The Elephant In The Corner

OK, now does anyone recall the story about the News of the World bugging the phones of royalty and various celebrities? No, I hear you cry, why should we give a fuck? Well, its important, children, because the News of the World are a prime example of the freefall in standards of journalism and the editor at the time was Andy Coulson, and he is now in charge of communications of The Conservative Party, and his boss before the government was Rupert Murdoch.

Now this isn't me putting on my tinfoil hat, squeegeing my third eye with a heroic dose of mushrooms and becoming aware of the conspiracy, these are stories that affect all of us and here is why:

What is to stop Andy Coulson doing it again, in the service of government this time? Against you or I, when he has, for all intents and purposes, gotten away with it before? Nothing at all, because we live in a world where the bastards either know enough about the rules to break them and get away or just refuse to play and never get admonished for it.

This is the establishment in action, and they aren't the Secret Illuminati, they have names and addresses and they encourage other people to break the law and then if those people are caught, they develop amnesia, the rest of the press refuse to cover it mainly because it is widely rumoured that the phone hacking technique is a standard weapon in the arsenal of the working tabloid journalist and to be honest, most journalists working for a tabloid are a bit shit anyway. I mean if I had to write and put my name to some of those stories, I would have to start each day jamming heroin into my eyesockets just so I could get out of the door. These people probably started out wanting to bring down governments and expose tyrants, now they get to write stories about members of Kasabian pissing in doorways and how much cellulite Charlotte Church has.

I am in my way, a romantic and an idealist, even as I recognise that people mess up and forces happen to impact upon them that are beyond anyone's control. I expect that if you have anything approaching a sense of obligation or nobility, that you at least try to aspire to something beyond your immediate gratification in life.

If you are a politician, you serve the needs of the people who elected you, if you are a policeman, you serve the people by enforcing common law(not merely issue fines) and if you are a journalist, then you seek out the truth, or whatever is closest to it and you shine a light upon the hypocrisy and corruption that besmirch our lives, that you show the reader that no one is above scrutiny and acknowledge that, yes, no one is perfect and you will make mistakes, but when you say one thing and do quite another, when you speak out against corruption and yet indulge in it yourself, someone is going to ask you about it and have evidence to prove that it is so.

I just want a better world for everyone, even you, you magnificent bastard, you probably don't think that you deserve one, but you were lied to, in fact, you can be amazing if you want to be. If you don't, I still want you to be happy and not be a slave to anyone but your own heart and mind. The journalists and editors involved in both the criminal acts, the commission of them and then the avoidance of reporting have failed on every level, professionally and personally. You are fucked and you are fucking us, as Bill Hicks once said of marketing professionals, now its journalism's turn. Again, I implore you to ask questions of this, to discuss amongst yourselves about how these things come to pass and to be angry about it, because if they can hack Prince Harry's phone, yours will be a piece of piss.