Precious moments

Micronews

Earlier this year Bozo Johnson's communications chief, Guto Harri, threatened to unleash a newspaper vendetta against the BBC in retaliation for its 'biased' coverage. The examples listed in the email are bizarre in their microscopic focus. Don't bore yourself unravelling the logic behind this, there is none, except that the Tories are using the current political juncture not to govern judciously and fairly in difficult times but to drastically gerrymander the terms of politics for the foreseeable future. If the Mayor of London is allowed to micromanage his (or her) coverage in supposedly independent mass media, we are living in a truly sick society.

But there's more, and it's more interesting. How can this be a plausible threat, for the Mayor of London to use the right-wing press to bring down the British Broadcasting Corporation? Have you been following the Leveson inquiry? This week's theme of investigation is the links between the political and media elite: it should be revealing (Tony Blair was today's star witness, according to him phone calls to Rupert Murdoch in the run up to the Iraq war were "nothing odd").

And finally, if you need any more evidence, just how thick these theives are, Guto Harri is now the communications director for News International.

Land of Chocolate

David Cameron hires a man to deal with press and public relations. He hires a man who used to work for News International as a journalist, a smart move. Communications Chief is a high profile role, just ask Alisdair Campbell: despite being given warnings about about employing this former journalist, David Cameron goes ahead. So long as he never asked said former journalist "so, is there anything I should know, anything from your past that might prove embarrassing or, who knows, maybe incriminating...?" David Cameron is not party to any crime.

David Cameron has a neighbour. This neighbour IS a journalist with News International. This neighbour is also a friend. The friend of David Cameron gets a new horse. The friend is understandably very proud and invites people round to see it. When David Cameron went round to have a ride on it he was not aware that it was a police horse lent to said journalist. Meanwhile, in a totally unconnected set of events, said journalist is suspected of bribing civil servants and police officers in return for information. So long as David Cameron never said "so, I see you have a new horse, that's interesting, where did you get it from...?" he cannot be party to any corruption.

David Cameron likes to eat, who doesn't? But he is a busy man. He has to have someone to arrange dining partners for him. Who wants to dine alone? But the people who arrange dining partners for David have a preference for Tory party donors suggest that the more you donate the better your access to David Cameron is and that £250,000 is the kind of money you need to sway government policy. So long as David Cameron never says, "hey, you've done so much for me, and you've been such good company while I've swallowed these canapes and drunk this champagne, is there anything I can do for you...?" he's not a corrupt scumbag for hire.

In other news David Cameron lives in the Land of Chocolate.

Simian-poop journalism

I.e. fling enough shit and anyone can appear dirty.

Bob Crow gave evidence to the Media Ethics Inquiry today and, oh, the lengths the press go to get a scoop. They keep private detective to watch him on holiday. They 'blag' private information held by the DVLA. A Sunday Times journalist was refused a copy of the agenda for an RMT official meeting, so he began rooting around in the RMT's office bins. Most charming of all:

Crow describes being "doorstepped" at home by reporters and photographers from the Sun.

"When I got to the station he still stood in my way and said, 'you're not allowed to go to work'," Crow tells Leveson.

He says there were two men with video cameras and others who refused to let him go to work. Crow says the Sun told him: "What's it like not to get to go to work? You stopped people going to work this week so get a taste of your own medicine."

Oh, it's just like Woodward and Bernstein.