Chilling

James Murdoch, heir to Rupert Murdoch's evil empire, gave a speech yesterday at the Edinburgh Festival. Is it possible that when Rupert Murdoch finally goes he will hand his illicit political power to his son? It is not the BBC's ambitions that I would describe as "chilling".



Above: the article which James Murdoch wrote for today's Guardian was intellectually bogus and full of doublespeak. News International is an organisation that routinely corrupts the political process in the United Kingdom. There are very strong grounds for suspecting its employees have broken the law on a massive scale, and if this lawbreaking was authorised at a senior level then James Murdoch should be in a prison cell, not feted at the Edinburgh Festival.



Above: Newsnight has kept going through the summer with a number of "guest" presenters including Nick Robinson. The BBC is one of the few media organisations that has looked impartially at the mobile phone hacking scandal. The national press has maintained a collective silence on the issue (either through fear of Rupert Murdoch or because they themselves are implicated).



Above: one of the few journalists to cover the mobile phone hacking scandal was Lucy Mangan. All the big guns of the British press have remained silent, leaving this latter-day Adela Quested to speak out despite the pressure to keep silent (very real if unspoken pressure - it's unlikely News International will be offering her a job anytime soon). The power of the press today is comparable to the power of the unions in the 1970s, and one of the actions "Dave" should do as soon as he gets in (as soon as he gets in) is to destroy the power of News International through a media monopoly bill - otherwise News International will eventually destroy him.