The media have been creating a firestorm recently over super-injunctions because a number of ‘famous’ people have taken out these injunctions to prevent the press from printing stories ie kiss-and-tells, about their private lives. Ironically it turns out that one of these famous people is a journalist! You just couldn’t make it up, could you? However the journalist involved has quickly been dropped out of the limelight because the press never defecate on their own, not for long anyway. The truth is not as important when they are being investigated.
The excuse that the press often give for their intrusions into private lives is that these people make a living out of their family image and therefore the public have a right to see it exposed. This is nonsense of course because the target of their intrusion makes a living as a footballer and a very good one, who largely keeps his family out of the limelight. The press particularly the redtops simply want to increase circulation by writing sleazy stories about famous people’s private lives. Everything else they say, ie freedom of expression, freedom of speech, the right to the truth etc is simply justifying their lack of ethics and basic morality. The British press and British politicians are very big on human rights ( when it suits them), but the The European Convention of Human Rights, enshrines a right to privacy. This is of course ignored when it suits. Unfortunately parliament is full of members of the legal profession. The legal profession makes a fortune out of human rights cases. Therefore controversy like this is great for judges, barristers and law firms et al who are provided with lucrative work.
Liberal MP John Fleming has used the ancient ‘right’ of parliamentary privilege in order to name the footballer concerned. Mr Hemmings’ reason was that he was preventing ordinary people being sued after the footballer’s lawyers targeted twitter. Oh really Mr. Hemmings? Well because of his obviously well-intentioned act, the obese, balding Mr Hemmings has suddenly changed from a grey man nobody had heard of, into the man everyone was talking about. His name and face in every newspaper, on every news bulletin. Not a bad bonus for a hitherto anonymous politician! Mr Hemmings has now become famous! He will probably be appearing in chat programmes in the future, be featured in interviews, possibly end up on I’m a celebrity Get Me Outta Here. He has made his mark! He will now doubt already be the subject of a question on pub quizzes throughout the land! Oh and the ‘ordinary people’ he is protecting on Twitter? Isn’t one of them none other than Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror who published fake pictures of British troops torturing Iraqis in the Gulf War. An act wich doubtless led to the death of British service personnel in that country. Journalistic Mr Morgan is one of the people being rumoured to be at the forefront of the Twitter campaign to smash the super-injunction protecting the footballer’s privacy! Of dear! One could easily see a journalistic connection here if one had that kind of mind! The redtop tabloids being aided to break a super-injunction by former redtop editor! Conspiracy theories please! Send them to the letters page of any redtop tabloid. They will never be published of course. (The redtops don’t print stories about themselves.)
The reason that people take out such super-injuctions in the first place to protect their families and children from the fallout arising from the stories. So that children are not subject to being taunted at school etc. In other words to prevent the innocent from being hurt! Preventing the innocent from being hurt, that should be the job of our political representatives, shouldn’t it? People like Liberal MP John Hemmings perhaps? This would be a noble cause! Much more noble than seeking self-publicity by abusing parliamentary privilege!
If the media believe that the rich and famous should have no right to privacy, why do they not print stories concerning the foibles and affairs of newspaper editors and journalists?
Why do they not print how much they have paid for their kiss-and-tell stories and to whom the money went? Perhaps we would then find out who are the real love rats! Comically they keep this information private whilst denying that their victims have a right to privacy! I believe that it is virtually certain that one or more redtops have already paid or have agreed to pay money for the exposee of the footballer and this is one reason why they went to such great lengths to keep the pot boiling. This has subquently turned into a campaign to get around injunctions using social networking sites and possibly stooges or accomplices. This will mean that people in future won’t bother to take out injunctions leaving the media free to carry on with its dirty work.
People may say well its the fault of the rich and famous for not being squeaky clean. I would say that everyone makes mistakes it is part of the human condition. Kings, queens, princes, princesses, presidents and deputy prime ministers. All have human frailties and all can be brought down by them and regularly are and always will be.
