I woke this morning to the news that journalists on a national newspapers have been systematically and repeatedly bugging people’s private phones.
I also am wondering if I should ever go for meetings at Church House, Westminster, again. According to the Bishop of Fulham at last week’s FCA launch, ‘Satan is alive and well and resides at Church House’.
And I am intrigued that the Queen has been dragged into the FCA business.
So, I have three areas of questioning running round my head:
1. Will the News International publish a list of every person whose phone was hacked? And, picking up another theme of recent bloggings, will journalists now push for an independent Press Complaints Commission – having insisted on such scrutiny for MPs?
2. Will the Bishop of Fulham tell us which bit of Church House is home to Satan – and give us names? I want either to avoid the said person or tackle him/her. I think we should be told. (And why did Archbishop Jensen or anybody else not question this bizarre statement at the time?)
3. It is clear, now that Anglican Mainstream has published the correspondence with Buckingham Palace, that the ‘letter from the Queen’ was no such thing and did not offer support to FCA. Why, then, did Chris Sugden (when being interviewed about this specific point on Sunday on BBC Radio 4) not simply deny it rather than leave the question of royal support open – suggesting that this would be revealed at the launch the next day and, therefore, setting off speculation and reaction?
I wonder if any of these questions will get answers? I have to admit, however, that the only one of importance to the real world is the first.
July 9, 2009 at 10:08 am
I quite agree with you, no’s 2 & 3 do not deserve anytime spent on them IMO!
July 9, 2009 at 11:53 am
Surely the answer to Q2 is “the basement”? – on grounds of “it’s so obvious they’ll never think to look there”.
July 9, 2009 at 1:42 pm
…Unless he’s in the bookshop. There was a very funny looking bloke in there yesterday afternoon. (Clearly Satan IS a man. No self-respecting woman would wear a tail with horns before 6.00pm…)
Thank you +Nick for making me laugh and think and helping me to avoid writing Sunday’s sermon by catching up on reading your excellent last four blogs.
The devil is in the motivation for the displacement activity, not the content, of course!
Erica
July 16, 2009 at 3:05 pm
If you missed it, there was a superb session of the Commons Culture Committee about this. Very well-nuanced debate.
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=4593