Missing Milly Dowler's voicemail "hacked by News of the World"

[MellySingsDoom]

marina had an affair with moron? i thought it was a common-or-garden boyf/girlf thing...

Twas an affair initially, I recall - the Moron dumped his then wife for her. Covered muchly by Private Eye, much to the (hilarious) annoyance of Moron.

 

[DaveCinzano]

marina had an affair with moron? i thought it was a common-or-garden boyf/girlf thing...

Tell that to his wife of the time!

 

[Badgers]

So have I missed much since this morning?

 

[MellySingsDoom]

Moron has always been bent though - as anyone familiar with the City Slickers / Viglen case would know.

Indeed so - wasn't it the Slickers who copped the hand of Plod whilst Moron lived to fight another day?

 

[Barking_Mad]

Andy Hayman, poor dear....

I've been through the mill several times in court, in journalistic interviews. I've never been treated like yesterday. There was cat-calling, there was loud laughter from the wings of Chris Bryant. It was an appalling display from them. The irony really is that they don't like being treated in this way disproportionately and yet they're prepared to put us through that.

I think all four of us were up for tough questioning, but not on that sort of basis. And to be accused, as I was, of being a dodgy geezer, which is probably on the basis on my accent, I think that's a really poor show ...

Despite trying to actually be helpful to them, all they want to do is score points and most of that is political and with this sort of lynch mob mentality. Bring on the formal inquiry with a respectable judge, when we can actually get some sense out of this. But what we've actually got here is a very, very senior, I guess you could call it a court. It's non-negotiable to be able to go there and when you go along there, you're treated like a bit of dirt.

I'm not asking for special treatment, I just ask for a little bit of respect and not to be basically as a product because of the way in which you speak.

 

[killer b]

i think it bears repeating that dave isn't doing the debate this afternoon, on account of being 'too busy'.

i can't imagine that being a popular move.

 

[MellySingsDoom]

i think it bears repeating that dave isn't doing the debate this afternoon, on account of being 'too busy'.

i can't imagine that being a popular move.

Has he got an appointment with a hard-drive washer/paper shredder/phone records wiper etc?

 

[agricola]

Indeed so - wasn't it the Slickers who copped the hand of Plod whilst Moron lived to fight another day?

I have edited it since to make that very point, but yes - Moron only ever got a slap on the wrist from the PCC. He was "cleared" by the DTi, because of course there was nothing wrong with putting all his money, and a lot of his wifes money, on shares in one firm the day before his journalists (who has you correctly point out got convicted) wrote an article which boosted the share price.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Is there still PMQs today, and will Cameron be there? All I could find was that he'd be making a statement afterwards.

 

[ViolentPanda]

If Gordon Brown is part of a 'political elite', I'm Winnie Mandela.

Amandla, Winnie!

I suspect your idea of what constitutes "the political elite" and the broader definition only partly coincide, but anyone who garnered the sort of contacts GB did as Chancellor and as Prime Minister should be considered a part of "the political elite". He may not retain credibility with the electorate, but as someone who can still wield power and, more importantly, influence, he's definitely part of the in-group.

 

[Maidmarian]

i think it bears repeating that dave isn't doing the debate this afternoon, on account of being 'too busy'.

i can't imagine that being a popular move.

Yep ----- AND he's excusing himself by saying he has to meet the Dowlers. Isn't going to wash ----- I hope.

 

[agricola]

Is there still PMQs today, and will Cameron be there? All I could find was that he'd be making a statement afterwards.

He is doing PMQs, wont be leading for the government in the Labour debate on Murdoch. He is right to do so - after all, the debate is fundamentally pointless and its been brought by the opposition anyway.

 

[Barking_Mad]

i think it bears repeating that dave isn't doing the debate this afternoon, on account of being 'too busy'.

i can't imagine that being a popular move.

He didn't turn up the other day either. Brown trousers and bicycle clips time for poor Dave.

 

[ViolentPanda]

So's John Major. He's about as 'elite' as a fish finger sandwich.

Have a look at his post-Prime Ministerial CV some time. He was, for example, a member of Hakluyt & Co's "international advisory board" for several years, alongside former top-flight politicians and "public servants" (i.e. heads of intelligence agencies and military organisations) from around the capitalist world.

It's not what you know, it's who you know that makes you "elite".

 

[DaveCinzano]

From Private Eye #1039 (19 October 2001):

…For some reason, however, Hyde fails to direct any of her biting wit at [then-Sun editor David] Yelland's equally absurd tabloid rival, Mirror editor Piers Morgan. Why not?…

Whilst looking for that I also came across this cracker about Paul McMullan (Private Eye #1023 (9 March 2001):

After the recent scandal at a north London hospital which employed a cleaner with TB, undercover News Of The World hack Paul McMullan applied for a job as a porter at the same hospital. Sure enough, he was taken on without being given any health checks or basic hygiene training. Great scoop!

Not for long, alas. When McMullan arrived for his first day at work he was teamed up with a porter who had joined a week or so earlier and would show him the ropes. To his consternation, he recognised his new colleague as… an undercover hack from the Sunday Mirror!

(Apologies for quality of pics, just quickies with the cameraphone.)

 

[killer b]

major & brown are members of the political elite however you define the word. how could they not be?

 

[London_Calling]

Don't you need people to take your phone calls to be part of an elite?

 

[weltweit]

From Private Eye #1039 (19 October 2001):

View attachment 16349

That is very funny !!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Hmmm... put a question on the open thread on the Guardian asking why it was Rushbridger felt the need to tell Cameron about Coulson's dodgy past. This morning...

Phone-hacking scandal: Tuesday 12 July

Your comment 12 July 2011 8:45PM

This comment has been removed by a moderator.

There was nothing in there that was libelous....

 

[London_Calling]

It's what it would encourage and where it would lead..

 

[DotCommunist]

i think it bears repeating that dave isn't doing the debate this afternoon, on account of being 'too busy'.

i can't imagine that being a popular move.

so he has fannied out of pmqs. You know he is bricking it when he fears to face millipede

 

[Kizmet]

Used car salesmen... rarely around when your big end goes and you call in the warranty.

 

[MellySingsDoom]

DaveCinzano - just re-read the Eye/Hyde thing, and realised her piss-poor mental health "joke". Hmm. See here Ms Hyde commenting on the X Factor in a "Lost In Showbiz" piece:

Still, that's not all the drama concerning the programme. On Tuesday, the Sun splashed with news of Shirlena Johnson, a 30-year-old mother-of-one who appeared on Saturday's show and was put through to the bootcamp stage of the competition – but apparently "hid a serious mental illness from show bosses". As you know, the cure for mental illness is being plastered on the front page of the Sun day after day, and the paper have duly afforded Shirlena this treatment, declaring that she is a "ticking timebomb", according to "worried medics".

Apparently the "cure for mental illness" is to also make comments in the Guardian about sectioning people (irrespective of whether they're Murdoch scum or not). Hypocrisy, anyone?

 

[treelover]

'Only last month David Cameron, Ed Miliband and others were paying homage to the tycoon at his London summer party. If you had told Cameron and Miliband over the champagne that only a few weeks later that they would be uniting in the Commons to pass a motion opposing Murdoch's bid for BSkyB they would have thought you were barmy. Yet that's exactly what's going to happen today. As the New York Times has argued, Britain is going through its own version of the Arab spring. Truly, a spell has been broken.'


no we are not, this is the elites arguing, fighting amongst themselves, not the people rising up..

 

[agricola]

so he has fannied out of pmqs. You know he is bricking it when he fears to face millipede

Its not PMQs. It is the debate on the Opposition motion, and he is right to do so - the motion is now pointless.

 

[treelover]

why is that?

 

[London_Calling]

Pointless to a point. If no one opposes the motion there won't even be a vote. A vote, sitting in Hansard for posterity, would send a crystal clear message to Murdoch.

 

[treelover]

apparently sales of all NI titles are down, good, but on what grounds, the DM pushes the same bile, etc..

 

[Santino]

Its not PMQs. It is the debate on the Opposition motion, and he is right to do so - the motion is now pointless.

I'm sure that's how people will perceive it. He's judging the public reaction to this so well, isn't he?

 

[editor]

Pointless to a point. If no one opposes the motion there won't even be a vote. A vote, sitting in Hansard for posterity, would send a crystal clear message to Murdoch.

A vote is important because it'll (a) send out a message to Murdoch just how reviled his company is and (b) it'll reveal who's still in his pocket