Straight News: Viva Jupert

Congrats to the heterosexual Tom & Dustin!

Pride: Seen The Film? Buy The T-Shirt!

Now opening in the US - as in the UK, the film is distributed by Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox.

Which might explain why all references to the LGSM and NUM-bashing The Sun - the origin of the term 'Pits And Perverts' - have been erased.

Fagburn wonders what that pinko commie queer, Mark Ashton, would make of all this...

The Sun: Rage Against The Dying Of The Light

'More like a paraffin lamp in a brothel, than a Sun'

How the Morning Star summed up The Sun after Rupert Murdoch had bought it and revamped it in 1969.

Taken from a fascinating episode of The Reunion where ex-staffers discuss the good/bad old days at the Currant Bun.

All in hilarious; 'Weren't me, guv, honest' mode.

Much on its notorious homophobia in the 80s - though the paper's known homophobes-in-chief, Murdoch and then editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, were sadly unavailable for comment.

• Listen on BBC iPlayer. For more on the sorry, sordid saga of Murdoch's Sun read Peter Chippindale and Chris Horries' Stick It Up Your Punter! - probably the most revealing (and funniest) book ever written about British journalism.

Israel: Getting Away With It

Rupert Murdoch has apologised for a "grotesque, offensive cartoon" printed in the Sunday Times that has led to complaints of anti-Semitism.

The cartoon, by Gerald Scarfe, appears to depict Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu building a brick wall containing the blood and limbs of Palestinians.
It has the text: "Israeli elections. Will cementing peace continue?"
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it had complained to the Press Complaints Commission...
BBC News.

A Lib-Dem MP who accused "the Jews" in Israel of "inflicting atrocities on Palestinians" has received a letter of censure by the party.

Bradford East MP David Ward later apologised and said he had been "trying to make clear that everybody needs to learn the lessons of the Holocaust".
He had made his comments ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, on Sunday.
The letter was the "equivalent of a yellow card", a party spokesman said.
Mr Ward received the written warning at a meeting with party whips, after the party "condemned" his "use of language", on Friday...
BBC News.

Can any other state behave so terribly and claim to be beyond criticism?
Build a racist wall - may we say nothing?
Draw a cartoon about the wall - total shitstorm. 
Yay.

Michael Barrymore: V For Vendetta

From false allegations of sexual assault to the lurid coverage of the death of Stuart Lubbock in his swimming pool, the comedian has been the subject of an extraordinary volume of negative headlines. Looking back, he believes he was the victim of a press vendetta partly motivated by his aloofness towards the redtops (he rarely gave interviews) – and partly orchestrated by his former wife and manager, Cheryl, whom he acrimoniously divorced in 1998.He also suspects that newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, whose parent company News Corp controls the rival Sky TV network, had a commercial motive in targeting him. "It smacks me that there was a definite conspiracy to destroy ITV's main brand at the time: 'We want to get rid of anything that works for them'.
"I never shy away from the fact that I'm an alcoholic and that I have had my problems, but I've never murdered anybody. I've never got up in the morning and thought I'll harm someone. I've just had an extraordinary sequence of events that have been on public display, that I've had no control over."
He adds: "[The press] killed Michael Barrymore. My [real] name is Michael Parker, but Michael Barrymore is dead. Although I have been a couple of times to the jumping-off point, I didn't kill myself. If I had, it would have completed the story."

Michael Barrymore profiled in the Independent - his first national newspaper interview in a decade, they claim.

There is much that is interesting/frightening in this article about what sounds like collusion between the Met and the News of the World after Stuart Lubbock's death - which post-Hackgate shouldn't surprise anyone.

I've always suspected they were just out to get Michael Barrymore whatever - though I think homophobia was the main spur, not TV rivalry.
It wasn't just the Murdoch titles that were hoping Barrymore's sorry story would have a really unhappy ending, and went in for the kill.
Michael's downfall, in a scandal that involved celebrity, gay sex, drugs and death, was too good for any of the tabloids to let go of.
Note: "On 22 September 2002, the Sunday Mirror pictured Barrymore on the front page next to the headline: You Are a Killer, without even the customary quotation marks."
Might I suggest a title for a TV documentary about all this - You've Been Framed.
The poor sod.

Arthur C Clarke: Mysterious World

'The News of the World spiked an exclusive story exposing the science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke as a paedophile, according to a new book about life inside the newspaper whose closure was announced a year ago today.
'In Hack, an account of his nerve-shredding days as a reporter on the News of the World and then the Sunday Mirror, Graham Johnson claims that although the NOTW prided itself on outing pederasts, editors made an exception for Mr Clarke because he was a friend of Rupert Murdoch.
'Through BSkyB, the tycoon commercially exploited the futurologist's theory that satellites would be ideal for communications and praised him in public. As a result, according to Mr Johnson, who by that time had been sacked by the NOTW and had joined the Sunday Mirror, a story by reporter Roger Insall about Mr Clarke's alleged abuse of adolescent boys was never published for fear of upsetting the proprietor...'

The Independent.
The story, run in 1998, was considered "news-worthy" as Arthur C Clarke had just been awarded a knighthood.
Phil Hall, then editor of The News of the World, confirms it was commissioned, but was not run "for legal reasons".
Sri Lankan police and Interpol began an investigation into the Mirror's claims, but later said there was "no evidence" - partly as the main "evidence" was the Sunday Mirror's claim to have a taped admission which, when they were asked to hand over copies to police, then went "missing".

The Times: And On That Bombshell...

Who knew?!!

David Cameron: Buggered?

'Most of the public may not be following every seedy twist and sleazy turn of the Conservatives' relationship with the Murdoch empire with the same fascination as politicians and journalists – the government is rather relying on the hope that they aren't. But if all the public takes away from it is that ministers bent over double to lubricate the commercial ambitions of a hugely rich man – hoping, in the process, to serve their own electoral interests too – that is quite damaging enough.'

Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer.
Eh?
Have I just got a dirty mind or is this alluding to what I think it does?
If so it's not the first time the "buggered" metaphor has been used against David Cameron recently.
Maybe it's a public school thing?
The mind positively boggles. 

PS And here's a Steve Bell cartoon from 2010 of Cameron about to do some buggering. The good old days?

The Sunday Times: And On This Bombshell

A leader in today's Sunday Times pauses for reflection at this time of giant humanoid rabbits bearing chocolate eggs to think - in a very real sense - about the challenges facing the Church of England.

"When we said recently that prayers had no place before political meetings, it drew some criticism. We still believe this is the right course. Giving the established church a formal political role is anachronistic and does it no favours. By the same token, politicians should respect the sensibilities of believers, particularly Christians. David Cameron’s government, for example, has embarked on a collision course with the church on the issue of gay marriage. The government would like you to believe it is a modern, with-it coalition facing opposition from a church stuck somewhere in the Dark Ages.
"It is hard, however, to disagree with Ben Bradshaw, the Labour frontbencher, who accuses the government of playing “pure politics” with gay marriage. He, like most other gays in civil partnerships, is happy to call it a marriage. The further step proposed by the government is, he says, an unnecessary distraction. Mr Cameron is pushing gay marriage and picking a fight with the church for political reasons. It is indeed unnecessary."

This is shocking stuff.

Not least of which because The Sunday Times' sister paper, The Times, has made so much of championing marriage equality of late.

And because Ben Bradshaw's tepidity on gay marriage is now being used as an argument against it/us.
A careless remark already celebrated by the gay marriage bashing Mail and Telegraph.

Well done Ben!

I'll have to check what The Sunday Times has said about this before - don't think this has been their line.

It may be another sign of Rupert Murdoch turning on David Cameron because he blames him for the Leveson Inquiry.

More later...

• Dunno how, but I missed this - potentially huge - story when I was going through the papers earlier today. Thanks to Scott Roberts for the alert.

Update: I believe this is The Sunday Times first comment on gay marriage since they broke the story that the government was considering introducing it in February 2011.

Freddie Mercury: Lest We Forget

Freddie Mercury died twenty years ago today.
Let's not forget how the tabloids hounded him to his death.
The above Sun front page shows a photo taken with a long lens camera of Freddie walking around his walled garden in his last few days.
The other members of Queen were so disgusted that they still will not deal with the Murdoch press.

Hackgate: The Question Nobody Dares Ask!

What if this whole thing continues to spiral out of control.
Fresh scandal follows fresh scandal after fresh - now fetid - scandal.
All the press, police and politicians are exposed as a tightly-knit criminal cabal, corrupt from top to bottom.
Say this all leads to what now seems inevitable, and Rupert Murdoch's evil empire comes crashing down.
What I want to know is this.
What on earth will happen to Glee?

Rupert Murdoch Hearing: Over-Used Wizard Of Oz Metaphor Ahoy!

Christ, this is like sitting through Double Geography or something!
Thank fuck for the pieman.
Fagburn is still officially "away", by the way - back Thursday...

Rebekah Brooks: Ding Dong!

The witch is dead...

• Fagburn is still officially away until next week...

Julia Gillard: Crap

Julia Gillard, addressing the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday, had a simple lesson on media ethics.
''Don't write crap … Can't be that hard,'' she said.
''And when you have written complete crap, then I think you should correct it.''

The Prime Minister Of Australia there.

News Of The World: And In Other News...

There isn't any.

• hasrebekahbrooksbeensackedyet.com

Chris Bryant: Man Of The Hour/Month

"With a grimace, Chris Bryant recalls the last time he met Rupert Murdoch's embattled lieutenant Rebekah Brooks face to face.
"She came up to me and said, 'Oh, Mr Bryant, it's after dark - shouldn't you be on Clapham Common?"
"At which point Ross Kemp [the ex-EastEnders actor and her then husband] said, 'Shut up, you homophobic cow'." The MP, who is openly gay, can afford to smile at the incident, which happened during a News International reception at the Labour Party conference several years ago.
"At the time he was a mere irritant to the powerful Brooks. But after this week's torrent of revelations about phone hacking he may prove to be her nemesis. We talked over a glass of wine in Covent Garden after a dramatic 48 hours of ever more shocking disclosures that culminated in David Cameron conceding a public inquiry into the ethics of the News of the World and the police failure to investigate..."

Chris Bryant MP is profiled in London's Evening Standard, with very good timing.
Sadly it looks like Murdoch was happy to sacrifice The News Of The World to protect Ms Brooks [Update: This rapidly became a cliche - true, though].
How peculiar.
Thanks for your diligence over this Chris - a real scandal, that continues to unfold.
It took much bravery - as an out gay Labour MP taking on the cunts from News Corp involved great personal risk.
And no more will that unfortunate Gaydar/Y-fronts business be the thing you're best known for.
Hurrah!

News Of The World: Drops Dead

Fuck off, piss off, fuck off, I loathe you, go on then - fuck right off.
All you hateful homophobic racist right-wing cunts who made millions out of other peoples' misery and told lies for a living.
And don't just wait a bit and turn into The Sunday Sun.
Bring me the heads of RebeKKKah and Andy and James and Rupert.
And ban NewsCorp from taking over BSkyB.
Scum.

Update: Come the evening George Michael was merrily tweeting away; "Hey boyz and girls, a message to my english fans in particular. Today is a fantastic day for Britain." etc etc

Update 2: Video response to the week's news by investigative journalist, the great Nick Davies; "It's about power - and the power elite, the way the people in the power elite tend to look after each other. And I think it's reasonable for any of us to observe that the Murdoch corporation has too much power. It's evident from the way in which the police, the Press Complaints Commission and some polticians automatically backed off and said; 'Let's not cause trouble! They might hurt us!', that they already had too much power..."

Phone Hacking: Over The Eight

Let's hope the News Corp phone hacking scandal isn't laid to rest with the pay-offs/pay-outs to these eight people.
Chris Bryant MP and Brian Paddick believe their phones were hacked by the Murdoch press - MPs Simon Hughes and Nick Brown were spied on before being outed - how many other gay men have been outed or were blackmailed into coming out ("So brave..." etc etc) through phone hacking?

The Times: Behind The Paywall

Here's a glimpse of what you're missing from today's edition of The Times if you haven't signed up to give billionaire tyrant Rupert Murdoch's News Corp £8.66 every month.

"...drag queens, rubber-clad sadomasochists, gay cowboys, witches gyrating in a manner rarely seen outside Spearmint Rhino... transvestites, fist-pumping Black Power activists, ermine-wearing aristocrats, clerics and a gentleman clad in little more than a zipped-up leather hood... toffs, Maoists, monks and a man in a leather mask... a shirtless young guy in a “street” setting: a dreamy bit of rough... a 6ft 6in homosexual who currently lives in Los Angeles ... a gay district, student areas, blocks of streets that are good for drugs (those last three tending to be the same place)... a gay block that was like the prison brothel..."