Rupert Murdoch’s comments on the police investigation into phone hacking have a degree of logic to them
In stating that the covertly recorded remarks made by Rupert Murdoch and broadcast on Channel 4 yesterday do actually have a degree of logic to them, some will suggest that we’re supporting an arrogant Citizen Kane like man. Others will argue that we’re defending the indefensible and to a degree their suggestions will ring true with many of our readers even. Mr Murdoch’s comments, though, needed to be made and others should indeed speak out also.
Murdoch, it is reported, branded the police investigating phone hacking allegations as “totally incompetent” and is heard to state:
“It’s a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent. The idea that the cops then started coming after you, kick you out of bed, and your families, at six in the morning, is unbelievable”.
“But why are the police behaving in this way? It’s the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing. And now they’re arresting their own, who never even took money… They’re going to put all newspapers out of business”.
“The people who came in and turned over Rebekah on Monday morning, there were about 15 or 16 – most of them, a dozen, were from Manchester, a murder squad or something”.
The media tycoon added:
“We’re being picked on… I think it was the old Right-wing establishment… and the Left-wing get-even crowd of Gordon Brown”.
“…There was a sort of – we got caught with dirty hands, I guess, with the News of the World, and everybody piled in. It was a get-even time for things that were done with The Sun over the last 40 years”.
There have been three investigations linked to phone hacking. The combined cost so far has been in excess of £17.5 million and ultimately is likely to be around £40 million. Meanwhile Operation Fernbridge, the investigation into the alleged “VIP paedophile ring” that supposedly operated out of the Elm Guest House, which has 300 strands of inquiry compared to the 77 strands linked to phone hacking, has been allocated just £25,000.
Rupert Murdoch is a businessman and undoubtedly though the practices of some of his lieutenants have been questionable, the real question is why is he so pilloried whilst the politicians allegedly involved in paedophilia have not yet been properly investigated?
Some might argue that these two scandals are unlinked, but the allocation of resources here is the issue. The Metropolitan Police have focused vast resources on pursuing the popular cause of Murdoch bashing and arresting doddery old so-called “celebrities”. Instead, they would do well to properly investigate the truly appalling abuses carried out by “the great and the good”. The cover-up of the criminal activities of certain members of the establishment is what really needs to be hunted out.
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