind of lie that posh people with tory mates tell, obviously.

As a general rule of 'One law for them and one law for us' I would agree, however this isn't the case to hang that hat on. As killer b has also pointed out other cases have been cited, so as fucked up as it sounds/looks to yer average chap then, as Tom Jones would say, it's not unusual.

 

[redcogs]

i couldn't care less about all the fancy footwork perpetrated by highly paid briefs - and i care little for the legal niceties that have enabled a cloak wearing bewigged 'lord' to 'find' that a slimy lying and corrupt insult of a human can walk without penalty.

The fact remains that Coulson has evoided having to face a jury and properly account for his contemptuous and disgusting behaviour - and in all this he was facilitated by a legal system awash with privileged unelected unaccountable posh and remote penises who would benefit from a few hundred thousand shifts down a wet and dangerous coal mine with a particularly narrow seam.

i'm actually quite surprised about the extent to which people are accepting the 'legal' position as presented by the judiciary.

For me, the only thing that lends any legitimacy to the court system is the concept of being assessed by 'a jury of peers' under testing conditions - the very thing that Coulson has been helped to sidestep.

 

[killer b]

Jesus, listen to you.

 

[redcogs]

Jesus, listen to you.

i know, its pretty good innit.

 

[killer b]

He just didn't commit a crime, that's all. Jurys dont get to decide on things that aren't crimes.

 

[redcogs]

Fuck me, lost your moral compass down the back of the sofa?

i suppose he was 'only doin his job' yer onour..

 

[killer b]

What's moral compass got to do with it? Many deeply immoral things aren't illegal. Coulson is scum of the worst kind, no doubt. But that wasn't what was being questioned in court here.

 

[butchersapron]

Fuck me, lost your moral compass down the back of the sofa?

i suppose he was 'only doin his job' yer onour..

You can make a point about a) the class nature of law b) the perverse nature of this particular system of law c) wider political motives/outcome without shouting that he was guilty when the within the legal system he was tried in, he wasn't.

Were you part of the pro-sheridan SWP faction?

 

[redcogs]

Letting a jury decide whether this scumbag should have walked away would have been much more satisfactory. Not perfect, but acceptable.

Being let off by your mates, or some mate of your mates stinks.

What was the cost of bringing the case again?

 

[killer b]

What he did wasn't a crime. What would they be trying?

 

[redcogs]

You can make a point about a) the class nature of law b) the perverse nature of this particular system of law c) wider political motives/outcome without shouting that he was guilty when he within the legal system he was tried in, he wasn't.

Were you part of the pro-sheridan SWP faction?

Not really. i'm a political party agnostic.

 

[redcogs]

What he did wasn't a crime. What would they be trying?

Allowing a jury to determine whether Coulson's behaviour was criminal, rather than a senior law lord would have satisfied (me).

Allowing Coulson out the side door is/was very poor indeed.

Plus, Coulson remains a vagina, and a free one. Very unacceptable.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Plus, Coulson remains a vagina, and a free one. Very unacceptable.

Unacceptable indeed, protoplasm like Coulson should never be compared to anything as marvellous as a vagina.

 

[butchersapron]

Allowing a jury to determine whether Coulson's behaviour was criminal, rather than a senior law lord would have satisfied (me).

Allowing Coulson out the side door is/was very poor indeed.

Plus, Coulson remains a vagina, and a free one. Very unacceptable.

So what you're saying is they should have had a different legal system and those recognisng that they don't in their commentary are shit socialists?

 

[redcogs]

Yes, i've been known to admire one or two myself.

Poor choice of word. i should have used the other one.

 

[redcogs]

So what you're saying is they should have had a different legal system and those recognisng that they don't in their commentary are shit socialists?

Christ, not really, if i criticised every socialist who disagree with me i'd have few friends.

More an observation that taking a class perspective will not necessarily lead to universal agreement amongst socialists, and can produce some surprises.

 

[butchersapron]

Christ, not really, if i criticised every socialist who disagree with me i'd have few friends.

More an observation that taking a class perspective will not necessarily lead to universal agreement amongst socialists, and can produce some surprises.

But they should have put in place a different legal system before proceeding with this trial right?

For the record - and not in reply to redcogs - the whole coulson thing was seen by the establishment as going outside of the establishment to a degree that had never happened before - and was opposed for that reason. Not in the way that they used outsiders before (note who went to jail every time this sort of stuff happened historically) but in how close they were invited - and as part of a new open meritocratic settlement of how the tory party was ran.

 

[DexterTCN]

Christ, not really, if i criticised every socialist who disagree with me i'd have few friends.....

Then you'd be a true socialist.

 

[butchersapron]

Looks to me like it was actually Sheridan and his defence team and the actions they chose to take in the prior trials that allowed Coulson's defence to put forward the irrelevancy motion that led to the judge dismissing the case:

In subsequent legal argument which could not be reported until now, defence counsel Murdo Macleod QC told the judge: "It's not a hacking trial, it's a trial about perjury."

Macleod told the judge, in the jury's absence, that in order to constitute perjury, the evidence alleged to be false must have been relevant to the original trial.

He pointed to the defence's closing speech in 2010, in which Sheridan said: "The reason I risked my defence to cite the likes of ... Andy Coulson to give evidence wasn't because I thought they were going to
help my defence, it was because I think I have a public service and a public duty to try and expose wrongdoing..."

Macleod called this section of his speech a "clear demonstration of irrelevance".

"It's as plain as a pikestaff," he said.

Macleod said what the Crown "could not get away from" was that Sheridan and the advocate depute in the original trial "had deemed Mr Coulson's evidence as irrelevant".

 

[danny la rouge]

Looks to me like it was actually Sheridan and his defence team and the actions they chose to take in the prior trials that allowed Coulson's defence to put forward the irrelevancy motion that led to the judge dismissing the case:

Indeed, as was remarked on by those with legal expertise beforehand.

 

[butchersapron]

Indeed, as was remarked on by those with legal expertise beforehand.

The Golden boy himself. Everything he now touches turns to shit it seems.

 

[brogdale]

Replete with irony...

Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World who served jail time for his part in the phone-hacking scandal, has been hired as a PR adviser for The Telegraph.

Coulson Chappell, his public relations firm which he started upon leaving prison, has been awarded a contract to boost the public image of the Telegraph Media Group, it has been reported.

Staff at The Daily Telegraph are said to be dismayed by the news. A senior editorial executive told The Guardian that Mr Coulson’s role was to promote both the daily and Sunday publications as truthful and authoritative publications.

The source said: “Can there be a greater irony than that? Coulson’s appointment in this respect is wholly inappropriate.”

 

[Dogsauce]

This thread makes me pine for the heady days of 2012, when it felt like we had these fuckers on the ropes.

It's not going to get better, is it?

 

[not-bono-ever]

Someone has taken back control and I fear it is them lot who always figured they should be in control anway.

Its enough to turn you to anarchism

 

[redcogs]

id turn to almost anything which had a good chance of wiping that fucking smugness off of Coulson's face.

Our side are well and truly taking a kicking, and there appears to be no half time recuperation available , just endless and unequal grind from well placed and well practiced ruling class bullies. It is distressing tbh.