Photo: Indigo/Getty
- Goodbye NOTW. I'm sorry for the people employed by it and I hope they find new employment either within NI or beyond it. It won't be missed, however. I know it's a venerable British brand and all that, and I know it was hugely popular. But my strong impression is that, despite this, it wasn't loved or even liked, even by the many people who bought it regularly. There was fascination, but no warmth. At the end of the day, as someone remarked to a friend of mine, it's simply "one less shitty thing in the world."
- I'd be surprised if Brooks and (James) Murdoch don't volunteer to appear in front of the select committee. First, to avoid the appearance of having been dragged there (and Murdoch can be compelled, as he lives in the UK). Second, because it's usually harder to hate someone when you see them talking rather than crossing the street being flashbulbed and refusing comment. Having said that, James is a fairly charmless guy. But they are in the dock of public opinion, so they might as well make their case as best they can. Even if it means facing a panel of self-righteous MPs determined to show off by beating them up.
- My assessment of last week, that this was the moment James took control of the business, is looking both correct and short-sighted. He may, with the ditching of NOTW, have moved into the driving seat, but News Corp. shareholders may well be on the verge of forcing all the Murdochs into the back seat (it will be a squash). Certainly, James's internal credibility has taken a massive hit. About time too; everything I've ever heard or read about him suggests that the judgement pronounced by a senior Wapping executive (to Andrew Neil) is the right one: "Always decisive, usually wrong." He's also tone-deaf, as anyone who read his grotesquely misjudged speech at Edinburgh a couple of years ago will have noted.
- Gordon Brown's speech yesterday was extraordinary. It was a reminder of the exceptionally wide gap between his own self-image and reality. In Gordon's mind, there's a Gordon Brown who opposed the Iraq war, doughtily fought Murdoch, and governed according to his famous moral compass. Then there's...the real Gordon Brown. It would be funny if it weren't infuriating. On Monday he confessed to deep anger and upset at what Rebekah Brooks did to his family, somehow squaring this, in his own mind, with his later attendance at her wedding and his wife's hosting of her at Chequers. Yesterday he had the gall to stand up and say, effectively, I wanted to take on Murdoch but the head of the civil service stopped me. Hmm, if only you'd been powerful enough to overrule him. Like, if you'd been Prime Minister or something. (Matthew Norman says much more on Brown's posturing here).
- As for domestic politics, I retain my initial view: it won't have a big impact. Last night, Newsnight invited members of the public into the studio for what Mrs Merton used to describe as a 'heated debate'. It was about as heated as iced tea. Paxman, ploughing through embarrassing silences, had to drag opinions out of people. Quite a contrast to the debates on MPs expenses. If this is another great crisis of trust, it seems to be one few people really care about. As ever, they care about jobs, crime, immigration, health and education. David Cameron, after his wobble, seemed to regain his political balance yesterday, sailing through an extended PMQs. Labour will find it as hard to pin the blame for this on him as the Tories did the other way, over expenses. Ed Miliband has done very well, seizing his moment as opposition leaders must. But once this is over he faces the same old problem of making Labour electable. That's not as simple as going round smiting the wealthy and the powerful, as some over-excited and naive analyses seem to suggest; Ed Miliband's problem is not that he hasn't been left-wing enough. Having said that, this whole affair may help him a little if it gives him more confidence. Having said that, I don't think he's lacked confidence, even at his lowest points. What he lacks is a clue about where to take his party.
"Paxman, ploughing through embarrassing silences, had to drag opinions out of people. Quite a contrast to the debates on MPs expenses. If this is another great crisis of trust, it seems to be one few people really care about."
The expenses scandal was part of a time-honoured tradition, where everyone - including the outraged in Tunbridge Wells - knew what was expected of them. Dodgy MPs? Sack the lot of 'em, put 'em in prison, throw away the key, etc.
What role do the public play in this instance? It's more ambiguous. Especially given that, in a caricatural sense, dodgy journalism is already well-established in the public imagination. Nobody in the real world is that surprised about it, because journalism is one of those professions where the worst is already presumed. The really explosive elements in this case are the relationship between the police and the media, and the degree to which Downing Street is implicated.
Beyond that, outside of Whitehall and virtual Fleet Street, there are no villains, no-one Joe Public wants pilloried. Murdoch has never been the hate figure the liberal left want him to be, and never will.
But it's a stretch to say few people care about it. They have no idea of their role because the relationship between the public and the media is always fraught with half-truths and myths about participation anyway.
Posted by: rsr | July 14, 2011 at 01:38 PM
Totally agree with "one less shitty thing in the world". But sadly if there's still a market for this trash, something else shitty will soon pop up.
I find the whole thing insanely overblown though. Especially when - apparently- some of the people shrieking in outrage actually bought that type of paper. Where on earth did they think the journalists got their 'scoops'?
Bit hard to voice an opinion on this though. Matthew Parris wrote a nice, measured column saying he couldn't get that excited about it, and a load of vitriol landed on him.
Posted by: ejoch | July 14, 2011 at 02:00 PM
But, Ian, remind us: was it a good week for Johann Hari? ;)
Posted by: Jonathan | July 14, 2011 at 11:39 PM
I totally agree about Gordon Brown. The man is deluded.
Posted by: my honest answer | July 15, 2011 at 12:38 PM