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UK Politics IX


Usotsuki

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From the sublime (slashfic) to the ridiculous:

Fred Goodwin is not a banker.

SIR Fred Goodwin was criticised last night after a super-injunction to stop people calling him a banker backfired and sparked an outpouring of ridicule online.

The floodgates were opened when a backbench Liberal Democrat MP used parliamentary privilege to reveal that the former banker had won a court order banning use of the term – and stopping the media even reporting on the ban...

However, the issues that brought about the super-injunction – and the ban on using the term banker – remain off-limits for the media.

This is perhaps not so strange. Whatever Fred Goodwin was doing at RBS, I think many people would agree it shouldn't be defined as banking.

Sir Fred last night declined to comment.

You do surprise me.

ETA - we should decide who else needs one of these injunctions. Nick Clegg - not a politician?

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This is perhaps not so strange. Whatever Fred Goodwin was doing at RBS, I think many people would agree it shouldn't be defined as banking.

I just don't understand how you can get a superinjunction in this case, nor how it can be legal on random stuff like "don't call me Bob, I don't like it". Shouldn't superinjunctions be left for really severe defamation cases or stuff like, I don't know, national security? Its current uses just seem absolutely ridiculous.

What was the last case of ridiculous superinjunctions? I can't remember but wasn't it something to do with Murdoch? I may be wrong.

Apart from that, isn't it time "sir" Fred Goodwin got stripped of his knighthood. Can that sort of title even be revoked?

ETA - we should decide who else needs one of these injunctions. Nick Clegg - not a politician?

I feel he might end up not being alone in that category. :P

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What was the last case of ridiculous superinjunctions? I can't remember but wasn't it something to do with Murdoch? I may be wrong.

Guardian article on superinjunctions - the last big case was that of Trafigura.

There have definitely been more since then. One of the worst aspects of them is we are not even allowed to know that they exist (unless some public minded MP uses parliamentary privilege to mention them, as with this case and the Trafigura one). I wouldn't want to get Westeros into trouble, but you can find a few hints if you search the internet carefully.

So the next time someone boasts about their or their organisation's record, point out that it just means they have probably taken out a super injunction to stop us being allowed to know the dirt.

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Here's a bit of quick amusement:

follow the link and CTRL+F search for occurrences of the word "banker" :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fred_Goodwin&oldid=418291670

(it's a permanent link to the - at time of writing - current version of Fred Goodwin's wiki page. I'm linking to this instead of the standard version for posterity, cos it'll eventually get edited).

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Weird story, it's not as though he was being referred to as a merchant banker in the media afterall.

Is he really so thin skined with all that money or is banker the newest ultimate insult in the English language?

Eh Lyanna, I've never heard of the Queen unknighting anyone through some kind of de-dubbing ceremony, though I suppose she could alway lop his head off with he the sword of state. She might get an ASBO for that, but I don't think that it would harm her street cred even in Windsor.

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Apart from that, isn't it time "sir" Fred Goodwin got stripped of his knighthood. Can that sort of title even be revoked?

Apparently they can if they're considered to have done something serious enough to no longer be worthy of the honour - Wikipedia lists Nicolae Ceauşescu, Robert Mugabe and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt as among those who have had honours taken away. Apparently participating in a catastrophic failure of the global financial system isn't considered a serious enough misdeed.

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Wasn't there a super injunction against revealing Peter Mandelson's sexuality, for a while?

I don't think that was a legal issue, instead BBC Director General John Birt apparently banned the BBC from mentioning it, supposedly because Mandelson was a friend of his. Have I Got News For You had fun with that attempt at censorship, as TvTropes summarises:

# Too Soon: Especially the show which aired immediately after the BBC issued strict instructions that no programme was to raise the matter of PeterMandelson's private life in any way...

* "We're not allowed to say on The BBC that Peter Mandelson is a hom...eowner."

o Immediately followed by Merton — "What's wrong with gay people owning homes?"

* Hislop also managed to call Mandelson a "friend of John Birt" (the BBC boss who made the decision) in a way that suggested it was an Unusual Euphemism.

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Apparently they can if they're considered to have done something serious enough to no longer be worthy of the honour - Wikipedia lists Nicolae Ceauşescu, Robert Mugabe and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt as among those who have had honours taken away. Apparently participating in a catastrophic failure of the global financial system isn't considered a serious enough misdeed.

You know what, i'll just come out and say it. I don't think he's as bad as those guys. :P

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Nice story. No doubt she frequently wears it with pride.

Mind you that would have been back in the day when Nixon said that "he's a commie, but he's our commie". All that medal exchanging would have been part of the general cozying up.

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The Sun has done the numbers on BBC spending and it isn't pretty:

Another £16.4million was blown on flights, much of which was spent moving BBC journalists around the globe.

BBC English Regions spent £1,868 last year on chocolate digestives, bourbons, shortcake and oatmeal biscuits, while BBC Wales spent £150 just on chocolate digestives.

A TOTAL of almost £460,000 was spent last year by the BBC on planting trees, grass and flowers, as well as repairing pavements and roadways.

The nerve.

(Ok, there is some questionable stuff there but it's swamped by 'Large Organisation Has Significant Operating Costs: Shock' and pure inanities like the above - I mean really, using planes for transporting journalists... :tantrum: )

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