Behind the Scenes at News Corp

Allo allo allo, what's all this then? News Corp and Mr Murdoch been upto to no good then have they? Journalists on their payroll been employing underhanded tactics in their pursuit of stories? Well I never! No, I'm sure none of us were  too surprised when we began to hear the first whispers about celebrities' having their mobile phone conversations and messages snooped on by the News of the World, par for the course pretty much, wouldn't you say? I mean after all they are celebrities, they put themselves in the public arena, they are very handsomely rewarded for it, it comes with the territory doesn't it? I think it's fair to say, that apart from the celebrity victims in these cases, nobody else really gave a shit!

What has emerged from these initial complaints and allegations is not new, it is something that many of us knew already and many more of us have come to suspect over the years. RUPERT MURDOCH IS A BAD MAN! If some people out there are still labouring under the mis-apprehension that people who seek domination are in any way benevolent, THINK AGAIN, the accumulation of so much power and influence over others is NEVER sought for altruistic purposes now is it. At the moment we are getting an insight into what went on at The News of the World, and its fairly fuckin' stark to say the least. Not only did they hack into the private messages and conversations of celebrities, but also top sports stars, politicians, ministers, police officers, members of the royal family, and most sickeningly of all, the family members of murder victims, HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? It may have started out as a journalist trying to get a scoop, I don't know, but it very quickly became standard practice across the paper & amongst the editors. I would suggest that if Mr Murdoch's vast empire was thoroughly and rigourously scrutinised, these kinds of practices and patterns of behaviour would be shown to permeate throughout. That includes America of course, where his channel Fox News played a major role in helping Dubya to steal the 2004 Presidential election by declaring him as the winner before the votes had been counted in full.

Now, Murdoch will say that he had no idea, he's thoroughly shocked but it was a rogue operation and it's been shut down so, after the compensation's been paid, he should be allowed to proceed in his plan for total domination in world media. I say, BOLLOCKS! The resignation by  the head of the Met over his force's repeated reluctance to investigate these allegations, shows the level of influence  Murdoch's News Corp has on the institutions of Great Britain. The fact that David Cameron, the Prime Minister, personally hired Andy Coulson as his Press Advisor, a man who was no less than the Editor of The News of the World when the hacking policy was in full effect, seems to me to suggest the gross extent to which Murdoch's influence has penetrated  British public life. What does it say to you? Coulson again says that he was unaware of the practices that his journalists were employing, but many of them have gone on the record declaring that to be TOTAL SHITE!! For the record, he knew about it, supported it and encouraged it. Anybody who believes that Murdoch, Coulson or Rebekah Brooks for that matter didn't know exactly what their underlings were upto is a far more generous soul than I'll ever be. Why? Besides being able to get the inside story, literally, always good for a paper, this hacking had other benefits; knowledge is power, and the knowledge gleaned from the hacking of the right peoples' private calls could prove very valuable to an individual seeking to influence decisions which relate to their interests but ultimately affect us all. The Americans call it LEVERAGE, on this side of the pond it's known, as BLACKMAIL!

This scandal should be a watershed in Britain. I mean it's out in the open now, we've all seen it, surely it can't be swept back under the carpet, we must not allow THAT TO HAPPEN.  The issues raised by this episode cut right to the heart of our so called democracy, of which we're all so proud, and what we actually mean by it. Do we want our government, police force & other institutions cowering under or doing favours for an all powerful multi-faceted free press and media empire presided over by a single meglomaniacal oligarch, I THINK NOT! No, I think it's about time for a change. Murdoch and News Corp's interests in Britain should be thoroughly investigated and face the full force of the law. There is no way he should be allowed to proceed with the buyout of BSKYB (funny thing, Vince Cable was stitched up like a kipper on that one wasn't he). Links between the media and all of Britain's intstutions should be thoroughly investigated, and ties between the media and the police and politicians especially, should be monitored and reviewed regularly. For our part, we must wake up IT'S TIME BRITAIN SAID NO TO MR MURDOCH!!

 

 Artwork by JWP

So Much for the Cashless Society!!

I don't know if you've noticed, I'm sure you have, being aware citizens of the modern era, how increasingly bloody hard it is becoming to purchase items and services with debit/credit cards. Weren't we supposed to be the cashless society? Advertisement after advertisement informing us how easy, quick and secure it would be to opt for payment with plastic rather than carrying that old fashioned and bothersome cash around with us everywhere, so easy to steal, and imagine having to remember to go to the hole in the wall before going out somewhere, I mean, come on haven't we got enough to remember! So we were invited to use plastic instead, and how easy it sounded, with names such as Access, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and the ever so subtley named Switch (now Maestro).No extra fees, quicker and easier than cash, with the built in benefit of added security- when our signature wasn't enough, weren't we told that chip n pin would be the failsafe answer? Mind you, how could it be? Anyone who's ever forgotten their pin will testify that in 99% of establishments allow you just to sign, and online well, any Nora, Ethel or Barbera who has your details can use them to buy anything!

Anyway, to the main point of this rant. More and more companies are choosing to add a fee for use of a credit/debit card, these fees range from around £1.50 for a Visa Electron (which just about nobody has cos only about 3 companies in the world even take it), rising to about £2.99 for a Switch/Maestro and all the way up to about £8 or a %age of the total cost for use of Mastercard or Visa credit card. This is ridiculous, having led people down this plastic path, implying stupidity or backwardness towards anybody who still had a penchant for using cash to pay for things, now they're charging us to pay for things. What the fuck man? If this isn't enough, having practically outlawed paying for things by cheque in the last few years, a lot of places have now stopped accepting credit/debit cards altogether. This is absurd! I mean, it's is one thing for small businesses who operate on a cash basis and therefore need currency to pay suppliers and/or staff, to have a mininum charge for the use of a card; but for large companies, that have numerous branches to ban the use of credit/debit cards is just plain stupid- I mean, why make it more difficult for your customers to pay?

 I have just spent the last five and a half hrs in Ikea in Berlin, it's hard enough to get out of Ikea at the best of times, but this time, twas extra fuckin specially hard. After spending bout 3 hrs or so trapsing around, following the bloody arrow on pain of death, continuing to fill our trolley with more and more stuff that we didn't know we needed (they're good at that like aren't they),  we reached the checkout. As I've said, our trolleys were full and, of course, the queue was long, however upon reaching the front, we proceeded to have our items scanned and the bill totted up. Upon reaching for my INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED credit card to settle the account, I was informed in rather a patronising tone,

 "We don't accept credit cards, the charges are too high".

 "Really" said I "How bizarre, aren't you a Global Multi National?" Nevertheless, the reply remained the same so I reached for my INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED debit card to settle the account.

 "Sorry sir"  came the voice "We don't accept that card either, the charges are too high, we only accept this one particular card."

 By this point I was fuming, HOW FUCKING RIDICULOUS! I mean, either you have this specific card, or you are expected to carry hundreds and hundreds of Euro round with you in your wallet, you see where we are here, RIGHT BACK TO THE FUCKIN START, CASHLESS SOCIETY, MY ASS!! Now, I'm not sure if this applies to all Ikeas in the world, but it certainly applies to the German ones which is bad enough. As it transpired, the girl at the till sent us to apply for finance, which we couldn't get cos you need, wait for it..... your passport, which one obviously carries around with one when one is shopping in Ikea of an afternoon, not bloody likely! After receiving some poor advice from the "Advisor" at the finance desk, we proceeded to have our time wasted for for another three quarters of an hr before eventually re-entering the world outside. This is time we will never get back you know. As it is we shall be returning to said Ikea tomorrow morning to collect and pay for our stuff in GOOD OLD FASHIONED CASH MONEY!!

 The banks or the credit card companies may levy a charge on these businesses, and doubtless the charge is too high, but it must be taken against the fact that a credit card allows millions of customers to spend money that they don't really have, a MASSIVE BONUS FOR THE VENDOR SURELY. Pay the charges out of your end, or stand together and fight the charges, but stop punishing us because you'll lose in the long run. By not accepting  or placing a prohibitive tarriff on these cards, which have been used for decades and which we have been actively encouraged to use and even rely on, companies do nothing less than antagonise, embarass, upset, belittle and rip off their customers, make it much harder for them to buy goods and, ultimately, make it much more likely that next time they'll shop elsewhere. I know I will! What's more, if the banks that levy these fees on businesses don't start to rethink their policies, they may find that their dream of a cashless society remains such. I don't think we'll lose too much sleep over that.

You see, how it always comes back to the banks ;)

 

 Artwork by JWP

And Now for Something Completely Different-A Comparative Guide to the West

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This is a comedy piece I came up with, just for fun. It's a very loose  adaptation from an old T-shirt that I had.

A Comparative Guide to the State of the West

Spain - F**KED

Portugal - REALLY  F**KED

Greece - F**KED BEYOND COMPREHENSION

Rep Ireland - F**KED BY A CELTIC TIGER

N Ireland - (we haven't gone away you know) PREPARING TO BE F**KED....AGAIN

Germany- TRYING NOT TO F**K ITSELF IN THE PROCESS OF BAILING OUT THE

                      F**KED

France- F**KED & FASCIST

Italy- F**KIN CAN'T BELIEVE THAT SILVIO IS STILL IN CHARGE

Britain- GLOATING COS EUROPE'S F**KED WHILST THEMSELVES BEING

                  F**KED BY PUBLIC SCHOOL ATTENDING MILLIONAIRES

Switzerland- F**KED IF I KNOW 

America- TOO BUSY F**KIN EVERYBODY ELSE TO REALISE HOW F**KED THEY

                    TRULY ARE

                                           

And the Winners in all of this? 

The Banks Of course

BECAUSE EVERYBODY GETS F**KED BY THE BANKS!!!

                              Artwork by JWP

                                                                              

Great mix from Sebastien Brandt

Hey, this one is for all the Trance fans out there, myself included. Many of us have wondered, over the past few years certainly, whether the best of Trance, and in particular live DJ mixes, was gone, swallowed up in the annals of history and left in the era 98-03. Would we ever feel the true uplifting euphoria again? Would the hairs on the backs of our necks ever stand to attention and bring an involuntary smile to our faces, even whilst performing the most mundane of tasks? With this mix, admittedly a year old, Sebastien Brandt has restored my faith that good euphoric trance lives on, and judging by the crowd reacton, theirs too!

Sebastien Brandt is a Swedish DJ/Producer, and has been fairly prolific of late, I recently heard his new tune Ashes, which I tip to be huge, and this remix in collaboration with Armin http://bit.ly/ofdl8p.
The set itself was performed at a State of Trance 450 in Poland last Spring, thats April 2010. It is 1 hr long, and can be downloaded free from trancepodium.com, I will post the direct download link at the bottom. What stands out for me over a lot of the other recent live sets I've heard, is the combination of orchestral breakdowns, uplifting riffs and the driving basslines involved in the majority of the tracks featured. So often you find that a track has one or even two of these components but is missing that vital ingredient that would take it to the next level. Alternatively, you find that a Trance set is often neither particularly euphoric nor good for raving because the DJ has gone too far down the tech/trance route, which seems to me to be a genre that pleases no-one, neither trance lovers nor techno heads. Although this does get a bit more techy and a bit harder towards the end, the track choices are good and monotony is avoided. Here, at last, is a set that will not only have your hands in the air, but will have you raving around ur kitchen/bedroom, in ur car and on the floor, with a smile on ur face. Enjoy!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L4II8PMZ

Ps Check this out for old time's sake. Breathtaking!http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3EHAAJ9F










                   Artwork by JWP