Leveson Report

[Lateralthinking1]

The Leveson Inquiry will cost taxpayers £6 million at a time of economic crisis.

Given the Prime Minister's statement today, is it the most expensive bit of old window dressing in history?

[Stunsworth]

Given the Prime Minister's statement today, is it the most expensive bit of old window dressing in history?

Well he doesn't want to upset Mr Murdoch, he's got an election he wants to try and win in a couple of years/

[Serial_Apologist]

Well he doesn't want to upset Mr Murdoch, he's got an election he wants to try and win in a couple of years/

Is there a link to what Cameron announced? I can't bear to wait to hear... :whistle:

[subcontrabass]

Is there a link to what Cameron announced? I can't bear to wait to hear... :whistle:

This is Cameron's statement: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/davi...nquiry-report/

[ahinton]

The Leveson Inquiry will cost taxpayers £6 million at a time of economic crisis.

Given the Prime Minister's statement today, is it the most expensive bit of old window dressing in history?

Almost everything costs something regardless of whether or not that cost arises "at a time of economic crisis" such as the one that we're all in together(?!) now; frankly, I'm astonished at the cost of this, though, because not only had I expected it to have gone on much longer and have a far wider remit, its apparent £6m price tag for what we did get from it (including a report whose page count alone is little short of the equivalent of three volumes of the OED) seems to me almost to border on the bargain basement end of such things, actually; the overall cost of its ongoing outcome, whatever it may or many not turn out to be, will surely dwarf this figure.

[Flosshilde]

This is Cameron's statement: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/davi...nquiry-report/

Flannel. The most definite part of it was where he says that Leveson found no evidence of collusion between the govt & News International.

It all adds up to - 'We're going to do as little as possible.'


Has Clegg beed allowed to make his own statement, as he wanted to?

[Serial_Apologist]

This is Cameron's statement: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/davi...nquiry-report/

Many thanks, scb!

[subcontrabass]

Has Clegg been allowed to make his own statement, as he wanted to?

You can find his statement here.

[Simon]

No specific interest for me as such, all this - but I felt it somewhat surreal to hear a Conservative arguing against legislation against the press, and a Labour and, for heaven's sake, a Liberal politician arguing for press restriction!

[Bumfluff]

No specific interest for me as such, all this - but I felt it somewhat surreal to hear a Conservative arguing against legislation against the press, and a Labour and, for heaven's sake, a Liberal politician arguing for press restriction!

It's not surreal at all. Conservatives are always against regulation for private commercial bodies and their freedoms.
The latter then donate to the Tories/New Labour and continue to get preferential treatment. And the cycle of life goes on.

[Flosshilde]

You can find his statement here.

Thanks - much better than Cameron's crocodile tears about the victims, & self-serving, self-congratulatory, triumphalism.

[Extended Play]

From what I've read and heard so far -- and it's early days -- Lord Justice Leveson's main recommendation seems to be a fudge, or to put it more charitably, an elegantly crafted balancing act. The press is told to go away away and devise a tougher system of self-regulation with sticks and carrots, and the government is told to underpin this system by legislation. This is no doubt a hugely over-simplistic analysis; but even so, who would actually be calling the shots here? Don't you have to come down either on the side of self-regulation, or legislation?

Perhaps inevitably the phrase "last-chance saloon" has been invoked today. It's twenty years since David Mellor used it as a warning to the "popular press". Is anything really going to change now? I'd love to be proved wrong, but I'm not optimistic.

[David-G]

well that self important little sh1t Gove knows what he thinks eh

I may be very old fashioned, but I think this sort of language demeans the forum.

[Flosshilde]

well that self important little sh1t Gove knows what he thinks eh

Still, at least Nigel Farage thinks he's "grown up and sensible" (or he says he does :erm:)

[David-G]

No specific interest for me as such, all this - but I felt it somewhat surreal to hear a Conservative arguing against legislation against the press, and a Labour and, for heaven's sake, a Liberal politician arguing for press restriction!

I am indeed astonished that Clegg appears to be against freedom of the Press. It's a freedom which it would be dangerous to lose.