The Tommy Sheridan Trial

[joolz]

That's the mystery of the decade.
Had he just grinned and shrugged it off, apart from his missus refusing him a free drink, nobody would have given a damn- in fact it might have enhanced his image as a bit of a lad.
I think he smelled a libel suit and was hypnotised by pound signs.

It's all a bit odd as I didn't think he was that money driven. I don't know about latterly, but for a while he only took an average wage from his parliamentary salary and the rest went to his party.

Maybe he was just sticking too hard to his principles and didn't see that he should have just let it go.

I used to admire him a lot, he was good in the poll tax campaign, but he's dome some dumb things over the last few years. Plus I find it hard to take anyone orange that seriously.

 

[anglolawyer]

Maybe he was goaded by a pre-existing state of affairs between himself and the paper (News of the Screws I assume). If he was a charismatic left wing politician he was presumably very high on the radar for more or less permanent sniping and smearing and may have felt his chance had come to get his own back in just about the only way possible short of founding his own mass circulation paper and fighting fire with fire.

Anytime a populist or forceful leftie comes to the fore in the UK the tabs go into overdrive to blunt their message, using fair means or foul. Peter Tatchell, Tony Benn, Ken livingstone, Gorgeous George, though now enjoying cuddly status were all demons in their day.

Anyway, maybe that's why he did it. He picked the wrong ground (or maybe not if there's something in those emails).

 

[joolz]

Maybe he was goaded by a pre-existing state of affairs between himself and the paper (News of the Screws I assume). If he was a charismatic left wing politician he was presumably very high on the radar for more or less permanent sniping and smearing and may have felt his chance had come to get his own back in just about the only way possible short of founding his own mass circulation paper and fighting fire with fire.

Anytime a populist or forceful leftie comes to the fore in the UK the tabs go into overdrive to blunt their message, using fair means or foul. Peter Tatchell, Tony Benn, Ken livingstone, Gorgeous George, though now enjoying cuddly status were all demons in their day.

Anyway, maybe that's why he did it. He picked the wrong ground (or maybe not if there's something in those emails).

I really like Benn and Livingstone, they are unusual in that they are politicians who actually talk sense! 'Gorgeous' has fallen off my faves list though.

Apparently the 'lost' emails weren't lost [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/29/data-pool-3-sun-arrests-murdoch?INTCMP=SRCH] and the News of the Screws lied. Now there's a surprise. Not. Technicians have managed to get back a load of stuff so we may find out more at some point. How hard the police will work to support Sheridan's claims is, of course, a different matter. Having said that, if the emails are incriminatory then we certainly will hear about it.

 

[anglolawyer]

I really like Benn and Livingstone, they are unusual in that they are politicians who actually talk sense! 'Gorgeous' has fallen off my faves list though.

Apparently the 'lost' emails weren't lost [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/29/data-pool-3-sun-arrests-murdoch?INTCMP=SRCH] and the News of the Screws lied. Now there's a surprise. Not. Technicians have managed to get back a load of stuff so we may find out more at some point. How hard the police will work to support Sheridan's claims is, of course, a different matter. Having said that, if the emails are incriminatory then we certainly will hear about it.

What did George do to earn disfavour, apart from disappearing from view? Interesting link. Thanks. Worth keeping an eye on this one.

 

[joolz]

What did George do to earn disfavour, apart from disappearing from view? Interesting link. Thanks. Worth keeping an eye on this one.

Anyone who appears on big brother in a leotard pretending to be a cat is automatically persona non grata with me I don't think he can even excuse himself by claiming he did it with a sense of irony. Not that I've ever watched the show, but there were clips all over the place

Then again, maybe I've been a tad harsh. His appearance at the US Senate probably earns him enough Brownie points to play any animal he likes on any program he likes. Maybe I should let him back on the list!

 

[anglolawyer]

Anyone who appears on big brother in a leotard pretending to be a cat is automatically persona non grata with me I don't think he can even excuse himself by claiming he did it with a sense of irony. Not that I've ever watched the show, but there were clips all over the place

Then again, maybe I've been a tad harsh. His appearance at the US Senate probably earns him enough Brownie points to play any animal he likes on any program he likes. Maybe I should let him back on the list!

A guy's gotta live and it aint easy for one like George. For me, the US senate appearance trumps a lot. Being right about Iraq is up there somewhere too, although that may be for another thread.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Aye, even an eejit's right sometimes.

 

[anglolawyer]

Aye, even an eejit's right sometimes.

He was more than merely right. He was courageous too.

 

[brodski]

He was more than merely right. He was courageous too.

Indefatigablly so?

 

[joolz]

Indefatigablly so?

I'd only seen the famous bit of his appearance before, so this afternoon I watched the whole of his testimony on youtube (5 parts). I was mightily impressed and he's back in my good books

.... and to keep this on topic Georgie was a supporter of Sheridan. He made a speech at the Defend Sheridan Rally:


He makes a good point about Sheridan being locked up for so much of the day (and a funny one about the Sweeney). Perjury is a serious offense, but there should be something more productive and less costly to the taxpayer about the punishment.

 

[Rolfe]

Gorgeous also did a wonderful shredding of the obnoxious Frank Duggan, the paid professional ex-DoJ front man of the US Lockerbie families group. Frank apparently believes he can say anything that happens to occur to him at any given moment, no matter how untrue or that he just invented it, and nobody will dare challenge him.

He managed to do an interview with George in which every single fact he put forward was wrong. That takes some doing, really. George hung him up to dry. Frank blew a gasket and walked out.

Rolfe.

 

[joolz]

Gorgeous also did a wonderful shredding of the obnoxious Frank Duggan, the paid professional ex-DoJ front man of the US Lockerbie families group. Frank apparently believes he can say anything that happens to occur to him at any given moment, no matter how untrue or that he just invented it, and nobody will dare challenge him.

He managed to do an interview with George in which every single fact he put forward was wrong. That takes some doing, really. George hung him up to dry. Frank blew a gasket and walked out.

Rolfe.

I've heard them on a radio show where Duggan cried off, was there a filmed discussion too? I heard Duggan calling Jim Swire 'a crank'. Swire is an amazing guy, if I was religious then I'd call him a saint. I kept an open mind on Lockerbie initially, but as the evidence came out and was challenged I saw a lot of flaws. Then Private Eye took it up and their Paul Foot, who was a phenomenal investigative journalist, started publishing stories about the US bribery of witnesses (who then suddenly 'remembered' Megrahi), how evidence went missing etc etc and how the government didn't follow the strong Syrian connections because of political machinations that were going on in the US interest at the time.

It's worrying how the new Libyan lot are continuing the lies. Maybe they want to appease the US so they don't look too hard at the atrocities they are now committing themselves. What a world we live in

 

[Soapy Sam]

He was more than merely right. He was courageous too.

I'm honestly never sure when George is being courageous and when he's just so convinced of his own rectitude that he doesn't give a **** what anyone thinks, says or does.

It's sometimes admirable and sometimes wearing.

While I admired his Washington performance, it doesn't take much to out-think some of the people Americans elect to high office. (We have some world class numpties this side of the pond too)...which brings me back to Tommy.

Again, it's hard to draw a line between his apparently heartfelt socialism and his apparent belief in his own divinity. I find both a wee bit sad. If he had kept his gob shut and his pants zipped he might still be a real contributor to the political process in Scotland. I think his moment has passed.

 

[Rolfe]

I've heard them on a radio show where Duggan cried off, was there a filmed discussion too? I heard Duggan calling Jim Swire 'a crank'. Swire is an amazing guy, if I was religious then I'd call him a saint. I kept an open mind on Lockerbie initially, but as the evidence came out and was challenged I saw a lot of flaws. Then Private Eye took it up and their Paul Foot, who was a phenomenal investigative journalist, started publishing stories about the US bribery of witnesses (who then suddenly 'remembered' Megrahi), how evidence went missing etc etc and how the government didn't follow the strong Syrian connections because of political machinations that were going on in the US interest at the time.

It's worrying how the new Libyan lot are continuing the lies. Maybe they want to appease the US so they don't look too hard at the atrocities they are now committing themselves. What a world we live in

I think we're talking about the same thing, it was indeed a radio show. But we better not derail this further. Plenty threads about this elsewhere that nobody will go near except to say, "you're just a conspiracy theorist!", which is always a bit tedious.

Rolfe.

 

[Rolfe]

If he had kept his gob shut and his pants zipped he might still be a real contributor to the political process in Scotland. I think his moment has passed.

In a nutshell. What more can one say?

Rolfe.

 

[anglolawyer]

In a nutshell. What more can one say?

Rolfe.

Charisma and left-wingness are uncomfortable bed-fellows because, with the one comes popularity and the temptation to cash in, which is hard to resist, as is the idea that the sun shines forth from your rectum while the other imposes an obligation to slum it with the workers, which is unappealing for a talented person. Year after year. Especially in dreary bloody Scotland.

Much better to be a charismatic right winger, like Wilders, or Haider, or the gay Dutch guy wot got shot. Then you can make a packet without compromising your principles. You also get an easier ride from the meeja.

 

[Rolfe]

Especially in dreary bloody Scotland.

Stopped reading right there. Get back to me when you're over the snide remarks.

Rolfe.

 

[anglolawyer]

Stopped reading right there. Get back to me when you're over the snide remarks.

Rolfe.

He was a big fish in a small pond is all I'm saying. Turn your irony detector to a higher setting. I love Scotland but I think its politics are parochial and thus less likely to afford the satisfaction required to compensate for not being as rich or famous as a guy like Sheridan might think he merited.

 

[anglolawyer]

And having just watched George Galloway make mincemeat of senator Norman (which I had not seen in full before) I restate my admiration for him and disgust at the mendacity and corruption of the neo-cons. I had better head for another thread with that.

Watched his Tommy Sheridan speech too (thanks for that link). Barnstorming.

 

[Rolfe]

I love Scotland but .

Stopped reading again right there. If you're going for irony you're not very good at it.

Rolfe.