Is this the beginning of the end of Rupert Murdoch's media empire?

And Cameron's arrogant disregard of the good advice he received from various and varied souces telling him not to go ahead with Coulson's appointment.

It show how desperate he was to work with the Murdoch empire- he risked all to have an "insider" on board. ("It was The Sun wot won it"). Now we realise how far the rot had spread.

Is it even remotely possible that James (& the rest at the top of NOTW & NI) could do a bit of gaol time for their knowledge & apparent endorsement of the phone tapping activities? And for their previously given evidence?

No ... probably not.
That sort of retribution generally only impacts on underlings, yes?

Ah. We 3 seem to have all posted at the same time.
Thanks for the information.
Looks like this is by no means over, not by a long shot!

Who knows? But I don't see why not. It might depend on how many people (in cluding policemen) he might drag into this.

I think if he knew what Goodman was doing, and paid the hush-money, he is just as guilty as Goodman and Mulcaire, who were sent to prison.

I would love to see James banged up, but I think he'll wriggle his way out of it. The biggest scalp we can hope for will be Coulson, but I think he'll just dodge the bullet. Brooks will end up presenting some shitty programme on living TV. Just my opinion, I'm notoriously bad a predicting the future.

Just as well (for him!) that he can afford the best lawyers that money can buy, hey?

What a year this has been in Britain!
Enough excitement & corruption & drama to last you all for quite some time!

Amen to that.

Source

It's about time the IPCC dropped the I. They're anything but independent, they close ranks just like most networks, Ian Tomlinson is proof of that.

Murdoch told me to have someone followed: Buttrose

Murdoch told me to have someone followed: Buttrose
Australian Story
Updated August 22, 2011 18:51:56

Media figure Ita Buttrose says Rupert Murdoch suggested she have someone followed while chasing a story in her time as editor-in-chief of the Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph.

On Australian Story tonight, Ms Buttrose says the media mogul asked her to "go beyond what I thought I should do".

Ms Buttrose says the request came while working on a story at Mr Murdoch's request.

"I assigned a reporter to do it but [Mr Murdoch] wasn't happy with the result and said, 'No, that wasn't good enough. Have you followed this person?'."

Approaching then News Limited chief executive Ken Cowley, Ms Buttrose claims she said: "I can't give this instruction. I'm not having anybody that works for me, for whom I'm responsible, follow anybody. I don't want to be a part of it."

A News Limited spokesman in Sydney says Ms Buttrose's allegations are false.

"Mr Murdoch has never asked any journalist to do anything improper," the spokesman said.

"Mr Cowley has never been asked by Mr Murdoch to have a reporter conduct surveillance of any kind on any individual and nor would he have agreed to it had he been asked by Mr Murdoch or anyone else."

Ms Buttrose declined to reveal the subject of the print feature.

Ultimately "it was dropped, we didn't go on", she said.

"If you run a newspaper there's a responsibility that goes with it, and sometimes you have to be able to say to the boss, no, I don't think we should go down this path."

At 39, Ms Buttrose was the first woman to edit a major metropolitan newspaper in Australia.

She stayed at News Limited for four years, although "Rupert once said to me that he's got everything he wants out of an editor in 18 months".

Part two of Ita Tells Me So airs tonight on Australian Story at 8pm on ABC1.

Turns out NI was paying Coulson whilst he was working for Cameron. The senior Tories are in a flap.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/23/andy-coulson-payments-news-international

Our local newspaper in Chicago reported the same thing. I wonder how this will impact Cameron?

At the moment it's all about damage limitation. It's been referred to the electoral commission, so Tory Central Office can probably refuse to comment until they've reached a verdict, about six months down the line. How big an issue it will be when parliament resumes, depends on what else is going on. There was a commentator in The Guardian who said if nothing else it shows how gullible Cameron is. Do we want a gullible pm negotiating with Putin?

Thanks. It will be interesting to see what happens.

It's quite a volatile mix going on, I've no doubt that both Conservative and Liberal cabinet ministers will give an outward show of unity. The party apparatus is different though. The Liberals took a real pummelling in the local elections, and are desperate to highlight differences between themselves and the Tories. The Liberal party has been especially vocal about this, and with conference season coming up there's every chance prominent backbenchers will rip chunks out of the other party, to a cheering crowd of their own supporters.

The Liberal Conference comes first, and how supportive the party is of the Tories, and their own leader, will be the first real indication of how this coalition is faring.

The next big test is the London Mayoral elections in May. The incumbent is the Tory, Boris Johnson. He is an incredibly high profile figure, as much a TV personality as a politician. He has a very affable, bumbling persona, and attracts a lot of personal votes. He also has very serious rivalry issues with Cameron, going way back to when they were both at Oxford and, before that, Eton together.

Boris, (yes he is someone who has the status of just needing one name,) has already criticised Cameron's planned cuts to the police budget. Cameron, for sake of party unity, will have to support Boris, who may attack some aspects of government, just to prove he is his own man. If he loses, he'll probably blame Cameron, and begin positioning himself for a leadership challenge after the next election.

Intersting times indeed, but all this does not necessarily translate into support for the Labour party.

Good analysis, thanks. The news writer here in Chicago missed all of that.

It's very kind of you to say so, thanks.

I wonder if anything new will turn up
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2011/08/25/3302121.htm

Four Corners usually does a good job....

You beat me to it, hinge!
I was just about to post that information myself.
Yep, Four Corners is usually terrific value.
I'll definitely be watching.

Maybe also because he's the only Boris in the UK's political firmament.

I liked his rhubarb statement. Never a dull moment with our...what's his name again?