NOUGHT SO QUEER AS FOREIGN FOLK

There’s a saying in the North of England “Nowt sae queer as folk” or “Nothing so strange as people”, which I’ll expand to “Nought so queer as foreign folk”.

Britain is generally regarded as one of the most open countries in the world, particularly as regards foreign ownership of British companies and other strategic assets. Thus in many respects we are a multinational country, perhaps to the extent that it is questionable whether our elected Government actually runs things, or an oligarchy of international business and financial interests does.

The Murdoch media empire is one such group of interests, and many will support the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills’ reluctance to concede further control of UK television to this, although he no longer has a say in the matter. However, it is the conduct of the group’s newspapers, notably the News of the World, which raises most questions, particularly as regards mobile phone hacking.

I have to say, however, that when news emerged earlier today that former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has contacted the Metropolitan Police about his phone being hacked, it was not immediately clear who the suspected culprit was, and whether the News of the World, the police themselves or even the security services might be the source of the intrusion.

It does now seem that Murdoch’s men – and quite possibly women – are the prime suspects in this matter, and perhaps, therefore, BSkyB should be renamed BSpyB, although it is apparently rogue News of the World reporters who are actually in the frame. Gordon Brown is also one a number of diverse public figures who have reportedly fallen victim to such phone hacking.

The resignation of the current Prime Minister’s Director of Communications and former News of the World Editor, Andy Coulson, last Friday cannot be regarded as pure coincidence it would seem.

Nevertheless, the more important story, it seems to me, is just how the media became the story, and why press pranks have so distorted coverage of current affairs at home and abroad across the British broadcasting sector, including the BBC, that important news is often side-lined. Clearly the culture of “Spin Doctoring” which took hold during New Labour lies at the heart of the problem.

“What goes around comes around” is a lesson which politicians need to learn. Hopefully, former Prime Minister Brown now understands this, and his successor Mr Cameron does too.

The present Coalition Government would also do well to regulate relations with some foreign powers, including the Murdoch Empire, and to secure more balanced media coverage of these.