"In Britain, a parliamentary tit-for-tat; Clegg retaliates after Tories derail Lords overhaul" Bloomberg News, August 07, 2012
LONDON — Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of England said Monday that he will order his Liberal Democrat lawmakers to block legislation wanted by the Conservatives after Tory rebels derailed plans to overhaul the House of Lords.
Clegg said the Conservatives had broken the contract between the coalition partners as he confirmed that the government has abandoned attempts to reform the 700-year-old upper chamber of Parliament until at least 2015. The Liberal Democrats will respond by opposing plans to redraw parliamentary boundaries that may help the Tories at the next general election.
The move plunges relations between the two parties to the lowest ebb since they came to power two years ago and will raise fresh doubts over whether the alliance can survive until 2015.
‘‘Clearly, I cannot permit a situation where Conservative rebels can pick and choose the parts of the contract they like, while Liberal Democrat MPs are bound to the entire agreement,’’ Clegg said at a press conference Monday....
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Related:
"UK papers keep Prince Harry under wraps; Agree not to run naked photos of prince in Vegas" by Jill Lawless | Associated Press, August 24, 2012
LONDON — The prince has no clothes — but British newspapers are not running the pictures.
The country’s scandal-loving tabloids devoted many pages Thursday to the story of Prince Harry’s naked romp in a Las Vegas hotel suite. But all heeded a warning from royal officials that printing the images, already seen by millions on the Internet, would infringe on the prince’s privacy.
So while Ireland’s Evening Herald ran the stark-naked prince on its front page, British newspapers made do with pictures of holiday Harry in bathing trunks and fedora hat.
The Sun tabloid came up with the most creative solution, getting a staff member named Harry and a 21-year-old female intern to re-create the naked pose under the headline ‘‘Harry grabs the crown jewels.’’
Bob Satchwell, head of industry group the Society of Editors, said papers were merely complying with editors’ voluntary Code of Practice, which declares ‘‘it is unacceptable to photograph individuals in private places without their consent.’’
But other media-watchers said it was a scandal that erupted a year ago over phone-hacking and other tabloid wrongdoing that had tamed Britain’s once-rambunctious press.
Newspapers were exposed to a trial of public opinion as Judge Brian Leveson’s media ethics inquiry heard from celebrities, politicians, and crime victims who said their lives had been turned upside down by press intrusion.
The scandal has killed one tabloid, the News of the World — shut down by owner Rupert Murdoch after revelations about its illegal eavesdropping — and tarnished the entire British media.
Yeah, turns out Murdoch's media empire is a cover for an intelligence-gathering operation.
Related: Murdoch is Mad
Also related: FBI Saves Fox
Yeah, they did it here, too.
With the inquiry considering whether to impose stricter limits on
press freedom, many feel the tabloids are staying away from
kiss-and-tells and celebrity scoops that they once would have relished.
Neil Wallis, a former News of the World executive editor, said
fallout from the hacking scandal had left newspapers ‘‘terrified of
their own shadow.’’
‘‘In this post-Leveson era . . . they dare not do things that most of
the country, if they saw it in the newspaper, would think, ‘that’s a
bit of a laugh,’ ’’ Wallis told the BBC.
Yeah, thank the Lord the British public still has fine and reputable organization in the BBC.
While newspapers, including The Sun and the Daily Mirror, proclaimed
that the naked photos had been banned, that is not strictly true.
Several media organizations around the world ran the two naked photos
of the prince, which are being sold, according to British media
reports, for about $16,000.
British outlets refrained, after receiving a warning Wednesday from palace officials.
Prince Harry’s office confirmed it had contacted the Press Complaints
Commission, an industry watchdog, which in turn advised newspapers not
to publish the pictures.
Any paper that ran them risks being chastised by the commission,
which can demand a newspaper publish an apology, but has no power to
issue fines.
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Also see:
"The judgment had already been outpaced by the Internet and the international gossip press, which have brought the grainy photos of the duchess to readers and viewers across the globe."
I would have liked to have seen those.
Also see: Prince Andrew rappels 785 feet down UK tower
Admirers mark 15 years since Princess Diana died
Ruling shields Prince Charles’s letters from scrutiny
I'm about to bury this post.
The real royalty of Britain: The Rothschild family
Odd how I rarely if ever see their name in my newspaper or history books.
