phone hacking

  • 18 Jul

    Personal trainers, idiots and cyclists

    There have been a lot of photos of Rupert Murdoch out in the park with his personal trainer. Makes sense. If most of society is on your case you need to be ready to run at any time.

    Then again, is now really the best time to go for a jog? His empire his crumbling, Rome burns and there he is, sauntering around Kensington in an ill-fitting cap and crumpled shellsuit.

    But, in times of crisis, these billionaire businessmen need their personal trainers more than ever. In this case Murdoch’s trainer is hired just to work on a very specific set of muscles: the ones on his face. That’s why he keeps being photographed grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

    Think about it. Shut down a successful newspaper after a hundred and sixty eight years? Keep smiling. Shares plummet while share holders threaten to sue? Keep smiling. Hemorrhaging billions of pounds? Keep smiling. Those muscles need to stay in shape.

    ———–

    There was someone outside my office this week speaking into their mobile phone like they do on The Apprentice. You know, holding it out in front of their mouths instead of pressed against the side of their head. But not this moron. Oh no.

    He’s assessed the situation, then decided to turn the whole phone conversation thing into a laborious two stage procedure. He holds it out in front of him to speak then moves it to his ear to listen.

    Essentially he’s doubling the workload. Ironic given his brain is obviously functioning so poorly that he needs all the help he can get. Why make things twice as hard for yourself if you’re an idiot?

    It would almost be a shame to point out to him that for decades phones have been designed specifically so you don’t need to do that. Then again he probably wouldn’t listen anyway. After all, this guy’s obviously a trailblazer, a maverick, a lone wolf. That’s just how he rolls.

    ———–

    While on the subject of idiots, this is a special message for all you cyclists. And I know it may come as a surprise since all the evidence suggests you are unaware of what I am about to reveal. Here it comes. Ready? A red light means stop.

    You cyclists may need to sit down at this point to process this information. To help you, here it comes again. A red light. Means stop. Hate to break it to you but everyone else knows. People in cars see the red light, they stop. Pedestrians see the little red man, they stop. Yet you cyclists do not.

    Are you all colour blind? Do you think that just because you combine your daily commute with regular exercise and environmentally friendly travel you are above the law? No, it makes you a git. Oh and another thing. No one looks good in lycra. Just putting it out there.

    But hey, you don’t have to listen to me. Carry on ignoring that red light, ringing that little bell as you slice through people like a particularly smug scythe through downtrodden wheat. But know this. Keep carrying on like that and you cyclists just inspire the rest of us to invest in a Hummer and run you down.

  • 11 Jul

    Scum, hacks and earthworms

    Imagine how insulting, degrading and isolating it must be to wake up one morning and discover that your phone has not been hacked by the tabloid press. After all, if your private life has not been tapped into and exploited by some fetid scumbag, you’ve clearly done something wrong.

    Not to be included in this craze currently sweeping the nation is the kind of cultural bullying that we need to stamp out. What crime must you have committed if your life is not deemed worthy of public scrutiny by all those noble, honest and ethical tabloid newspapers? It’s just so very sad to see this minority excluded and segregated from the rest of society.

    Yes this whole phone hacking saga is shocking, amoral and those responsible should be nailed to the wall, but it’s also shocking how shocked everyone is.

    Corruption in newspapers, business, the police, politics and governments. Has it ever been any other way? It’s as old as some particularly old hills. And you know why? People can be corrupted. It’s just what happens. Next they’ll be telling us criminals are corrupt.

    Does this excuse what’s been happening? Course not. But until we eradicate people from the equation, it’s never going away. That’s the key. This world needs an enema. Flush us all away and let another species have a crack at running the show.

    What about earthworms? Got to love the earthworm. They just do what they do, fertilize the soil, recycle waste, keep things ticking over. They don’t watch the Apprentice. They’ve probably never even heard of Jeremy Kyle. And they’re both male and female at the same time, how cool is that? so, I think I’ll leave you with the wonderful words of Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man:

    “I think I could turn and live with animals. They are so placid and self-contained. They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins. They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God. Not one of them kneels to another or to his own kind that lived thousands of years ago. Not one of them is respectable or unhappy, all over the earth.”