Julian Assange is innocent until proven guilty
contribution by Peter Tatchell
I was outside the High Court in London this morning, ahead of Mr Assange’s extradition appeal hearing. I think it would be most unfair, and not conducive to justice, for Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden when he has not been charged with any offence.
The sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange deserve to be taken very seriously. But Julian is innocent until proven guilty.
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Labour force govt to support BSkyB motion
Update: The government now says they will also support Labour’s motion (below) to withdraw the BSkyB bid.
The motion is not legally binding but will put immense pressure on Murdoch to follow through and withdraw his bid for now.
The Tories clearly realised they would be caught on the wrong side of public opinion on the issue and relented.
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Over the weekend, Ed Miliband revealed he would be introducing a motion in Parliament on Wednesday to block the BSkyB bid.
Just now, the party has laid out what the motion will say:
This House believes that it is in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw their bid for BSkyB
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said :
There are times when the House of Commons has got to rise to the occasion and speak for the public.
We have said that the purchase of BSkyB should not proceed until after criminal inquiries are complete.
The simplest way to achieve this is for Rupert Murdoch to recognise the feelings of the public and the will of the House of Commons and withdraw this bid.
I am calling on Parliament to show its will tomorrow.
It is believed the motion has been watered down to ensure Libdems will come on board.
Organisations such as 38 Degrees are also campaigning to ensure the BSkyB bid is evaluated on the basis that Rupert Murdoch is ‘fit’ to buy all of BSkyB, rather than merely on whether he will restrict competition.
Can our own politicians also be tough on the environment?
contribution by @NTDMSK
At the time of the News of the World phone hacking scandal, politicians are learning the strengths of unashamedly standing up for what’s right. Now, they need to extend this to following the example of Australia.
The Australian carbon tax scheme will see companies pay the equivalent of £15 per tonne of emissions and is predicted to take 45m cars off the road by 2030.
This is in a country producing 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – 0.2% more than that of the United Kingdom, from a population almost a third of the size. Yet it’s heavily opposed.
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Are Sun & Times also hurting from #hackgate?
Are the Sun and The Times also feeling the fallout of the NotW scandal?
It was all speculation last week but figures now show this anecdotal evidence may have more than a whiff of truth to it.
The Glamorous Left blog has captured several pictures of The Sun and the Times being left behind on newsstands.
Today, the Media Guardian reports that the final News of the World didn’t sell the 4.5m number that was being bandied about. The real figures is more near 3.8 million. Just 1 million more than normal.
More worryingly for News International, it adds:
The Sun is thought to have had possibly its worst weekend of the year, losing as many as 250,000 sales on Saturday, according to unofficial estimates.
Similarly the Times on Saturday and the Sunday Times are thought to have seen sales drop by about 30,000, according to unofficial figures
Other newspapers including the Sunday Telegraph, the Observer and the Mirror have apparently received a boost in sales in the meantime.
Interesting days ahead.
Is Gordon Brown using his children for exacting revenge?
The simple answer here is no, in response to insinuations being made by some people on the left and the right. Harry Cole writes:
The timing of yesterday’s intervention couldn’t have worked better to keep the story alive here , and across the Atlantic.
And he said the same this morning on BBC 5Live when we clashed briefly. It is rubbish.
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It’s not just the NOTW that needs to be destroyed
Gordon Brown isn’t the most loved Labour leader ever. But he has a bit of an air of authenticity to him: the kind of man who wouldn’t sell his kid’s illness for political advantage, for example.
So whenever the details of his first kid’s death and second kid’s illness [*] appeared in the Sun, it genuinely made me think less of him. After all, it’s a perfect NewLab, Alastair Campbell media strategy to humanise the dude.
But it turns out that Brown never leaked to the Sun at all, and that this – like, apparently, every other story News International has won – was obtained by thievery.
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When Sun bragged about Brown’s son’s details
Today the news broke that the Sun had allegedly obtained details of Gordon Brown’s infant son’s medical records, and published a story about the child’s serious illness.
Even more disgustingly, the paper also trumpeted the story as an example of it obtaining “some cracking news stories”.
Here is a screenshot of that story.
From this page. via @kocarrotflowers
The story is online here (via @TimGatt)
Is the whole of News International now in trouble?
Gordon Brown is imminently expected to was meant to make a statement in the House of Commons. The Indy says:
Gordon Brown will today break his silence over the phone-hacking scandal by accusing Rupert Murdoch’s News International of illegally accessing his personal details, The Independent has learnt.
The BSkyB bid is now almost certainly dead. The big question is now whether the rest of News International is also about to be engulfed in the flames.
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George Michael wades in on #NotW, on Twitter
Singer George Michael launched his own multi-tweet tirade against the News of the World today on Twitter.
We’ve collected the tweets relating to the NotW via Storify, below.
Exclusive vid: Coulson & Met police taste their own medicine
This video has just gone up from Don’t Panic magazine, and it’s simply hilarious.
Andy Coulson and the police get the NotW treatment. Too delicious for words.
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