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prefect
Sep 11, 2001

No one, Woodhouse.
No one.




Dead Man’s Band

Iohannes posted:

First the rumours were that he was gay, then a pederast. The more recent ones connect him with Thomas Hamilton. They're generally noticeable as anti-Scottish and anti-Masonic ravings by the kind of person who still talks about Zionist conspiracies and the Soviet European Union aka Mike James

Are "gay" and "pederast" things that people generally associate with the Scottish? :psyduck:

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PiCroft
Jun 11, 2010

I'm sorry, did I break all your shit? I didn't know it was yours

I had to google Mike James. Assuming you aren't for some reason talking a NBA player, I read a few of his writings and he is quite clearly certifiable. If Talk Radio was a thing in this country, he'd be the guy at the start of Children Of The Corn on the radio, exhorting for "Amens" and the coming Holy War.

Sex Vicar
Oct 11, 2007

I thought this was a swingers party...

PiCroft posted:

I had to google Mike James. Assuming you aren't for some reason talking a NBA player, I read a few of his writings and he is quite clearly certifiable. If Talk Radio was a thing in this country, he'd be the guy at the start of Children Of The Corn on the radio, exhorting for "Amens" and the coming Holy War.

Hasn't he been on TalkSport FM a couple of times? That station attracts some real headcases (And even employs them, in some cases).

Also no-one ran with "Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Guess who's been hacking after all?" as a headline over the Mirror action. Missed opportunity, lads.

Lord of the Llamas
Jul 9, 2002

EULER'VE TO SEE IT VENN SOMEONE CALLS IT THE WRONG THING AND PROVOKES MY WRATH

Twisted Perspective posted:

There have been conspiracy theories about Gordon Brown being a paedophile floating around the net for years.

That sounds like one of the most baseless rumours ever. Besides, doesn't the timing seem to suggest it was an aid of a pre-Thatcher PM?

Manic_Misanthrope
Jul 1, 2010


Please oh please let it be Thatcher herself.

marktheando
Nov 4, 2006

Lord of the Llamas posted:

That sounds like one of the most baseless rumours ever. Besides, doesn't the timing seem to suggest it was an aid of a pre-Thatcher PM?

According to this article- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/was-there-a-paedophile-ring-in-no-10-mp-tom-watson-demands-probe-8224702.html this started with the arrest of a paedophile in 1992, so it would have to be Major or earlier. But everyone knows it's Ted Heath.

Jose
Jul 24, 2007

Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Manic_Misanthrope posted:

Please oh please let it be Thatcher herself.

I'm not sure what advice Jimmy Saville would have had for her

A Winner is Jew
Feb 14, 2008

by exmarx

prefect posted:

Are "gay" and "pederast" things that people generally associate with the Scottish? :psyduck:

Like the way drunken poor is associated with the Irish and Worlds Largest Parking Lot is associated with Wales?

Banano
Jan 10, 2005
Soiled Meat

prefect posted:

Are "gay" and "pederast" things that people generally associate with the Scottish? :psyduck:

Yes.

http://youtu.be/ybQCNb4AuW4

http://youtu.be/Jgm3xMWQVT0

prefect
Sep 11, 2001

No one, Woodhouse.
No one.




Dead Man’s Band

A Winner is Jew posted:

Like the way drunken poor is associated with the Irish and Worlds Largest Parking Lot is associated with Wales?

All I know about Wales is that Terry Jones is from there, and that they have no vowels. I thought it was relatively mountainous, though. (Which would seem to inhibit parking.)


Thanks for the links -- that guy is funny. :tipshat:

Pozzo
Nov 4, 2009

What is like posting in a thread?
A Ballista, that's what!

marktheando posted:

According to this article- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/was-there-a-paedophile-ring-in-no-10-mp-tom-watson-demands-probe-8224702.html this started with the arrest of a paedophile in 1992, so it would have to be Major or earlier. But everyone knows it's Ted Heath.

From my understanding of the transcript of PMQs it seemed that Watson was referring to "a minister from the early 90's" which would seem to indicate Majors government

Strawman
Feb 9, 2008

Tortuga means turtle, and that's me. I take my time but I always win.


prefect posted:

Are "gay" and "pederast" things that people generally associate with the Scottish? :psyduck:

Only their national heroes.

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

It keeps going and going

quote:

Former No 10 spin doctor is told ‘lurid’ emails may have been hacked

Scotland Yard has told a former No 10 spin doctor his emails may have been hacked when he worked at Downing Street, the Standard can reveal.

Detectives investigating computer hacking have contacted Damian McBride to say they have information that he was compromised when he worked as director of communications for Gordon Brown.

McBride, 38, resigned in 2009 after political blogger Guido Fawkes obtained private emails that showed he had tried to launch a smear campaign against senior Tories.

Mr McBride sent the emails from a high-security Downing Street account to fellow Labour spin doctor Derek Draper, a close friend of Lord Mandelson. It is understood Mr Draper has also been contacted by the Yard.

The memos, which reportedly contained “vile” and “lurid” claims about David Cameron, George Osborne and Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, were revealed when Guido Fawkes — real name Paul Staines — passed them to Sunday newspapers in April 2009.

There is no suggestion Mr Staines hacked Mr Mcbride’s emails nor commissioned anyone to unlawfully access them on his behalf.

Detectives from Operation Tuleta — a Met probe into computer-hacking — have contacted Mr McBride and Mr Draper to say their emails may have been unlawfully accessed.

A source said: “The police got in touch with McBride and Draper to seek a meeting to discuss the Guido Fawkes emails. They said they had been passed information from a third party.”

Both men are understood to be reluctant to meet the detectives. A source said: “Both want to let sleeping dogs lie. It was a very damaging episode.”

The scandal — called “Smeargate”— ended the political career of Mr McBride, one of Mr Brown’s most trusted advisors.

The allegations concerning Mr Cameron are thought to be linked to an interview he once gave about his personal health.

Those about Mr Osborne are believed to be based on his Oxford University days.

The unsubstantiated smears were set to feature on a new Left-wing blog called Red Rag edited by Mr Draper. However, the website — which was supposed to rival Guido Fawkes — was shelved after the scandal broke.

At the time, Labour accused the Right-wing blog of illegally accessing the emails and suspicions were further raised when the blogger claimed he had destroyed his hard drives following the incident.

Mr Staines says they were obtained by legitimate methods and it is understood he still has the relevant material.

He told the Standard: “I know the source of the information and they were outraged at Draper and McBride’s lies. If the police had any evidence they would have knocked on my door.”

Operation Tuleta was triggered last year by claims in a BBC Panorama programme that the News of the World hacked an Army spy’s computer to obtain information on an IRA mole. It has since expanded to include other alleged criminal invasions of privacy.

Mr McBride and Mr Draper refused to comment.

Temascos
Sep 3, 2011

The Hacking Scandal has officially become the Duracell Battery of scandals, it just keeps going and going on. It's also the first time I have heard about this attempted "smear" camapaign about the health of tory officials, it's such a non-issue as I'm sure they have personal doctors watching them every step of the way, why risk a scandal over that?

Byolante
Mar 23, 2008

by Cyrano4747

Temascos posted:

The Hacking Scandal has officially become the Duracell Battery of scandals, it just keeps going and going on. It's also the first time I have heard about this attempted "smear" camapaign about the health of tory officials, it's such a non-issue as I'm sure they have personal doctors watching them every step of the way, why risk a scandal over that?

Perhaps the health issue was freebasing.

Mr. Squishy
Mar 22, 2010

A country where you can always get richer.

Temascos posted:

It's also the first time I have heard about this attempted "smear" camapaign about the health of tory officials, it's such a non-issue as I'm sure they have personal doctors watching them every step of the way, why risk a scandal over that?

This is the first you've heard about Damien McBride and co? It was back when Brown was PM, a fairly big scandal at the time and not all the smears were about their physical health.

Rude Dude With Tude
Apr 19, 2007

Your President approves this text.

Brown Moses posted:

It keeps going and going

It would be frankly outstanding if Paul "poo poo" Staines gets dragged to court over this.

Nuclear Spoon
Aug 18, 2010
If by any chance you eventually encounter anyone worth pissing on, please literally piss on them.

Hong XiuQuan
Feb 19, 2008

"Without justice for the Palestinians there will be no peace in the Middle East."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

It would be frankly outstanding if Paul "poo poo" Staines gets dragged to court over this.

Would really be the cherry on the shitcake

Loonytoad Quack
Aug 24, 2004

High on Shatner's Bassoon
Tomorrow's Mail has another breaking story in the hacking scandal:



https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/262269773889536000/photo/1/large

Temascos
Sep 3, 2011

Mr. Squishy posted:

This is the first you've heard about Damien McBride and co? It was back when Brown was PM, a fairly big scandal at the time and not all the smears were about their physical health.

Yeah, I wasn't exactly the "interested in news" guy at the time, student apathy was my way, guilty as charged there. :)

Interesting to see what will come out of the PR Firm's hacking, I would say its shocking (But given everything so far, I've gotten numb to it) but not surprising people would get data from it.

Zephro
Nov 23, 2000

I suppose I could part with one and still be feared...

Temascos posted:

Yeah, I wasn't exactly the "interested in news" guy at the time, student apathy was my way, guilty as charged there. :)

quote:

The ideas contained in the email include spreading several false rumours: that David Cameron had an embarrassing medical condition; that George Osborne took drugs with a prostitute – an old allegation in the public domain which Osborne has flatly denied; allegations of a sexual nature about the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries, which she vehemently denies and has consulted her lawyers about; and about a Tory MP allegedly getting publicity for a firm run by his partner. There is no evidence that any of the claims are true.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/12/damian-mcbride-derek-draper-emails

From the "make poo poo up" school of political blogging.

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

From today's Independent

quote:

Mirror hacking probe names six reporters

A secret dossier on phone-hacking inside Trinity Mirror, prepared by worried investors in the struggling UK publisher, claims the practice was organised on a "systematic" scale inside the company's national titles. The scathing report, seen by The Independent on Sunday and begun while evidence was still being taken by the Leveson inquiry, says journalists on the Daily Mirror and People newspapers regularly accessed private mobile phone voicemails to obtain major stories.

The probe was started by shareholders in the Mirror Group who are concerned at the impact the phone-hacking scandal could have on the future finances of the company.

The dossier names six reporters from the Daily Mirror and People who, it claims, regularly used phone- hacking. After being notified that they featured in the private dossier, the journalists said that if any of them are charged, they plan to cite "common practice" as their defence.

For legal reasons, The IoS has decided not to name the journalists.

More than 20 per cent was wiped of Trinity Mirror's share price last week following the news that four high-profile celebrities had begun High Court legal action over breach of privacy and illegally accessing voicemails. They include the former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. More claims are currently being prepared.

The new civil actions are being co-ordinated by Mr Justice Vos, the judge who has also heard the first and second waves of hacking claims lodged by victims of News International.

Former and current Mirror journalists are helping the lawyer Mark Lewis who is representing the claimants. Mr Lewis is the lawyer who helped reveal the full extent of phone hacking inside News International.

Investors commissioned the Mirror probe several months ago to evaluate the commercial risk attached to investing in the Mirror Group. They feared that the previous Mirror management, led by Sly Bailey when she was chief executive, had provided an incomplete picture of what took place over the past decade.

One source said: "We wanted to discover exactly what went on. The Mirror is in a precarious position and any big legal claims could hit it hard. Look at what happened at the News of the World once that can of worms was opened." Shares in Trinity fell again to 53p on Friday, valuing the newspaper group at £166m.

Former senior Mirror reporters are the sources for the new evidence. They say information about the Ulrika Jonsson and Sven Goran Eriksson affair was obtained by hacking and that competitors, especially the now defunct NOTW, accelerated the practice which was outlawed in 2000. One said : "Once the Mirror broke the story about Sven and Ulrika, News International knew how they'd done it but couldn't do it themselves, so they hired people who did."

Similar methods are alleged to have been used to obtain a story of Amanda Holden cheating on Les Dennis with Neil Morrissey. Piers Morgan was editor at the time. Morgan, now a star presenter at the CNN news channel in the United States, has denied any involvement in hacking.

The report claims that hacking was initially practised by show-business staff and claims senior executives knew of the practice. One senior Mirror executive, who had left his phone at home, reportedly turned to one of the journalists named in the report during an editorial conference and jokingly asked if he could pick up his mobile voicemail for him.

Ms Bailey denied all knowledge of phone hacking when she gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry. No investigation took place because there was no evidence of any wrong-doing, she claimed.

Yesterday it was reported that Scotland Yard had received a fifth allegation of phone-hacking. Murray Harkin, former business partner of the Countess of Wessex, claimed a 2001 Sunday Mirror article was obtained by phone-hacking.

The new chief executive of Trinity Mirror, Simon Fox, last week was forced to announce an internal inquiry into phone-hacking. He agreed to the investigation after pressure from some of the group's major City investors.

Although the cost of the scandal has yet to be fully calculated, News International is understood to have so far paid out more than £200m in compensation and legal fees.

Trinity Mirror said yesterday it had yet to receive any claims and repeated the assurance that "all our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct".

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

Some very interesting thoughts on Jill Dando's murder and phone hacking from my fellow Hackgate investigator Greg Callus, highly recommended:
http://gregcallus.tumblr.com/post/34500136975/jill-dando-john-yates-operation-oxborough

dimebag dinkman
Feb 20, 2003

Brown Moses posted:

From today's Independent

Mirror journalists posted:

they plan to cite "common practice" as their defence.

Ooh.

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

Did anyone who applied for the BBC journalism training scheme hear about the results of the verbal reasoning test yet?

Munin
Nov 14, 2004



"We Will All Go Together When We Go"

marktheando
Nov 4, 2006


The George Osborne thing is based on this photo right?

Zephro
Nov 23, 2000

I suppose I could part with one and still be feared...

marktheando posted:

The George Osborne thing is based on this photo right?


I believe so, but AFAIK the other stuff is completely invented.

goddamnedtwisto
Dec 31, 2004

If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you
Fun Shoe

Zephro posted:

I believe so, but AFAIK the other stuff is completely invented.

Well not *completely* invented, it's stuff like the Osborne rumour for which tenuous, circumstantial evidence existed and they were going to try to crank up the rumour mill and then drop that circumstantial evidence into the mix so as to ensure it would be interpreted as proving the rumours. They had no actual evidence, or even reason to believe that evidence existed, to support the rumours, just things like that photo that might be able to be interpreted as damning evidence.

Zephro
Nov 23, 2000

I suppose I could part with one and still be feared...
What, even for things like Cameron's 'embarrassing medical issue'? Wasn't that an accusation that he had some chronic STD or other sexual issue?

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

quote:

Leveson report delayed until late November

Lord Justice Leveson's report on the regulation of newspapers following his inquiry into the culture and practices of the press has been delayed until the end of November.

Leveson's conclusions and recommendations on the future of press regulation had been expected initially in October but got pushed back to November and now sources say it will be published at the end rather of the month.

The exact timetable to which Leveson is working has been a closely guarded secret. He has always said he would report "in the autumn", leaving newspaper editors and proprietors on tenterhooks for the past two months.

Speculation has been rife that the report could be put back to December but sources say Leveson wants to get it out before George Osborne's autumn statement on the economy on 5 December.

There has been intense lobbying in the past few weeks by those in both sides of the debate on stricter press regulation. Some newspapers, notably the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, as well as politicians including Boris Johnson, have warned of dire consequences if statutory regulation were to be recommended by Leveson and taken up by David Cameron.

The two papers are among those backing a new lobby group, Free Speech Network, which launched last week warning that an "officially regulated press is the glib, easy, dangerous solution".

A Free Speech Network pamphlet said: "It would spell the slow, painful death of a raucous, audacious and impertinent press able to speak truth to power on behalf of its readers and entertaining enough to secure their loyalty. We would all be the losers."

The Free Speech Network is opposing the Hacked Off campaign for tougher press regulation being fronted by Hugh Grant.

Former BBC chairman Michael Grade told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that press curbs would not have stopped the publication of topless photographs of Kate Middleton.

Referrring to Ireland where the pictures were published, Grade said: "I doubt it has escaped Lord Justice Leveson's attention that the photographs of the duchess were published in countries with regulatory regimes offered as possible solutions for the UK.

"On this evidence, his menu of available options seems to be shrinking," said Grade.

Tory politicians also appear to be sharpening their knives for a battle over Leveson. On Sunday, the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said the government should be reluctant to bring in new laws to regulate newspapers following the publication of Leveson's report.

Pickles said the press was working towards a way of offering proper recourse for those with legitimate complaints, adding that the right of newspapers to expose corruption must be protected.

He said that ministers must be very careful about introducing statutory regulation if Lord Justice Leveson recommends a new independent watchdog to monitor the press.

The Labour party, which helped pressure David Cameron into launching the Leveson inquiry in July last year in the aftermath of revelations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked, is likely to back his recommendations "as long as they are reasonable", said one source.

This source argued that statues governing issues such as defamation and data protection already apply to the press and there is nothing to be feared from a law that gives legal standing to bodies such as the libel resolutions arm of a watchdog.

Lord Black, executive director of Telegraph Media Group and chairman of the Press Standards Board of Finance, which funds the Press Complaints Commission, has also been lobbying against any form of statutory-based system, warning it could take three years to establish, and possibly longer because of the threat of a legal challenge.

During prime minister's questions last week, Cameron said what mattered was an independent regulator that could impose fines and investigate wrongdoing by newspapers.

FightingMongoose
Oct 19, 2006
What's the significance of this speech on Osbourne's in December?

Zephro
Nov 23, 2000

I suppose I could part with one and still be feared...

FightingMongoose posted:

What's the significance of this speech on Osbourne's in December?
To tell us all about how tractor production is up 544% and the economy will reach the sunlit uplands any minute now.

This whole "oh no, not statutory regulation" approach that so much of the press is adopting boggles the mind. If they'd found estate agents routinely breaking the law you can bet the response wouldn't be "welp, better let them self-regulate". The naked, unclothed self-interest is breathtaking.

Hong XiuQuan
Feb 19, 2008

"Without justice for the Palestinians there will be no peace in the Middle East."

Zephro posted:

To tell us all about how tractor production is up 544% and the economy will reach the sunlit uplands any minute now.

This whole "oh no, not statutory regulation" approach that so much of the press is adopting boggles the mind. If they'd found estate agents routinely breaking the law you can bet the response wouldn't be "welp, better let them self-regulate". The naked, unclothed self-interest is breathtaking.

What is mind-boggling is how many politicians seem to support the lack of legislation. gently caress you Pickles.

Ichabod Sexbeast
Dec 5, 2011

Giving 'em the old razzle-dazzle

FightingMongoose posted:

What's the significance of this speech on Osbourne's in December?

So he can't blame the triple-dip on the lack of the report.

Mr Cuddles
Jan 29, 2010

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/31/sun-phone-mp

quote:

The Sun newspaper has been ordered by a high court judge to reveal what it knows about the alleged theft of a mobile phone belonging to Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, which was reportedly handed to the paper by a member of the public.

Sex Vicar
Oct 11, 2007

I thought this was a swingers party...
Private Eye had some early reports in Street Of Shame the last few issues saying that some editors received advanced warnings of criticism in Leveson's report, especially Paul Dacre (for "complete failure of leadership") so they can respond to it when it's released. I'd imagine that's spooked them into going full tilt at Leveson and setting up lobby groups as apparently it's "explicitly damning" of the entire industry according to the Eye. So their best chance is to try neuter it by lobbying the government to try kill any proposals Leveson recommends as when it comes out, there's going to be even more scrutiny on them.

Brown Moses
Feb 22, 2002

New post from my regular blog contributor on a mysterious fellow called Andre Baker.

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Rodatose
Jul 8, 2008

corn, corn, corn
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/01/fox_news_s_roger_ailes_offered_off_the_record_help_to_condoleeza_rice_in.html

quote:

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, Gawker's John Cook recently got his hands on a handwritten note Fox News president Roger Ailes sent to Condoleezza Rice in March 2005, shortly after Rice was confirmed as George W Bush's secretary of state. On its face, it certainly doesn't make the cable news channel chief look like a model of journalist impartiality. It reads in full:

quote:

Madam Secretary:
Great first month. You handled hearing beautifully. If I can be of help off the record—just call.
Warm Regards,
Roger
It's worth pointing out that there's no evidence to suggest that Rice did indeed take Ailes up on his offer. Rice responded with what looks to largely be a form letter, and a Fox News spokeswoman, likewise, denied that Rice ever asked for the help Ailes had offered, adding that Ailes "speaks to powerful people from the left and the right all the time" in his role as the head of a news organization.
While Ailes certainly wouldn't have been the first journalist to try to butter up a government official with kind words—many Washington reporter-source exchanges are full of that kind of "no, really, I agree with you" type of opening pleasantries before they get down to business—the letter does little to refute the perception that Fox News falls somewhat sort of its "fair and balanced" promise.
To wit, here's Cook's closing paragraph:
Please just imagine for a moment how Fox News would cover the publication of a private note from the editor of the New York Times to an Obama Administration official offering "help off the record."

This isn't the first time Alies has been accused putting his word in with those running the show; Ailes wrote a letter to Bush the week after 9/11 in a confidential communication saying "The American public would tolerate waiting and would be patient, but only as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible."

It's not that big of a story in the whole scandal of the Newscorp/News International narrative. I just mention it because that note to Rice felt awfully reminiscent to me of "Professionally, we're definitely in this together." (It fits better into the context of this thread if you take the 'this' to mean 'the culture of trying to call the shots of international politics from behind the scenes.')

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