A new economy cannot be built on dirty energy

by Guest    
July 15, 2011 at 5:50 pm

contribution by Philip Pearson

As Chris Huhne was presenting his Energy White Paper to the UK Parliament, with its vision of a decarbonised energy supply by 2030, a different, destructive energy scenario has been unfolding across the Atlantic.

In an American continent with no carbon tax or climate legislation, a new economy is being built on the extraction of “extreme energy”. This threatens to overwhelm the UK’s own contribution to combating climate change, and is calling into question any hope of a meaningful UN climate change deal in Durban this December.
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Cameron misled House over Coulson meeting

by Sunny Hundal    
July 15, 2011 at 4:51 pm

On the day of the BSkyB deal, culture minister Jeremy Hunt said David Cameron had not been in touch with Andy Coulson “recently”.

But today’s revelation that Cameron and Coulson lunched three months after the latter’s resignation means that Hunt misled Parliament.

In fact, if what Jeremy Hunt said was true, it was David Cameron who himself lied.

This is what Jeremy Hunt said in Parliament:

The Prime Minister has said that he has not spoken to Andy Coulson since he resigned his position

He went on to correct himself:

I believe that what the Prime Minister said was that he has not spoken to Andy Coulson recently.

That is still misleading, depending on how you define “recently”. This was just four months ago.

Video of the exchange (by Political Scrapbook)

hat-tip @peterfainton and @thejimsmith

Update 2: Guardian points out it was more than just a launch:

In a sign of his determination to stand by the man he described as a “friend”, the prime minister paid out of his own pocket to welcome Coulson for an overnight stay at Chequers.

No surprise Cameron decided to reveal this all on a late Friday afternoon.

Why Charlie Gilmour was sentenced fairly within the law

by Lee Griffin    
July 15, 2011 at 2:01 pm

There’s a bit of a fuss going on about Charlie Gilmour, and how apparently it’s outrageous that he has been sentenced to 16 months in prison (which, we all know, will only end up being 8 or so).

This outrage is bollocks.

You only have to take a look at the sentencing history for “Violent Disorder”, coupled with Mr Gilmour’s nature in court (allegedly giggling at scenes of his actions), tempered by the fact he pleaded guilty and apologised for certain (but not all) actions.
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A boycott of the Sun? Hold your horses everyone

by Sunny Hundal    
July 15, 2011 at 11:01 am

Buoyed by the success of the advertiser boycott, several readers on Libcon and on Twitter keep asking when the boycott of the Sun newspaper or the whole of News International will take place.

Look, I’m not fan of the Sun newspaper by any stretch of the imagination, but this isn’t going to happen any time soon. If we do strike, it would have to be at the right time.
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Ed Miliband ‘won’t back journalist restrictions’

by Sunny Hundal    
July 15, 2011 at 10:30 am

Ed Miliband won’t back ‘draconian’ proposals to record meetings between journalists and MPs, a close aide to the Labour leader told me last night.

On Wednesday, David Cameron outlined the rough terms of an inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.

One strand of the inquiry will be a full investigation into wrongdoing in the press and police, while the second strand would review regulation of the press.

The Guardian reported:

The prime minister said he would be consulting Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, on amending the ministerial code. This would require ministers to “record all meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, senior editors and executives – regardless of the nature of the meeting”.

Cameron later told Ed Miliband that he would also consult on whether to extend this to journalists. “On transparency, I am consulting on the proposal to make much more transparent what ministers do, including not just business meetings, but social meetings. It is worth asking whether we should go further on meetings with journalists, as the police might want to do.”

However, recording all meetings between journalists and MPs would severely impede the work of a free press, said a senior source from Ed Miliband’s office.

It is not a proposal the Labour leader would be likely to agree to, added the source. Consider it DOA.

Bloggers such as Fleet Street Blues can rest easy.

Will mediation really help reduce our legal bills?

by Guest    
July 15, 2011 at 9:10 am

contribution by Sound Off for Justice campaign

Yesterday, the Justice Select Committee launched a report on the Operation of the Family Courts. It is a good report well researched and it presents a series of options to help family disputes.

It presents the role of mediation but also the limits of mediation in solving civil cases. We believe that mediation does have a role to play – the problem is where and when.
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Daily Mail planning a NotW clone say sources

by Sunny Hundal    
July 15, 2011 at 8:02 am

Last night Reuters reported rumours that owners of the Daily Mail are mulling over a plan to fill the gap left behind by the News of the World.

The source said the newspaper group’s Associated Newspapers national titles division would do an internal dummy run this weekend and would launch the following weekend if it was a success.
…
Names under consideration for the new Sunday title are The Sunday and The Sunday Lite, the source said, adding that ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie had been mooted as a columnist.

Meanwhile, rumours are also abound that News International are going to launch their own replacement for NotW within a month.

If both Sunday papers go head-to-head for the same space, it’s likely both would lose a lot of money. You won’t hear me complaining about that.

Why the FBI probe is unlikely to hurt Murdoch

by Sunny Hundal    
July 15, 2011 at 12:11 am

I said yesterday morning at least one Republican Representative (that number has now grown) and one Democrat Senator were demanding an FBI investigation into claims the News of the World hacked into phones of 9/11 victims.

Now, the NY Times reports:

In response to requests from members of Congress and to at least one news report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York opened a preliminary inquiry on Thursday into allegations that News Corporation journalists sought to gain access to the phone records of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to several people briefed on the matter.

The investigation is in its earliest stages, two of the people said, and its scope is not yet clear. It also is unclear whether the F.B.I. has identified possible targets of the investigation or possible specific criminal violations.

The bureau is “taking a hard look at it from a couple of angles,” one of the people said. The person said the matter was being treated as an assessment, a term the bureau uses to characterize the early stages of an investigation that precede the possible issuance of subpoenas or the use of other investigative tools like wiretaps.

The story comes from one Daily Mirror report, with no follow-up from the tabloid itself or even the Guardian.

So its likely the FBI will first look into whether the claims stands up. They will have to quickly comb through the 4,000 or so phone-hacking victims and ascertain whether 9/11 victims were among them.

I spoke to one source at the Daily Mirror tonight last night who said the newspaper would not have run the story if it did not stand up.

Here’s the problem – it’s not clear whether phones of 9/11 victims were actually hacked.

The original Daily Mirror story says:

The pair chatted behind closed doors as a former New York cop made the 9/11 hacking claim. He alleged he was contacted by News of the World journalists who said they would pay him to retrieve the private phone records of the dead.

Now working as a private ­investigator, the ex-officer claimed reporters wanted the victim’s phone numbers and details of the calls they had made and received in the days leading up to the atrocity.

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their ­relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the ­relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look.

Because of the wording, it is equally likely that 9/11 victims may not have been hacked. That is now for the FBI to determine.

Notably though, the Daily Mirror report does not find specific evidence but reports someone was asked to do so and turned it down. It’s not a watertight case in other words.

The bigger worry for Murdoch – I think – is that the SEC opens an investigation into whether News Corporation indulged in corruption and bribery.

That is what several Democratic Senators have also called for and I think that line of inquiry would have more legs.

Update:
The respected Columbia Journalism Review also pours cold water over the Daily Mirror story and says its unlikely to lead anywhere. “A piece that triggers an FBI probe reports no actual hacking and its information is third-hand.”

The story will generate some outraged headlines in the US but I suspect it won’t lead anywhere, especially since it all allegedly happened so long ago.

The fallout from phone-hacking should also tackle media bias

by Sue Marsh    
July 14, 2011 at 1:30 pm

There could have been no more astonishing conclusion than 6 UK political parties coming together unanimously in parliament to oppose the BSKYB bid and call for a full, judge-led enquiry. It was a mannerly affair, a consensual, constructive debate.

Nonetheless, just how far do politicians want this enquiry to go? Just how much power do they want the media to lose and by proxy, how much power are they prepared to see slip away themselves? Are they really ready to give up on the symbiotic relationship that has served them or destroyed them?

Are they really united in their desire to root out corruption and bias wherever it was allowed to multiply? I suggest from the reaction to Gordon Brown’s speech in Parliament yesterday that they are not.
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There is no more right to dignity at home

by Guest    
July 14, 2011 at 11:10 am

contribution by Richard Shrubb

Elaine McDonald was refused a night worker to help her go to the toilet by the Supreme Court on the 6th of this month.

Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council had argued that incontinence pads were an effective and cheaper way of carrying out their duties of caring for the ex ballerina, who only has mobility problems and no incontinence. Put baldly the Court said that she could shit her bed to save £22000 a year, and that this was no indignity. In this case the law really is an ass!
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