Hacked Off
The phone hacking scandal has finally descended into farce - as competing journalists, MPs and newspaper groups try to turn recent events to their own advantage.
The Mirror Group is now in the dock - as a former journalist from that stable says that 'phone hacking' and 'blagging' were common practice in his day.
Last night I watched a Channel 4 documentary - which made a few sensible points - but was by and large a partisan Michael Moore style drama - that ended up saying that Rupert Murdoch was 'beyond evil'.
Er, no.
Slight exaggeration there, I have to say - Anders Breivik might deserve such a description - for his cold-blooded slaughter of the innocents in Norway.
Al Qaeda and Adolf Hitler certainly do - for reasons that don't need explaining.
But the boss of News International and News Corp - seems more than a little over the top, don't you think?
Then to cap it all - the newspapers report than Tom Watson - a Labour MP who has been at the forefront of the phone hacking campaign - has signed a book deal worth £20,000.
Now I don't mind MPs writing books - many have done so in the past - and some of them have turned out to be very interesting.
But why should they write books on the public payroll - after all MPs never tire of telling the public that they do demanding full-time jobs - in which case how do so many find the time to pursue lucrative outside interests?
Let's hope the resulting publicity means that Tom Watson - will end up donating his fee to charity.
The Mirror Group is now in the dock - as a former journalist from that stable says that 'phone hacking' and 'blagging' were common practice in his day.
Last night I watched a Channel 4 documentary - which made a few sensible points - but was by and large a partisan Michael Moore style drama - that ended up saying that Rupert Murdoch was 'beyond evil'.
Er, no.
Slight exaggeration there, I have to say - Anders Breivik might deserve such a description - for his cold-blooded slaughter of the innocents in Norway.
Al Qaeda and Adolf Hitler certainly do - for reasons that don't need explaining.
But the boss of News International and News Corp - seems more than a little over the top, don't you think?
Then to cap it all - the newspapers report than Tom Watson - a Labour MP who has been at the forefront of the phone hacking campaign - has signed a book deal worth £20,000.
Now I don't mind MPs writing books - many have done so in the past - and some of them have turned out to be very interesting.
But why should they write books on the public payroll - after all MPs never tire of telling the public that they do demanding full-time jobs - in which case how do so many find the time to pursue lucrative outside interests?
Let's hope the resulting publicity means that Tom Watson - will end up donating his fee to charity.
