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600 new hacking victims from NOTW | 28 comments (27 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (4.00 / 3)
Well - yes and no.

The issue is that Cameron is Murdoch's man. But his position in the party is precarious, so it's perfectly possible he'll be thrown under the bus and replaced by some horrible twitching winger in an attempt to forestall a Murdoch-sponsored UKIP slaughter of the Tory vote in the next elections.

It's a four-way punch up between a few honest police, a corrupt establishment with some very nasty secrets, a parliament full of political chancers on the make, and Murdoch with an alleged collection of 'interesting' journalism about all of he above.

There's worse to come. My guess is the secrets are probably going to come out anyway, and they may change the game in a truly historical way.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 01:21:41 AM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (none / 1)
Can the parliament simply appoint PM horrible twitching winger or is a new election necessary with Mr horrible twitching winger as the party leader for the Tories?

The situation reminds me of Italy during the Mani Pulite. But Murdoch is Australian right, so he could not do a Berlusconi and run his own party right? And besides his attempt at buying a football club failed, IIRC.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 04:20:39 AM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (4.00 / 4)
Parties can change leaders at any time without an election. See e.g Major taking over from Thatcher or Brown taking over from Blair.

Murdoch doesn't need his own party, since effectively he owns them all.

The only possible political game changer is a Grillo-esque none-of-the-above party built from the bottom up. But that needs a charismatic and persuasive leader, and as yet there aren't any here.

So UKIP is collecting the anti-coalition protest vote on the right, and Nu Nu Labour are picking up the traditional left-leaning voters.

UKIP's Farage - one of the chancers - has already been to see Murdoch about a possible Tory/UKIP coalition at the next election.

That's an impossibility right now, if only because the Tories look down on UKIP as peasant oiks.

But it's perhaps not so unlikely if the Tories kick out Cameron and drift further right with someone like Gove at the head.

Basically UKIP could easily take over from the LibDems, collecting the protest votes and then stabbing their supporters in the back in exchange for power.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 06:14:26 AM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (4.00 / 2)
Why you don't have a political/social column, I don't know - or maybe you have? You have the knack of brutal summarization.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 04:37:56 PM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (none / 0)
hear hear, though brutal is a bit strong.

dispassionate perceptions, elegantly (and wryly) expressed.

in one word, lucid.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 05:48:15 PM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (4.00 / 2)
I mean brutal in the sense, antagonistically, of not beating about the bush.  Lucid is a good word, but it doesn't quite encapsulate the full power of a TBG broadside.

But, as Zen advises us: "when you understand, you can leave the words behind."

I'm sort of demi-zen: half here and half somewhere else.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 06:23:53 PM EST
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Re: 600 new hacking victims from NOTW (none / 0)
If anything's gonna happen to Cameron this won't be the trigger. Bowing to the desires of Murdoch, even if it's a losing position, is hardly an offense in the Tory party (it's barely one in Labour either).

The May elections will be where it all comes together. Eastleigh was the crack in the dam, but if there's a collapse of the tory vote at the local elections in May, especially towards UKIP, then the knives will really be out for Cameron.

Which will make for an entertaining summer.

I hope some grubby secrets about the elites start coming out, but the Establishment have been hiding their filth for decades and I'm not holding my breath on that one.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Mar 17th, 2013 at 04:50:46 AM EST
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600 new hacking victims from NOTW | 28 comments (27 topical, 1 editorial, 0 hidden)
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