A DESPERATE NEED...

A desperate need for News International

Much has been made of David Cameron’s (DC) blunder in relation to the phone hacking case, especially by the party formerly known as New Labour which moved swiftly to put the boot into DC. DC’s blunder whether unfortunate or calculated was not a criminal act and won’t land him in the International Court at The Hague, unlike some acts of one former New Labour leader. Legal issues and angry judges aside, at the end of the day, if the party formerly known as New Labour had not outlived its usefulness to News International then we may have found ourselves somewhere else. Perhaps employment opportunities within 10 Downing Street (and Scotland Yard) may have been as open to former News International employees under Gordon Brown as they were under DC. Perhaps if the party formerly known as New Labour had not been dropped by the Dirty Digger, then perhaps DC might have been attempting to put the boot in rather than Mr Milibland.  Additionally if the relationship with News International been maintained just exactly how vigorously would the party formerly known as New Labour pushed for any regulation of the news media or any enquiry into Fleet Streets misdeeds. Historically plenty of villains (elected or otherwise) and iffy media moguls - from Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Harold Sidney Harmsworth, etc onwards -  have trodden the floors of Downing Street from the days of Lloyd George, who openly sold honours for cash, onwards. Putting the legal rumpus to one side there will be consequences of this mess that last longer than the media headlines. Basically as long as the incestuous relationship between the (mostly) Westminster based political leaders and Fleet Street remains important then there is no chance of any independent regulation of the worst aspects of the press behaviour, as personified by the phone hacking scandal. 

CATCHING YOUR ATTENTION!

Two diverse news items have caught my eye and my attention over the last few days - both of which are worth sharing for different reasons. The first item was the New York Times coverage of the phone hacking scandal which is far more detailed than the coverage in the UK for a variety of diverse reason which amongst them may include the fact that said newspaper is not owned by the Dirty Digger or his minions and the US media feels no need to cosy up with Cameron and the Con Dems. It's a sizeable well research and highly detailed article and is well worth a read.

The second item that caught my attention was the coverage on the BBC of the immanent collapse (save for some sort of divine fiscal intervention) of Connaught, which despite its difficulties over recent moths was a FTSE 250 company which at one stage held a market value of well over £500m. The company, which specialises in social housing, is appointing administrators, as it tried and failed to secure funding for its £220m debts. Trading in Connaught's shares has now been suspended.

Why this should worry people is that this is (or was) a major private company which employed up to 10,000 people and previously made a good living from the public sector. Why we should worry even more is the fact that the Con Dem's are preparing the hack the hell out of public sector spending which could have a significant impact on numerous private companies, large and small that trade with and within the public sector.