Revelations?

On many levels I don't care, but amid all the obvious innuendo - most of the papers are clearly trying to tell us something whilst trying to remain within the boundaries of libel law - what the latest 'revelations', if we can call them that, confirm is the complete lack of judgement by Cameron. And also how shallow and debased our Parliament and politics has become.

One does query the timing though...a sense of trying to change narrative amid what would be far more damaging revelations about the Tory party?

"You Get Found Out"

In truth I've not been following the details of the Leveson Inquiry that closely. I suspect it won't tell us much that we don't already know or have guessed at - it'll only just put slightly more detail into the mix.

But it is rather nauseating watching various vested interests trying to take the moral high over the revelations when they were all involved in the cosy consensus at one point or another. This is not a 'left / right' battle but an 'us and them' one.

In the meantime one can take some amusement at the impact on Cameron and revel in his discomfort. Alarmed Downing Street aides have apparently remarked:

“We are aware that we have created a ------- great monster here,”

We're not even two years into this government and already it's resembling a shambles, the lack of ability or substance at the top obvious. Cameron's lack of judgement is coming to the fore.

Even Murdoch appears to be imbued with similar characteristics at times. Asked whether he thought the Prime Minister was “lightweight” during his time as opposition leader, Mr Murdoch replied: 

“No. Not then, certainly.” 

Not then? The implication is clear what he thinks now, but it leaves one wondering what took him so long to reach such a conclusion?

It reminds me of this excerpt below from the classic book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby:

One of the great things about sport is its cruel clarity; there is no such thing, for example, as a bad 100m runner, or a hopeless centre-half who got lucky; in sport, you get found out.

I'm tempted to apply this to the Cameron-led coalition. "Wait 'till Dave gets in" was the cry before the election. Well now he's in, he's been found out.

Update: As Richard North says, Cameron's now damaged goods

On The Rack

Says it all really: the lying PM, the lying Media, the corrupt MP, the incompetent Policeman

Don't Panic!

It seems that Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation this evening, with clear criticisms of Cameron, has caused some turmoil in Dale Towers:

I can't believe I am even writing this, but it is no longer an impossibility to imagine this scandal bringing down the Prime Minister or even the government. OK, some of you reading this may think that last sentence is a deranged ranting, and you may be right. Indeed, I hope you are. But Sir Paul Stephenson launched a thinly veiled attack on David Cameron in his resignation statement and the Prime Minister is already on the ropes about the propriety of his relationship with Andy Coulson.

But for the first time since 2005, some people are thinking about life after Cameron. And that's not good. Not good at all.

Unsurprisingly I beg to differ with the last sentence.

Constitutional Issues?

Ah bless, Labour MP Chris Bryant is worried about "constitutional issues", in a speech this afternoon about the phone hacking scandal, he says (my emphasis):

It pains me to say this but I think the honest truth is a lot of lies have been told to a lot of people. When police officers tell lies, or at least half-truths to ministers of the Crown and then Parliament ends up being misled, I think that is a major constitutional issue for us to face.

So no prizes for guessing on how he votes regarding the EU (click to enlarge):

And Mr Bryant has never been guilty of half truths himself, oh no:

Quite extraordinarily, the Tories have even flirted with the idea of trying to opt-out of the European arrest warrant scheme, which has been used to fast-track the extraditions of over 350 fugitives from British justice since it took effect in 2004. The average extradition time has fallen from 18 months to 50 days. These are not any old criminals, either. These are people wanted for terrorism, murder and child sex abuse

The same warrant that did this, and nor did he tell half truths here during a debate on the European Union bill (my emphasis):

Chris Bryant: Referendums in different countries operate in different ways. I think that I have heard the Minister say on a couple of occasions both here and elsewhere that there was never a referendum that supported the Lisbon treaty. That is completely untrue, as the Spaniards were the first to hold a referendum and it had an 83% or 84% yes vote, so he is wrong about that.

Spain's referendum was on the EU constitution not the Lisbon Treaty.

Lowest Of The Low

Claims that News Of The World hacked Milly Dowler's mobile after she had been abducted are shocking. Not only was the voicemail accessed but messages were deleted when the inbox became full - leaving Milly Dowler's parents to hope that their daughter was still alive. Truly despicable stuff.

Predictably and understandably there has been outrage from all parties, from twitter and the usual suspects and it's hard not to agree with Labour MP Tom Watson's strong words.

But how much do outraged people really care? Ranting on twitter is not going to worry Murdoch's 'evil empire'; his concern is money. So will there now be mass boycotts of The Sun, The News Of The World, The Times or Sky and Sky Sports in protests? The answer will be a predictable no. Are Scousers the only people of this country with a backbone?

And what about the political parties? Labour didn't care when they cosied up to Murdoch because it suited them, before they threw their toys out the pram in 'disgust' when the The Sun ditched them for the Tories who cosied up to them. Will Cameron or indeed Ed Miliband now distance themselves from News International?

And no outrage over the corruption of the Met who have covered up the scandal (under a Labour government) or that other papers are being unusally quiet about the whole hacking scandal. It's highly unlikely that this was a one off in a case such as this.

As Obnoxio the Clown says: "We get the government we deserve. We also get the media we deserve. "

The inevitable outcome is outrage and condemnation today and tomorrow a phone call into SkySports; "can I renew my subscription in time for the new football season".