Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

I have been watching the committee hearings of the police chiefs and Murdoch. It is all a bit of a waste of time. The quality of the questioning is very poor. They haven't landed a glove on any of the people. The explanations have all been pretty straightforward. Question to Murdoc snr, "did you know about..." NO. "why not?", because NOW was only 1% of our business and I employ 57,000 people. The committe has almost no powers compared to Senate Committees. Evidence is not given under oath and no risk of perjury.

Haystack - sadly true - its all a bit of a farce.

Remember during the IRAQ inquiry, Blair and Brown actually refused to answer some questions. They used the secrecy act, and yet it all obviously came out anyway.
As you rightly say, the committee has no power. They are like a Rottweiler with no teeth.
As long as those being questioned don't drop themselves in it, its a complete waste of time.
We should have the USA system and take all answers under oath, otherwise, 'whats the point'!

Farce! it's like watching Brian Rix but without the trousers falling down.

Did Fred throw the pie?

Is Wendi Deng the new Pippa?

She is only 40 yrs younger then Murdoch.

Some mature more slowly or easily revived!

.

I wanted to know where Cameron was when the lights went out!

Tuesday 19 July 2011

News Corp shares leapt nearly 6pc in New York (Xetra: A0DKRK - news) amid reports it is considering replacing Rupert Murdoch as chief executive of the company, although Mr Murdoch insisted on Tuesday he was the 'best person to clean this up'.

Shares rose 5.78pc to $16.28 as Rupert Murdoch, who is currently both chairman and chief executive of News Corp, and his son James appeared before a committee of MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) investigating the phone hacking scandal.

Rupert Murdoch denied he was ultimately responsible for the wrongdoing at the News of the World.

"I do not accept ultimate responsibility. I hold responsible the people that I trusted to run it and they people they trusted," he told the Commons Culture, Media (Xetra: 725292 - news) and Sport Committee.

Rupert Murdoch also said he had not considered resigning.

"I feel that people I trusted, I am not saying who, I don't know what level, have let me down. I think they behaved disgracefully and betrayed the company and me. It is for them to pay. I think that frankly, I am the best person to clean this up," he said.

Pressure had been mounting for Rupert Murdoch to step down as chief executive of News Corporation (NasdaqGS: NWS - news) amid concerns about his handling of the phone hacking crisis and his ability to deal with a grilling by MPs.

According to Bloomberg, members of the News Corp board yesterday discussed promoting chief operating officer Chase Carey to the chief executive position, although no decision has been made. It is thought Mr Murdoch would retain his duties as chairman.

Three different News Corp executives who watched Mr Murdoch, who is 80, rehearse for his appearance before the Culture, Media and Support Select Committee this afternoon are said to have raised concerns about how he handled questions.

Bloomberg said the board members met to discuss how the market would react to Mr Careys potential elevation, following a serious battering to its share price.

However, independent director Thomas Perkins has denied that any board meeting took place. He told Associated Press that the board isnt considering elevating Mr Carey and that Mr Murdoch has the boards support.

Any move to oust Rupert Murdoch would have to have the Murdochs' consent or strong backing from the board, as the Murdoch family owns nearly 40pc of voting rights.

Meanwhile the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal appears to be paving the way for Mr Murdoch to step down. It has reported that he has been considering handing the reins to Mr Carey for more than a year - despite widespread expectations that he would back his son James Murdoch to succeed him instead.

The phone hacking scandal has wiped $1bn off News Corp's value since it was first alleged that News of the World journalists hacked the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler.

Ratings agency Standard & Poors yesterday added to its woes, by saying it may lower News Corps corporate debt rating because of business and reputation risks created by the phone-hacking scandal.

Has anyone watched the live interview with Rebecca Books on MSN, interesting some what!!!!!!!!!

In the dark ........ if Fred had another brain he would be a half wit

Watch out there is a stalker about!

The committe got nothing out of the questioning of anyone as expected. It looks like the main players today knew little or nothing of what was going on. The private dective may have acted without authorization. It looks like a waste of time.

Senate Group Unveils Deal On Major Deficit Plan
Published: Tuesday, 19 Jul 2011

Declaring "11th hour" urgency" to raise the government's borrowing limit, President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed a plan by "Gang of Six" senators from both parties to reduce federal deficits as the kind of balanced approach that could break an economy-threatening deadlock. He said it was time for Congress as a whole to rally around such a proposal.


CNBC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We don't have any more time to engage in symbolic gestures, we don't have any more time to posture. It's time to get down to the business of actually solving this problem," the president said.

Obama spoke even as House Republicans pushed toward a vote on separate legislation that would require trillions in spending cuts and agreement on a balanced-budget constitutional amendment in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling, which the government said must be raised by Aug. 2 to avoid economic calamity.

That House plan, expected to come to a vote Tuesday evening, was unlikely to get through the Senate, and Obama has said he would veto it if it ever arrived at his desk.

Facing the deadline in two weeks, Obama said he would call House Speaker John Boehner after Tuesday's vote to invite him and other leaders back to the White House for meetings in coming days.

Obama, Boehner and other top leaders met last week for five days straight without reaching agreement, leading to warnings from credit agencies about dire consequences if the U.S. defaults on its obligations for the first time, rendering it unable to pay its bills.

Obama added his own warning Tuesday, saying that while financial markets have shown confidence thus far in Washington, it won't last much longer if lawmakers fail to

If US Loses Triple-A Rating, Almost Anything's PossibleHouse to Vote on Tea Party-Backed Debt PlanUS Debt Accord Could Slow Gold Rally, but Not for Long
But he found cause for optimism in the announcement Tuesday by leaders of a bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators that they're nearing agreement on a major plan to cut the deficit by more than $4 trillion during the coming decade.

"I think it's a very significant step," Obama said, calling it "broadly consistent with the approach I've urged."

The Gang of Six plan calls for an immediate $500 billion "down payment" on cutting the deficit as the starting point toward cuts of more than $4 trillion that would be finalized in a second piece of legislation.

It would raise revenues by about $1 trillion over 10 years and cut popular benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaiddealing out political pain to Republicans and Democrats.

That mixture of cuts and new revenue is the "balanced approach" Obama has urged, though it's rejected by many Republicans because it would require higher taxes for some.

Rep. Dave Camp, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the spending cuts and budget mechanisms in the plan could form the basis of a deal, but tax increases would be a big problem for him and fellow GOP lawmakers.

"A trillion dollars is a lot, by any measure," Camp said of the tax increases in the plan.

While praising the broader plan, Obama said it was still important to have a "Plan B" option being worked on by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a fallback.



The McConnell-Reid plan would give Obama the ability to raise the debt limit by $2.5 trillion in three installments over the next year without a separate vote by lawmakers. Instead, a panel of House and Senate members would be created to recommend cuts in benefit programs, with their work guaranteed a yes-or-no vote in the House or Senate.

While all that was going on behind the scenes, advocates of the legislation to be voted on in the House on Tuesday said it would cut spending by an estimated $111 billion in the next budget year and then by more than an additional $6 trillion over a decadeand require Congress to send a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratificationin exchange for raising the debt limit by $2.4 trillion.

With the measure facing a veto threat from the White House, Boehner said he was exploring other alternatives to avoid government default.

"I do think it's responsible for us to look at what Plan B would look like," he said at a news conference a few hours before the opening of debate on the legislation backed by conservative lawmakers.

Said Obama: "The problem we have now is, we're in the 11th hour, and we don't have a lot more time left."

On a day of political theater, a group of House Republicans also boarded a bus for a 16-block ride to deliver a letter asking Obama to disclose his own plan for reducing federal deficits.

No administration officials were present to meet the delegation when the bus rolled to a stop outside the White House gates, and lawmakers gave copies of the letter to reporters.

Democrats said it was urgent that the debt ceiling be raised.

In a closed-door meeting in the Capitol, House Democrats listened to an audio of Republican President Ronald Reagan urging lawmakers in 1987 to raise the debt limit.

"This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans' benefits," he said then.

Nearly a quarter of a centuryand numerous trillions of dollars in debtlater, Obama needs acquiescence from the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate to win another debt ceiling increase. So far, efforts to agree on a package of spending cutsthe price demanded by GOP lawmakers for their voteshave proved futile.

Barring action by Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, the Treasury will be unable to pay all the government's bills that come due beginning Aug. 3. Administration officials, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and others say the resulting default would inflict serious harm on the economy, which is still struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades.

Pressure is mounting on Murdoch to step down.

He could go holding hands with Cameron and Coulson.

Pretty picture.

Birds of a Feather.

At least Paul Stephenson showed leadership.


Hear Clegg is been seen packing furniture for No 10.

It is strange what information had to be kept away from a Prime Minister.

Also, what would be interesting to me, is what information Cameron and Osborne were getting and how it was sourced.


Smells to me!

Stepping Hill Hospital deaths: Nurse on murder arrest

A nurse has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the deaths of three patients at a hospital in Greater Manchester.

The woman, 26, is being questioned after two men and a woman died at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

She was arrested at her home earlier. Police believe insulin was deliberately injected into saline containers.

Cameron's excuse for Coulson appointment is said by the tory lackeys a case of "innocent until proved guilty".

I supposed he hopes the same applies to himself.

I bet he will look more like Flashman than ever.

Why did Cameron, who pertains to be upright and honourable, arrange to meet Muddyhock at the "back door", in order to thank him for services rendered?

By the way what was Coulson doing to Cameron and didn't Cameron ask how he got any information in view of the views of others who advised him.