The Murdoch Empire's Greatest Test

[Prospero]

And the fragrant Rebekah was all over the place, evasive and very non effervescent really. its going to be hard to keep the pressure up now. I think Cameron is off the hook somehow.

Do you think Rupert is really that doddery - or was it an act to win sympathy?

[SammiValentine]

he started off on the old senile act, an old mafioso trick in court. he soon perked up and by the end before the shaving foam party - he was a chirpy fucker, cracking puns, arguing the toss. a lot of desk banging , nothing wrong with the fella.

[Prospero]

Yep... well there is a LOT wrong with him in the moral sense

[robertlouis]

he started off on the old senile act, an old mafioso trick in court. he soon perked up and by the end before the shaving foam party - he was a chirpy fucker, cracking puns, arguing the toss. a lot of desk banging , nothing wrong with the fella.

News Corp shares are up. Well done Roop - your act worked.

[SammiValentine]

yup thats why he was there

[SammiValentine]

News Corp shares are up. Well done Roop - your act worked.

now that will leave a lot of people foaming at the mouth. irony!

[Prospero]

They may still retire the sad old fuck

[robertlouis]

They may still retire the sad old fuck

Not sure, I think Condom Dave will keep his job.....

[Stavros]

I think I said in an earlier post it would be a circus, but I didn't expect a clown with a foam pie to make an entrance! The evasive responses and denials from the witnesses were as expected ''Don't know', 'No', 'It wasn't me it was other people' -did anyone think either Rupert or James would say they nobbled policemen and politicians to look the other way when bad things were happening? I recall BP's ex CEO in the US being grilled by Senator Waxman -I mean what was Hayward going to do, make himself and BP liable for years of litigation?

As I have said, beyond the baiting of Murdoch for his political views, which I am opposed to but which he has a right to express, it is for the Courts of Law to determine what law has actually been broken, by whom and for what purpose. My guess is that the Jonathan Rees trial which collapsed this year when the Prosecution conceded that after 24 years, and with 750,000 pages of evidence the Defence could not be mounted reasonably, provides the most serious problem for News International and the Metropolitan Police -even though morally, the Dowler's and other families must take precedence over a cheap and squalid 'Private Detective' whose former partner had an axe buried in his skulll...

Predictions: Murdoch will retire with effusive praise from the Board of NewsCorp, James Murdoch will leave NewsCorp to 'explore new business ventures'; NewsCorp will 'refresh' its Board over the next 5 years which means that it will be, in terms of personnel, more or less unrecognisable from what it is today. If these changes do not take place, NewsCorps current security could be undermined by allegations in Court.

Finally, a pithy assessment from Simon Jenkins in today's Guardian:

Newspaper ownership has always been crazy and eccentric, dominated by ego and a yearning for glory. It seldom has to do with profit. If it had, the recent history of British newspapers would have been a miserable one. Murdoch's influence on tabloid journalism has been dire, though he is hardly alone in this. His influence on the media industry in general has been that of a serial innovator – confronting unions, lowering production costs, pay-for-view TV and now paywalls. All newspapers have benefited from this, loathe though they may be to admit it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-wall-hysteria

[Faldur]

Just curious, do the same people that handle security at Parliament watch over the airports? Scary thought..