Leveson Inquiry

[TheNovice]

Can anyone remember what the Leveson inquiry is tasked to do....I tend to think it is meandering and the guy asking the questions seems to be fulfilling his own agenda......and watching him interrogate Rebekah Brooks, he doesn't seem very structured at all (nor very good at all). Whist I have absolutely no sympathy for the Murdoch empire's misdemeanours and faux pas, it seems to me the inquiry is being led down a more subjective path rather than sticking to it's objectives...whatever they were. Is there a time scale on this, if not there needs to be!!!!!

[jno]

Wikipedia:

On 13 July, Cameron appointed Lord Justice Leveson as Chairman of the inquiry, with a remit to look into the specific claims about phone hacking at the News of the World, the initial police inquiry and allegations of illicit payments to police by the press, and a second inquiry to review the general culture and ethics of the British media.

Leveson appointed a panel of six assessors to work alongside him on the Inquiry and six barristers to be Counsel to Inquiry. The Inquiry is funded through two Government departments: the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Home Office

[anotheoldgit]

It makes one wonder how much all this is costing the taxpayer, and for what after all it isn't the crime of the century, it is more reminiscent of the Senator McCarthy's Communist witch-hunt crusade of the 50s.

[TheNovice]

AOG - we agree!!!!! It's certainly taking the feel of a witch hunt. The cost must be astronomic...what are all those people who sit in rows actually doing. I'm guessing they're court officials, civil servants and costing us a fortune.

Lets be fair here, the press (red tops, broadsheets and the in-betweens), regardless of political leaning, have their sources and 'cuddle up' to these accordingly.

Phone hacking has been admitted to and recompense has taken place so we can move on from that.

The police issue needs to be resolved, a criminal investigation would be the best approach.

This 'inquiry' is now just a pointless and ludicrous waste of public funds and resources. It will solve nor change anything.

And this 'prosecutor' chap is not getting anywhere!!!!!!

[TheNovice]

sorry 'it will NOT solve nor change anything'

[jake-the-peg]

//The police issue needs to be resolved, a criminal investigation would be the best approach. //


Yes of course

The same police that was taking money from the Murdochs?

The same police that got no further than "one rogue element" last time?

We have this enquiry precisely because the Police showed themselves incapable of investigating it properly the last time!

[jake-the-peg]

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told the Leveson inquiry that one public official received more than £80,000 in total from the paper, currently edited by Dominic Mohan. Regular "retainers" were apparently being paid to police and others, with one Sun journalist drawing more than £150,000 over the years to pay off his sources.

"The cases we are investigating are not ones involving the odd drink, or meal, to police officers or other public officials," she said. "Instead, these are cases in which arrests have been made involving the delivery of regular, frequent and sometimes significant sums of money to small numbers of public officials by journalists."

You don't call that getting somewhere?

[bazwillrun]

"We have this enquiry precisely because the Police showed themselves incapable of investigating it properly the last time! "

if Rebecca Brookes had made an offhand racist comment theyd have been all over her like a plague

[rojash]

If the reporters involved had been black, no doubt AOG would be pressing for a deeper enquiry into the savages instead of calling it a waste of money.

[TheNovice]

Race has nothing to do with this so I will not add to those comments.

It would appear there are grounds for investigating illicit payments to police and other officials and there have been arrests and no doubt a criminal investigation is underway so therefore this inquiry can no longer investigate this in the public eye.

This leaves the ethics element.......I think most people can make their own minds up about this and AOG (with whom I seldom agree) is correct in saying this is hardly the crime of the century (if a crime at all), as such what does the continuing inquiry hope to acheive. The report will say there is evidence of unethical behaviour and there was also evidence that with the culture of journalism there seems to be acceptance of this. Think most people know this already!!!!

[tamborine]

I luv it that the Sun readers can influence politics & gov - lol, as per DC.

[TheNovice]

and Tony Blair.......not to mention Alistair Campbell preparing a war dossier (or not as it turned out!!)

[FredPuli43]

Sun readers influence a government? Yes, because they're voters. According to Rebekah Brooks, the paper retained pollsters to gauge the readers' mood and opinions. The paper was then written to fit the pollsters' findings. That makes sense; it's a brave newspaper that opposes the current views of its readers. You can imagine what the fate of the Daly Mail would be if it decided to take the Guardian's line on everything. (Suggestions for Daily Mail 'Guardian' headlines are invited)

Yes, the Inquiry has a gentle, meandering feel to it. But counsel to the Inquiry is not a man accustomed to cross-examining daily in the criminal courts or, probably, in any court. He is no Lord Birkett or Senior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey. Assiduous, but he is hardly exciting to watch, nor is he destroying witnesses by incisive cross-examination.

[bibblebub]

Not very structured? Why make it easy for someone to maintain a fabrication designed to let themselves off the hook (if that is their intention) by going along a steady path when a zigzag route keeps them on their toes.

[ELVIS68]

I find it difficult to watch her without ending up staring at her hair and not actually listening to what she's saying, I think he's doing the same

[Johnysid]

It is like the Butler inquiry, intended to take so long that the public get bored. However, by meandering it has exposed that Cameron was in bed with Brooks and Murdoch. You dont need to be a genius to spot that Murdoch's swap from supporting Labour to supporting the Tories was the result of assurances that the Tories would support Murdoch. It shows that there are serious, structural problems with British politics.

The biggest structural problem is that the electorate sees themselves as "Labour" people and "Tory" people. This means that any nasty group can mount a coup within the parties and become the government of the country. The parties are empty shells that serve as cover for the corrupt and extremist.

Blair and Brown and gang (see http://pol-check.blog...ts-of-new-labour.html ) took over Labour in the 1990s and Cameron and Osborne and cronies took over the Tories in the noughties. Both coups occurred with Murdoch's support.

[murraymints]

it is all getting a bit boring now....rebekah used to live with Phil Mitchell did't she ?..that is more interesting !!