Harriet Harman In Trouble !

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26333558

The DM may be up to its old smear tricks here but why on earth didn't Harman just admit that the PIE shouldn't have been allowed to be an associate member of the NCCL ? She was given plenty of opportunity on Newsnight but failed to do so. Even the DM is not trying to say that she is a fan of paedophilia but a simple apology would stop the DM's smear campaign dead in its tracks. I am afraid she has shot herself in the foot here.

[emmie]

that was for LG, who suggests that i should sign the petition.
apologies, it got into the mix of things.

[Ellipsis]

It's pretty obvious why it's come to prominence now, isn't it?

It's from around the same time as all the Savile/Yewtree stuff was going on. The fact that the organisation, with that name, was around for ~10 years goes to show what the culture was like then versus now.

As for HH - I'm sure she's a decent person but some of those allegations do seem to stick. She was the legal officer for four years! The Mail has printed its response to Harman's and Dromey's statements:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567098/Not-one-hint-remorse-Harriet-Harman-Jack-Dromeys-statements-Mails-replies.html

While I can't stand the Mail - hateful, evil paper - some (not all) of their responses in that article echo my own thoughts. And something that Daily Mirror editor Kevin Maguire said on the R4 Today programme this morning is also true - if this had been a high ranking Tory politician, the Mail would probably still be acting in a very similar way.

[jno]

what exactly did Harman do that she should be apologising for?

[emmie]

nothing according to her, so why has she then.

[emmie]

Ellipsis, which is exactly what i said, the Mail doesn't favour the Tories no more than Labour, and it's very critical of any who seem to get off scot free from serious crimes.

[LazyGun]

This is Harmons statement in response to the allegations.

http://www.harrietharman.org/nccl-statement---24022014

The questions that remain are why NCCL did not kick PIE out, given their agenda ( and PP talked about the Voltaire defence, which is a good point). I would like to hear a statement from Patricia Hewitt, who was General Secretary of the NCCL rather than just the Legal Officer.Another question would be why the organisation was never banned in its 10 years of existence. It was a legal organisation.

[LazyGun]

"Ellipsis, which is exactly what i said, the Mail doesn't favour the Tories no more than Labour, and it's very critical of any who seem to get off scot free from serious crimes"

Well thats a big fat LoL. If you cannot see the bias the Mail has for the Tories and against Labour, you must be the only one in the country.

[anotheoldgit]

LazyGun

/// Well thats a big fat LoL. If you cannot see the bias the Mail has for the Tories and against Labour, you must be the only one in the country. ///

Here are 3 examples from today's web site of the Daily Mail's non support for the Tories, unlike the Guardian who never criticises their beloved Labour party.

Don't the left just hate the Daily Mail or anyone else's criticism of the Labour party.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567223/Peter-Bone-Tory-MP-100k-benefits-fraud-probe-Year-long-inquiry-disputed-care-home-fees.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567335/Tories-turn-John-Majors-childhood-backstreets-Brixton-shake-image-party-toffs.html

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/25/article-2567063-1BCC3C6300000578-621_308x210.jpg

[emmie]

thank you, but you obviously don't read the paper. that's a big lol from me.

[LazyGun]

For petes sake! The Daily Mail has been a mouthpiece for the Tory high command since Beaverbrook.

And they would not exist for long as a paper if they did not report on specific issues of scandal or wrongdoing, would they? Every paper is reporting on these scandals - individuals doing wrong will always be reported upon.

I am talking about their editorial stance; Every story, especially every political story, will be spun to favour the tory view. And if there is an opportunity to smear the opposition they will take every opportunity to do so, just as the Mirror has an editorial stance that favours Labour and takes every opportunity to do down the Tories.

But I cannot remember any other paper in recent years being so base as to smear Ed Milibands father, for instance.

Trying to suggest that the Daily Mail is politically impartial is just ludicrous.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/25/harriet-harman-daily-mail-website-girl-bikini

Absolutely pathetic Ms Harman doesn't care for the Daily Mails criticism of her, so the only thing she has to fight back with is for her to accuse the Mail of daring to publish a photograph of a 12 year old girl in a bikini, I wonder what she expects 12 year old girls to wear when they go swimming or on holiday?

Notice that the Guardian in their reporting of the Mail's dreadful deed, chose not to publish the said photograph and the context in which it was included in the Mail's web site.

[emmie]

no more than when others suggest the Guardian is a left wing biased newspaper.

[LazyGun]

HH has every right to point out the DMs rank hypocrisy on the issue of insinuating that Harmon was complicit in paedophilia, given their prediliction for featuring young girls in skimpy dress. If they are celebrities or related to celebrities, even better. That is what Harmon is pointing out, and it is certainly not a pathetic thing to do.

And of course the Guardian is a left -wing paper. Who would try and assert otherwise?

[emmie]

some defend it as much as some will defend the Mail, but AOG is right, they don't like Cameron, they don't care much for the current coalition, and are highly critical of many in the Tory ranks.

[ichkeria]

I'm baffled by this whole business. Why on earth should Harriet Harman have to apologise for anything?
It's got to the stage now though where she's being criticised for not apologising for not having apologised, and so on.

The Richard Briers character in Ever Decreasing Circles would have been proud of all this.

[emmie]

until someone finds the truth of the matter, rather like some of the BBC employees who turned a blind eye to Savile's behaviour. Or the current crop of celebs who have found themselves in the spotlight, for old but serious sexual shenanigans. Why was NCCL involved in anyway with this organisation, why at all. There may have been a thousand affiliates, but the person who started up PIE stated his aims quite clearly, the name as others have said rather gives it away.

[LazyGun]

The Mail do not like Cameron, but that does not mean they do not like the Tories. If anything,its because they see Cameron as a lightweight and probably not right wing enough.

They are and always have been a mouthpiece for the Right.

No one in their right minds can possibly fail to see that.

[Ellipsis]

If Shami Chakrabati found something to apologise for when she wasn't even there until 20+ years later then presumably Harriet Harman, who was the senior legal officer at the time for which Chakrabati was apologising, could find something to apologise for.

[emmie]

if you say so,