Andy Coulson, former ‘NOTW’ editor and Clive Goodman
It looks like the Murdochs and their former News of the World editor Andy Coulson are finally fucked over the ‘phone hacking scandal today, after the publication of a letter by former employee.
Clive Goodman is the former News of the World Royal Correspondent, who was arrested in August 2006, and jailed in January 2007 for illegally intercepting mobile phone messages involving members of the Royal Household. In March 2007, Goodman wrote a letter, published Tuesday, which claimed that ‘phone hacking was widely discussed by editorial staff at the tabloid, until, then editor, Andy Coulson banned any reference to it. The Guradian reports:
Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World’s disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman.
In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday, Goodman claims that phone hacking was “widely discussed” at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with “the full knowledge and support” of other senior journalists, whom he named.
The claims are acutely troubling for the prime minister, David Cameron, who hired Coulson as his media adviser on the basis that he knew nothing about phone hacking. And they confront Rupert and James Murdoch with the humiliating prospect of being recalled to parliament to justify the evidence which they gave last month on the aftermath of Goodman’s allegations. In a separate letter, one of the Murdochs’ own law firms claim that parts of that evidence were variously “hard to credit”, “self-serving” and “inaccurate and misleading”.
Goodman’s claims also raise serious questions about Rupert Murdoch’s close friend and adviser, Les Hinton, who was sent a copy of the letter but failed to pass it to police and who then led a cast of senior Murdoch personnel in telling parliament that they believed Coulson knew nothing about the interception of the voicemail of public figures and that Goodman was the only journalist involved.
The letters from Goodman and from the London law firm Harbottle & Lewis are among a cache of paperwork published by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. One committee member, the Labour MP Tom Watson, said Goodman’s letter was “absolutely devastating”. He said: “Clive Goodman’s letter is the most significant piece of evidence that has been revealed so far. It completely removes News International’s defence. This is one of the largest cover-ups I have seen in my lifetime.”
Goodman’s letter is dated 2 March 2007, soon after he was released from a four-month prison sentence. It is addressed to News International’s director of human resources, Daniel Cloke, and registers his appeal against the decision of Hinton, the company’s then chairman, to sack him for gross misconduct after he admitted intercepting the voicemail of three members of the royal household. Goodman lists five grounds for his appeal.
He argues that the decision is perverse because he acted “with the full knowledge and support” of named senior journalists and that payments for the private investigator who assisted him, Glenn Mulcaire, were arranged by another senior journalist. The names of the journalists have been redacted from the published letter at the request of Scotland Yard, who are investigating the affair.
Goodman then claims that other members of staff at the News of the World were also hacking phones. Crucially, he adds: “This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor.” He reveals that the paper continued to consult him on stories even though they knew he was going to plead guilty to phone hacking and that the paper’s then lawyer, Tom Crone, knew all the details of the case against him.
In a particularly embarrassing allegation, he adds: “Tom Crone and the editor promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not, and I expect the paper to honour its promise to me.” In the event, Goodman lost his appeal. But the claim that the paper induced him to mislead the court is one that may cause further problems for News International.
Read the whole article here, and Clive Goodman’s letter here.
As MP Tom Watson explains in the video clip below, if Goodman’s letter is accurate, then the whole foundation of the James and Rupert Murdoch’s and News International’s defense collapses, and if the allegations against former NOTWeditor, Andy Coulson, are proved to be correct, then the game of bluff is over and criminal prosecutions will be inevitable.
Via the Guardian
This has to be one of the goofier fundamentalist Christian “items” I’ve ever seen: The “Witness Stick®” is like a sheleighleigh or “staff” I suppose, but with a difference. The “Witness Stick®” aims to help shy Christians untie their tongues with an eye-catching walking stick emblazoned with several colors, a wordless book of faith.
How it works is simple: Someone walks up to you as you brandish your fetching “Witness Stick®.” They ask you “Hey, what’s with the stick?”
Presuming they aren’t worried for their safety, you then reply “Why, it’s my ‘Witness Stick®.’ Would you like me to tell you about it?” If they gulp “yes,” you’ve been invited to witness to them. There is a card that comes with the stick that explains how each color relates to the life of Christ!
I’m sorry, but if I was ever walking the dogs in Runyon Canyon and some creep wanted to talk to me about his fucking “Witness Stick®” I would just hope that I didn’t have any liquids in my mouth as I point at him and laugh in his face.
Read a larger version at Stuff Fundies Like
Last week the British historian David Starkey got into a lot of trouble on BBC’s Newsnight by claiming that the English riots were caused by “Black” rap culture and praising the notorious politician Enoch Powell. As could be expected his views were jumped on by the far right British National Party, and there has since been a public outcry that many think spells the end of the broadcaster’s career.
Now YouTube user sweetbabyjesus has uploaded a great cut-up video turning Starkey’s statements on the news program into actually quite a passable little rap tune - for an English historian.
There’s also a sequel called “Even Starker”, you can watch it here.
British animator Lee Hardcastle excels at getting to the very essence of a film (usually a horror film) with his 60-second claymation reenactments of movies like The Exorcist, Evil Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Here’s Hardcastle’s take on David Lynch’s cult classic Eraserhead. I love the Northern accents, all done by Hardcastle himself. His accent ups the funny factor considerably.
See more of his Done in 60 Seconds with Clay webseries at Lee Hardcastle.com
Via Dazed & Confused magazine
I’ve never seen this footage before. I suspect the sound was synced in later from a boot recording off the board or from a source in the audience. I’m tempted to call the Manhattan phone number embedded on the video to see if they can help me out on this one. But it’s almost 6 a.m. in New York and I don’t won’t wake up the poor soul who may have inherited the number from over 40 years ago. So, let’s just dig the fact that this is Jimi Hendrix at Madison Square Garden in 1969 and, despite its technical shortcomings (edited with a chainsaw), you still feel a bit of the thrill of the “I was there” vibe.
The time code indicates it was a pro-shoot perhaps for TV. Anymore footage out there?
The excitement is palpable, spine-tingling and borderline unbearable.
Stick with this. The Jesus vibe is upped to the point where spiritual frenzy sends the God-meter into the red.
If you judge a person by the company he keeps, Rick Perry is nuttier than a port-a-potty at a peanut festival. (Regional humor. I live in Texas).
At most large gatherings where music is part of the entertainment, there will be bad apples who insist on taking drugs to allegedly heighten the experience. See what these drugs do to a bunch of young Christian kids in the shocking last two minutes of this video. Brown acid?
Digging the music. Biker women in San Bernadino, 1965
The girl kneeling by the jukebox is Ruthie and she’s the ‘old lady’ of Harvey, a Diablos member from San Bernardino. Harvey attends Angels’ meetings and rides with them but is not a member. It’s only two in the afternoon but Ruthie has already ‘crashed’ from beer and bennies .”
On assignment for Life Magazine in 1965, photographer Bill Ray spent a month hanging out with the Mother Charter of the Hells Angels (est. 1948) in San Bernadino, California. Life never published the photos, though they’ve recently made them available on their website. Last year Ray’s photographs were collected in book form, Hells Angels Of San Berdoo, that you can buy here.
The photograph of the two biker chicks at the jukebox is one of Bill Ray’s favorites and mine too.
Bill Ray ruminates on the photo:
There’s something kind of sad and at the same time defiant about the atmosphere. Ruthie is probably playing the same 45 over and over and over again. A real music lover.”
While all of Ray’s photographs are extraordinarily expressive and strikingly composed, his shots of the women are the ones that really get to me. Badass, beautiful and forlorn. These chicks could eat today’s hipsters for breakfast. I want to know them.
More photos after the jump…
The Lorax, the classic pro-environmentalist and rather strongly anti-capitalist Dr. Seuss book from 1971 had a big influence on me when I was a kid. That is to say, that it really bothered and upset me.
The book has a simple and powerful lesson at its core: “We’re killing the planet for often frivolous reasons. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Someone has to stand up for the trees. Someone like you.” The finger is pointed right at Seuss’s young readers. He means YOU, that’s right, you there reading this—YES YOU—and there is no escaping this fact.
The animated version that came out the following year spooked me ever more, although I loved it. When The Lorax (or any Seuss cartoon) was on TV, this was like a holiday to me. I don’t think its influence on my generations and the ones that came after can be overestimated. It’s one of the most subversive and powerful things ever written for grade school children. Both the book and the cartoon are veritable counter-culture classics. You simply cannot unlearn the message of The Lorax. It’s like Who Moved My Cheese?, but written by Karl Marx in verse. For me, it’s THE Dr. Seuss book, a stone classic.
In the story, a boy visits a sad old man known as “The Once-ler” who lives in a ruined wasteland in a remote area of town “where the Grickle grass grows.” We never actually see the Once-ler, who lurks in the shadows, only his hands You could argue that he represents not one specific person, but voracious capitalism itself. He tells the boy about his days as a wealthy man, running a factory to make a fad item of clothing (a “Thneed”!) woven from the colorful, woolly Truffula trees. The Truffula trees are not only beautiful, they support a vibrant and exotic ecosystem of happy and content forest-dwelling animals.
A Wilford Brimley-esque creature called “The Lorax” protests the destruction of Truffula tree forest, but is continuously rebuffed by the Once-ler and the red tape of “the system.” After the Once-ler has chopped down the very last Truffula tree he FINALLY gets what the Lorax was trying to tell him, but by then it is too late. The Lorax lifts himself up by the seat of his pants and disappears. The animals are all gone. What is left looks like a lunar landscape. The haunted old man, full of regret over his life, explains to the boy how greed will destroy us all UNLESS we—ALL of us—stand up to the corporations raping and pillaginging the Earth. He gives the boy the very last Trufulla seed and tells him to nurture it and to regrow the Trufulla tree forest so that the Lorax and his friends might one day return.
The near apocalyptic lesson of The Lorax was as haunting to my six-year-old mind as the Christian “end of the world” books like Hal Lindsay’s Late Great Planet Earth were to me a few years later. But whereas goofy Hal Lindsay’s projections of his own psyche’s pathology onto “Bible prophecies” were ultimately easy to dismiss as I got older and smarter, the message of The Lorax I’ve still never shaken, nor would I want to. It should be required viewing for all school age children, although this being America, these days screening The Lorax for public school students could probably get a teacher fired. (There have been attempts to ban the book in northern California logging towns).
I was glad to see that Chris Renaud (the story artist for the Horton Hears a Who! feature) is working on a new film version of The Lorax so that its message will be heard by another generation. Danny DeVito is playing the Lorax. Perfect casting. The film is set to come out in spring of 2012. Until then, watch the original and oh-so-subversive animated original, below:
There is a light that will go out eventually. You can pre-order this delightful, limited edition Morrissey candle from The Occulter. And if you think you can do better pun than that let us know in the comments.
Thanks to Stuart Lorimer.
Described as “sheer bloody poetry”, this is Industrial Revolutions, the latest film from Street Trials riding phenomenon Danny MacAskill. Since arriving on the scene in 2009, MacAskill‘s films have been seen on YouTube by over 30 million people, now:
Industrial Revolutions sees Danny take his incredible bike skills into an industrial train yard and some derelict buildings.’ Filmed in the beautiful Scottish countryside Danny MacAskill’s latest film was directed by Stu Thomson for Channel 4’s documentary Concrete Circus.
Bonus clip of Danny MacAskill’s ‘Streets of London’, after the jump…
With thanks to Woody Mcmillan
Rioters may have helped themselves to the inventory of local shops, but DeLoot London wants to help insure that none of them shuts by pointing out to concerned people how they can support these damaged businesses with their purchases. DeLoot London aims to help these small business owners to get back on their feet with the opposite of a boycott:
DeLoot London’s mission is to make sure that not a single shop that was looted during the riots is forced to close. While a small number of people did the damage, we can all help our local, independent businesses recover by spending our money with them.
This map will show you where your money will do the most good. If you know a looted shop that’s not on the map, send details to help@delootlondon.co.uk and we’ll add it. Let’s go shopping, and DeLoot London!
I’m normally not one to try to encourage consumerism, but DeLoot London’s heart is in the right place. Find out more at De-Loot London’s efforts to mitigate the damage of the England riots at their official website.
Thanks, Gabriella Wingådh!
Around 12 seconds in you will see someone you might just recognize. Someone who looks very like a young David Cameron, enjoying himself at a rave, circa 1988.
If it is the Right Honorable Prime Minister, I wonder if he did any ecstasy? It would be refreshing if he did. I think we should be told.
With thanks to Mark MacLachlan
Nico interviewed on French television’s Pop 2 program in 1972. She performs solo versions of “Janitor Of Lunacy” and “You Forgot To Answer” accompanying herself on her harmonium. The Pop 2 show also presented the famous VU “reunion” concert at the Le Bataclan nightclub that same year with Nico, John Cale and Lou Reed.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Velvet Underground Live: ‘Symphony in Sound’
‘The Inner Scar’: Obscure and Pretentious French Art Film Starring Nico (1972)
