Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sick with corruption and criminality from top to bottom

We[1] are most amused by this.

Ridiculous exaggeration RT @AndrewSparrow Tom Watson says Murdoch empire is "sick with corruption and criminality from top to bottom"


And this.

@JohnRentoul @tom_watson Well Tom, what's the answer to John's question? What act of criminality can you ascribe to The Times? Name one.


Pedantic note: I understand Tom Watson's phrase to mean that some employees and directors of the Murdoch empire, that is, from lowly reporters to the Murdoch family themselves are corrupt and/or criminal. This is perfectly consonant with the case of Clive Goodman (at the bottom) and the allegations of perjury by James Murdoch when he gave evidence to the HoC Select Committee (at the top).

This has (as journalists like to say when being dismissive) predictably upset David Aaronovitch and, less predictably, given that he's employed by a rival publication, Blair loyalist John Rentoul. In short, I think it's a perfectly sensible thing to say, just as one can say certain banks are sick without meaning that every trader is performing fraudulent transactions.

God, I love it when they're angry. Peter Oborne has stirred them up too. I see John Rentoul's getting upset at that Dispatches too. But were Oborne's allegations based on envy as Rentoul suggests they were? You can work that one out by yourselves, and if you have, you can ask if Kuwait (which partly finances the Blair empire) is a state fit to enter this "League of Democratic Nations" opponents of the UN are always banging on about.

[1] I am, anyway.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Krugman scores a hit

Krugman on 9/11 and More About the 9/11 Anniversary.

Roy Edroso has a round-up of rightblogger responses. (Thanks to Flying Rodent.) There's an accompanying blogpost.

Really, I have so much to say on this, I find starting impossible, but if I can cut it down to one thing, I advise anyone who has ever considered claiming to be part of a "war on" anything and anyone else who thinks that belligerence is a solution to try sneaking up on a goose and saying "boo" before deciding whether they're really cut out for a life of conflict.

Update 2:20pm Jon Stewart goes one better.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Andrew Brown on links to Breivik

Interesting piece on links to Breivik. None of our immediately decent friends are mentioned, but people they've consorted with such as Douglas Murray and Gates of Vienna feature fairly prominently.

Friday, September 02, 2011

Waggy finger watch

Eliza Manningham-Buller, former head of MI5, has made a speech in which she rejects the phrase "war on terror" as unhelpful. Elementary induction predicts that the waggy finger of Professor Norm will soon be wagged.