Wednesday 6 July 2011

The News of the World and the Police...


Milly Dowler: Rebekah Brooks won't resign over News of the World phone hacking claims
Rebekah Brooks Editor of the News of the World



The mounting scandal related to the hacking of the phones of private individuals is threatening many people who thought that they were bombproof.

To be honest the NOTW reporters have longed been known to be unscrupulous when it comes to their stories. They have a reputation probably second to none for their ability to descend into the gutter so frankly I am not surprised that they would pay for the phone numbers of private individuals.

Having said that the editor in charge of the NOTW, Rebekah Brooks, if she has any sense of shame (Ha!) should find her position untenable. For some reason however, she is trusted by Rupert Murdoch and apparently often rubs shoulders with the Camerons. At that level, as we know, it is all wheels within wheels.

The real cancer in this scandal is without doubt, once again, the conduct of the police.
Someone somewhere has been making money from the sale of telephone numbers given to the police in confidence.  It is the ultimate betrayal of the public! If we cannot trust the police to protect our security then where do we go from here? It would appear that they cannot be trusted and so what is the point of them? They are not fullfilling their purpose so unless the guilty are rooted out and punished they will have lost any  remaining credibilty.

By that I don't just mean those who actually made money from this disgraceful act but I also mean their bosses and anybody who had links to the release of this information. I personally think that everything will eventually be swept under the carpet because if subsequent enquiries are really effective then the building blocks of the endemic corruption which exists within the Political Class and the Police would be swept away. So many people would be exposed, because there is no honour amongst thieves, that they will not dare to dig too deeply.

Remember Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, who recently resigned as the media head of Downing Street and was heavily involved in the hacking scandal, have the ear of the PM.  I have therefore long since lost the confidence in anyone to hold a public enquiry which would really seek to discover the truth and punish the guilty. It never happens because we will not be able to find a person who is sufficiently qualified but not in someone's pocket. It highlights the state of the nation and won't change until we change it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My flabber was greatly ghasted when I heard (or thought I heard) a commentator saying that there were circumstances where paying policemen for information was legal and even mentioned a pub (near the Old Bailey)where these transactions took place.
Surely not.

bryboy said...

Exactly! It is illegal and head of the Met Sir Paul Stephenson has emphasised it. The problem is however that Robert Peston of the BBC has seen E-Mails detailing tens of thousands of pounds given to Met officers for information! I smell decay.