Thursday, March 04, 2010
Why Is This Not a Big Story?
Isn't it very odd that Alan Johnson has totally contradicted Jack Straw and said the country has a right to know why John Venables is back in prison? For a Home Secretary and Justice Secretary to be at loggerheads like this is a real story, but one which so far, few journalists have thought worth commenting on. I wonder if that is about to change.
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34 comments:
I just thought it was yet another sign of the Labour Party meltdown.
However, I would be interested in knowing more.
It's not a big story because there's no way to turn it into a Tory smear campaign.
Just lack of communications, respect and media hogging by the respective buffoons
Doesn't fit the current BBC obsession with the Lord Ashcroft non-story
Why was the fact that Venables had returned to jail publicised?
Having revealed that he had broken the terms of his freedom, the govt must have knopwn that the inevitable question would have been: 'what did he do?'
The feelings of the Bulger family seems to have been ignored
I smell something fishy
Just what has Venables been up to?
A good point - had this been a William Hague/Ken Clarke story (clearly might happen),it would have been all over the place and certainly on Newsnight.
The broadcast media will not promulgate the story for the simple reason that it does not embarrass the Tories.
I'm sure you know this Iain.
Good idea AJ, you had to come up with one eventually. Tell us all where he is and the name he now travels by, release his picture to the media and let the lags and warders go to work on him. Seems to be about what he deserves.
Could it be that Venables has just smoked some weed and failed a urine test? In the US that would be a parole violation and put you back in jail. I'm not sure about the UK though.
You cannot expect the BBC, who ran Michael Foots greatest hits throughout the Today Programme, to expose a disfunctional government in this pre-election build up.
Don't be daft, there's only one story of any interest to the MSM and that's Lord Ashcroft. Wait for this weekend's opinion polls to show a small Labour lead to realise that the BBC/Labour alliance is back up and running.
Iain, I can't stop laughing. The BBC (who drive the political news agenda as you well know) will NOT make this a big story, unlike Cameron and Osborne disagreeing over tax and marriage where the BBC savaged them for days.
When will you Tory lot finally accept the BBC hates your guts? Why don't you ever bring this sort of bias up when you get on Radio 5 to be slaughtered by slobs like Nolan and Bacon?
If he's suspected of having committed another crime, we've got to assume that reporting the fact would be deemed to be prejudicial to a trial, so keeping schtum on it would make sense. No reason not to give that very bare outline of what's going on, though - and you'd think it'd calm things down a bit.
I very much enjoyed that interview with Straw yesterday when he said:
"I know there is an intense public interest in why he has been recalled. I would like to give that information but I'm sorry that for good reasons I can't and that's in the public interest."
This was covered in news interviews yesterday.
By saying what he has done, there is probably a very real danger that people will be able to guess who is his, hence endangering his safety. That would be against the law (part of his release conditions etc) hence why they are not telling us.
As for the ministerial mix up, not uncommon in the days of 24 hour media. Its not as if it happens with the our party is it...lol
Labour are clearly afraid of debate on their performance in government and trying desperately to keep the headlines filled with smear stories about their opponents (i.e. against the SNP in Scotland and the Tories in England).
Its working for them just now because (a) the SNP and Tories have chosen to not retaliate with their own smear stories, and (b) the SNP and Tories have until now been slow off the mark in publicly pointing out Labour have usually been doing whatever it is themselves on a far grander scale.
This game plan of Labour's will only work for a little time before the voter's rumble big time what Labour are up to and the mainstream media becomes fed up with being pawns in Labour's game plan as the day of the election draws closer.
why doesn't Lord Ashcroft accuse the BBC of bullying? Frankly it fits all the definitions of bullying.
why has Cameron not come out fighting and laying it down just what Lord Ashcroft has done for the British people..which you, Iain, wrote about. The only person, to his credit, who has praised Lord Ashcroft and called him 'My Hero' was Kelvin McKenzie last night on the newspaper review.
Jon Craig that ghastly arms waving stuttering political journalist on Sky last night said that Harman had 'hammered' Hague at PMQ's
Sky are absolutely disgraceful.
There is definately a communistic plot behind all this and if I were Cameron I would be very very careful during the debates that there is not a carefully managed and staged set up!
It may not be a question of endangering his safety, but more one of ensuring he gets a fair trial for whatever he's alleged to have done...
I wonder how many more votes the Tories would get if they vowed to SCRAP the tv licence.
It is simply untenable to allow a wholly partisan tv company to relentlessly attack a political party like the bbc does.
I don't think there's necessarily a direct contradiction. The question about when the public has a right to know. Johnson has said he believes they do and will do in due course. Straw says they don't have a right to know at the moment due to the possibility of prejudice. The difference is one of tone rather than substance.
With regards to Strapworlds comment re DC. Um, yep, that's why people don't see him as a credible PM. Sorry, but you all know it.
I am sure Harriet Harman can help explain it - once she has worked out how to string one sentence together.
Watching the PMQ's yesterday was astonishing.That this woman is allowed anywhere near people is incredible - but then when you see Straw ("accountancy is not my strong suit") on the bench next to her,we see the truly rotting carcass of a 13 year old animal whose smell emanates across the world.
Labour are rotting from within.
As the whole Labour-sourced BBC attack is falling apart i think DC can stay aloof
A Lord with a a particular tax status shared with many others makes entirely legal donations
How is this a story?
Looks like Cameron could be coming in for the Nick Griffin treatment by the impartial BBC.
"strapworld said...
Jon Craig that ghastly arms waving stuttering political journalist on Sky last night said that Harman had 'hammered' Hague at PMQ's
Sky are absolutely disgraceful."
He's blogged about it. I don't know what he's been smoking, but he should lay off it.
Mind you, you should see the mauling he's getting. Worse than Harman suffered.
http://blogs.news.sky.com/boultonandco/Post:42918a8d-713e-4c69-8f23-608acd84ed4f
Because it's a non-story.
Whilst Jack Straw is the Minister responsible for prisons and probation, Alan Johnson is the Minister responsible for the police.
In cases like Jon Venables he is subjected to MAPPA arrangements which include input from the Prison Service, Probation Service, and Police Service.
Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements
Labour let out murderers, and send to prisom a pub landlord who let people smoke in his bar. Labours terror, just when will it end.
http://cyberboris.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/the-heartbreaking-bulger-case/
I agree that because there is no way to turn this into a Tory smear campaign, the BBC will mostly ignore it.
Apparently Thompson became a heroin user, and Venables uses cocaine and ecstacy. With what they have to live with, it's hardly surprising, is it?
Hilarious. Some of you actually believe there is a media conspiracy against the Conservatives don't you? You really do need to get out more. I recall at university the student left wing caucus always moaning about the media being anti leftist. Of course they had the excuse of being immature and stoned. Most of the unhinged posters on here are in their 30s or older. You do realise that no one of importance reads these blogs don't you?
In any event, there is so little substantive difference between Tory and Labour these days that none of the spheres of power (the media, the banks, EU etc) could give a rat's arse who wins the election.
As to the Johnson/Straw disagreement, it was highlighted on the news if you bothered to watch it. It just wasn't that big a deal. Every right thinking human being would like to disclose the information but with power comes responsibility and in Straw's defence, he is almost certainly trying to prevent new proceedings being prejudiced. If proceedings were prejudiced due to Straw's actions, some posters here would be the first people foaming at the mouth accusing him of allowing Venables to escape justice and holding Straw personally responsible for the death of that poor mite 17 years ago.
Is Venables a non-dom for tax purposes?
The BBC are at it again. The No1 story is the BBC smearing Ashcroft. The 2nd BBC story is that Ashcroft was CLEARED of doing anything wrong on donations, yet the BBC still spin this as a cover up and big up some shit stirring Labour MPs FOI request.
On News 24 now John (I'm not drunk for once) Sopel is really kicking the woman in charge of the investigation trying to suggest that there was a Tory cover up.
So Iain, when are the Tories going to start making complaints to the BBC Trust?
@ p smith
Define 'importance'.
@Unsworth
I tried looking it up in a dictionary (as you seem not to possess one) but it appears that the BBC and their communist adjutants have removed it. Gadzooks, will they stop at nothing?
Situation's simple. Venebles' 'crime' was to skip off because his identity had been exposed and he feared for his life. His identity had been exposed because the DoJ are incompetent. Straw doesn't want us to know that so is keeping quiet. Johnson's Home Office hates the DoJ so are happy to appease the public and embarrass Straw at the same time. QED.
Meanwhile on ITV Tom Bradby interviewed Mandelson. Lord 'mortgage' Mandelson didnt like the line of questioning about Labour's non-doms. Bradby also mentioned 'people in glass houses etc'. Now that is fair. BBC and Sky (Jon Craig saying Harman gave Hague a battering!) are completely on Labour's side. They dont even try to cover it up now and it will get worse before the election.
@ p smith
Well as 'importance' has now apparently been officially banned perhaps you'd like to choose another word.
I'd suggest 'blancmange'.
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