Tag Archives: News Of The World scandal

Glenn Mulcaire May Have Hacked For Other Papers.

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Glenn Mulcaire’s notebooks have been making waves today as the phone hacking inquiry rumbles on. Twenty-eight News International employees are named in a notebook. The notebook also has a references to The Sun and Daily Mirror, which suggest that phone hacking may have happened at other papers.

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, said that senior executives had either condoned hacking or did not do the proper checks. In either case there was ‘room for a Nelsonian blind eye’ towards the ‘thriving cottage industry’.

Some of the notes that corresponded to News of the World employees reveals that they made 1,453 separate requests for information from Mulcaire.

The private detective also wrote ‘The Sun’ and a name relating to the Daily Mirror in his notebooks.

Mulcaire was imprisoned with the News of the World’s former royal editor Clive Goodman in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left on phones belonging to members of the royal family.

The inquiry heard that the investigator’s notes relating to the royal aides are marked ‘Clive’, ‘private’ and with the name of ‘A’, who cannot be named for fear of prejudicing the ongoing police investigation into phone hacking.

Robert Jay QC said: ‘One possible inference to be drawn is that ”A” was working with or for Goodman, and he or she may have instructed Mulcaire to carry out an interception.

‘It might be argued that ”A” could have been acting independently of Goodman, but that would not make much sense since Goodman was the royal editor.’

Mr Jay added: ‘Either News International senior management knew what was going on at the time and therefore, at the very least, condoned this illegal activity.

‘Or they didn’t and News International’s systems failed to the extent that there was failure in supervision, failure of oversight with possible failures of training and corporate ethos and checking of expenses claims.

‘And there’s room for a Nelsonian blind eye. In either version, we have clear evidence of a generic, systematic or cultural problem.

He added: ‘I suggest that it would not be unfair to comment that it was at the very least a thriving cottage industry.’

Mulcaire also hacked the phones of publicist Max Clifford, football agent Sky Andrew, chairman of the Professional Footballers Association Gordon Taylor, MP Simon Hughes and supermodel Elle Macpherson.

In total about 28 legible corner names are legible in the 11,000 pages of notes that police seized from Mulcaire, which relate to a total of 2,266 taskings and the names of 5,795 potential victims, the inquiry heard.

Lord Justice Leveson this morning opened the inquiry into media standards that was set up after the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

He is examining the ‘culture, practices and ethics of the press’.

The Court of Appeal judge was watched by Bob Dowler, the father of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Her phone was hacked by the News of the World.

Christopher Eccleston: I've Been Hacked, I'm Suing Murdoch & Why I Left Dr Who

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FROST EXCLUSIVE

Christopher Eccleston said today (Wednesday) that he found out he was hacked yesterday and plans to sue Rupert Murdoch. Eccleston added he was looking forward to sticking the boot into Murdoch.

The actor also disclosed that he didn’t work for three years after he left drama school in 1986 and that he left Dr Who because of politics, saying that he didn’t like the culture.

He said:

“I left Doctor Who because I could not get along with the senior people. I left because of politics. I did not see eye-to-eye with them. I didn’t agree with the way things were being run. I didn’t like the culture that had grown up, around the series. So I left, I felt, over a principle.

“I thought to remain, which would have made me a lot of money and given me huge visibility, the price I would have had to pay was to eat a lot of shit. I’m not being funny about that. I didn’t want to do that and it comes to the art of it, in a way. I feel that if you run your career and– we are vulnerable as actors and we are constantly humiliating ourselves auditioning. But if you allow that to go on, on a grand scale you will lose whatever it is about you and it will be present in your work.

“If you allow your desire to be successful and visible and financially secure – if you allow that to make you throw shades on your parents, on your upbringing, then you’re knackered. You’ve got to keep something back, for yourself, because it’ll be present in your work. A purity or an idealism is essential or you’ll become– you’ve got to have standards, no matter how hard work that is. So it makes it a hard road, really.

“You know, it’s easy to find a job when you’ve got no morals, you’ve got nothing to be compromised, you can go, ‘Yeah, yeah. That doesn’t matter. That director can bully that prop man and I won’t say anything about it’. But then when that director comes to you and says ‘I think you should play it like this’ you’ve surely got to go ‘How can I respect you, when you behave like that?’

“So, that’s why I left. My face didn’t fit and I’m sure they were glad to see the back of me. The important thing is that I succeeded. It was a great part. I loved playing him. I loved connecting with that audience. Because I’ve always acted for adults and then suddenly you’re acting for children, who are far more tasteful; they will not be bullshitted. It’s either good, or it’s bad. They don’t schmooze at after-show parties, with cocktails.”

Eccleston also revealed that he should have resisted making Gone in 60 Seconds and that he would have made more money on British TV, He also called GI Joe a “terrible movie.” The star added that he only makes bad movies in Hollywood for the money and would never “shit on his own doorstep.”

He also said that he didn’t want to be remembered, but if he was, it would be for Hamlet.

News Corp Withdraw BSkyB Bid

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News Corporation have withdrawn their BSkyB bid amid the ‘Hackgate’ scandal.

The move follows further claims as the fallout into phone hacking continues. With news stories about the now defunct News of the World getting worse by the day and spreading to the other Murdoch papers, the media mogul now faces fresh accusations. It would seem News Corp has forgotten the first rule of journalism: Never become the story.

People on the News of the World payroll are said to have illegally accessed Gordon Brown’s son’s medical records and, after hacking Milly Dowler’s voicemail, deleted the messages when her mailbox was full – a move that made her family, and police, believe she was still alive.

News Corporation own 39% of BSkyB and announced last year that it intended to buy the remaining 61%.

Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, commented: “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate. News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it.”

BSKYB chief executive Jeremy Daroch added: “We are delivering on our clear, consistent strategy and are building a larger, more profitable business for the long term. We remain very confident in the broadly based growth opportunity for BSkyB as we continue to add new customers, sell more products, develop our leading position in content and innovation, and expand the contribution from our other businesses.”

The announcement comes as online petitions against News Corporation increase. Actor Hugh Grant got the ball rolling when he wore a wire and in a case of ‘the biter, bit’, taped a former News of the World journalist confessing that their paper “bugged everyone.” The piece was for an edition of the New Statesman which was being guest edited by his ex-girlfriend Jemima Khan.

Hugh Grant for Prime Minister….

The Moratorium: Homeless Veterans

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Not often, but every-so-often subjects are broached and the country unifies in their opinion and it is such that the powers that be have to act accordingly. The problem is, is that it happens so rarely that the people to blame get away with it more often than is actually acknowledged!

The Moratorium is here to air those topics and the first one starts with one that is close to my heart and one that is a hot topic at the moment for kinds of reasons. The Armed Forces! Now it’s not them that is taboo, but aspects of how they are treated, so I think that the treatment of Veterans should be the key point of topic, as they appear to have disappeared from the lives of so many until a scandal hits the headlines and then it’s all up for a week, or two then it disappears from the eyes of the public once more.

Most people know that many of the homeless in London are veterans and as many as 70% of the males that are homeless in London are Vets, or have served in one of the forces. On leaving the forces they either fall by the wayside, or don’t know where to look for help, or even who to ask when they need direction, as many doors are shut when leaving.

The “Us” and “Them” attitude extends further than most people understand, as the mannerisms are very loyal and willing, so when all those realities are shattered on the “outside” it becomes a stigma to trust people, or even comprehend why civilians have little trust and camaraderie amongst themselves. Most of the problems stem from the fact you cannot untrained the trained! It’s that which plays the biggest factor in military veterans becoming a forgotten statistic and considered a nuisance at best.

When you’re representing the country for what it stands for and you get shot at, spat on and are alone in a strange place, the only difference from serving and being homeless is location! I have seen people urinate on people as they sleep in any space they can find and then the same people who do it run off when the victim wakes up! Granted, no person should be submitted to that regardless. This doesn’t detract from the fact that the veteran paid their taxes, accommodation and council tax like any other worker and is left fend without preparation after their service has ended.

There are funds, which people know as charities, that all military people pay into whilst serving. However, trying to get help from them when times are hard is like getting a piggyback ride from a Hippopotamus… Highly unlikely! I know that those that work in the likes of Royal British Legion (RBL), Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), Benevolent Fund AND whichever service charity is relevant will all have their side of the story to put across, but the stats speak for themselves and the money is still in their accounts whilst Vets are still on the street!

So why are there so many Vets on the streets and not being tended to? The answer is simple! Even more simple than it is to explain. The people that were once security cleared, numbered, monitored and trusted to die for their country get lost in the outside world and the outside system! Once a person comes out of the military, their rights change and they become a different number. No ID and uniform to show who they are, they are swallowed up and left to fend in civilian life.

Many of the Vets that turn to crime are not delinquents, but people who have no focus and are frustrated. They want to be somewhere where they can work, be appreciated and not have to worry where they will be sleeping come night time. A simple thing that eludes many of them and they are considered a profile for police and hostels to look out for. Sadly it’s not to guide them in the right direction, as many of the Veterans do not make it to an ex-military hostel for appropriate help.

The current government put out an announcement for a Covenant for Armed personnel, Veterans and their family, which may take around 2 years to be finalised, let alone implemented. In the time it takes to get that to any kind of working mandate, it may take as long as 10 years. And I wish it was an exaggeration. The amount that will be homeless, dead, or imprisoned after service between now and then will not make for good statistics.
On the fallout of the News Of The World scandal, many service families will be put through the trauma of going through losing their loved ones all over again and many of those families have more than one family member serving; so that will be something that will take its toll in the homeless stakes as many serving/veteran siblings go off the rails and end up being a statistic with all the other homeless. It is considered the tour of duty that no medal is awarded for and none will be relevant for the type of conflicts that are endured.