Kumquat
New member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 4,459
Via Groupon too probably.
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NSC dodged a Tory lawsuit.
- Thread starter Stat Brother
- Start date
Via Groupon too probably.
I said on here about a suspect being a "big beast" but I diodn't say a "Big Mac" though. A bloke called Morrison was someone labelled by no less that the Egglady herself, John Major's fling Edwina Currie.
"Private Eye" sailed close to the wind about Heath and his friendship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears who both demonstrated a liking for the company of young boys before their voices broke e.g. the actor David Hemmings.
However I was once told that another of Heath's close associates, Sir Val Duncan the former Chairman of mining conglomerate Rio Tinto Zinc had similar desires. Duncan certainly mirrored Heath's enthusiasm for European involvement.
brakespear
Doctor Worm
like
edit: for some reason my modest comment is appearing inside the quote although it is outside of the QUOTE tags.
One of the interesting things is that in the 'old days' in the case of libel EVERYBODY was deemed to be at fault:, the person who wrote it, the publisher and the printer. In the modern on-line era that rule no longer applies, only the author is deemed to be liable not the medium, i.e .no one is suing or trying to close down Twitter or Facebook for carrying the offensive messages.
In other words NSC and Bozza are off the hook if anyone posts libel on here. So any of you twats out there who've threatened legal action against NSC in the past: tough shit, go and bully someone else.
In other words NSC and Bozza are off the hook if anyone posts libel on here. So any of you twats out there who've threatened legal action against NSC in the past: tough shit, go and bully someone else.
clapham_gull
Legacy Fan
- Aug 20, 2003
- 25,741
Interesting how that story morphed into something quite different. No one was killed, no career was ruined, there wasn't a mob and it wasn't even in Portsmouth.
It's become a convenient tale to have a pop at any working class community when in reality it was probably the random work of a couple of teenage grafitti artists.
Chicken Runner61
We stand where we want!
- May 20, 2007
- 4,609
Its pretty bad that he was labelled a paedo but was it worth £180k in damages?
At his age and his position he's now come out of this quite well, he's had and widespread apology, £180k and is probably more highly known and respected than he was a few months ago
An ordinary person that gets maligned wouldn't get a bean as they couldn't afford to threaten legal action let alone have the contacts to force an admission of wrongdoing from their accuser/s
At his age and his position he's now come out of this quite well, he's had and widespread apology, £180k and is probably more highly known and respected than he was a few months ago
An ordinary person that gets maligned wouldn't get a bean as they couldn't afford to threaten legal action let alone have the contacts to force an admission of wrongdoing from their accuser/s
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4719364.stm
Last Updated: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 12:25 GMT
Whispering game
By Brendan O'Neill
The paediatrician confused with a paedophile has become a cautionary tale against hysteria over sex offenders. But the details have become confused, even down to whether it was a male or female doctor. What really happened?
Whenever the debate about sex offenders rears its ugly head, we are reminded of this incident and its cruel irony: how protesters targeted a paediatrician (a doctor who cares for children) because his or her job title sounded vaguely like paedophile (a sexual deviant attracted to children).
Last month, when education secretary Ruth Kelly was under pressure to reveal how many individuals on the Sex Offenders Register work in our schools, various newspapers revisited the paediatrician/paedophile story.
A columnist for the Independent criticised the tabloid attacks on Kelly, warning that we might once again end up with a "howling mob" consumed by a "paediatrician-bashing hysteria".
The Glasgow Herald lamented the current "hysteria over alleged sex offenders", and reminded us of the "illiterate lynch mob" that attacked the home of a paediatrician the last time there was such hysteria.
Who what where
The paediatrician incident is mentioned endlessly, but rarely examined in detail. Commentators refer to it all of the time but don't explain where and when it took place, and what exactly happened.
There was indeed an incident, in 2000, involving a paediatrician who was mistakenly labelled a "paedo", but there is little evidence that it involved any kind of hysterical mob.
In fact, it was a relatively minor incident, which has been exaggerated and distorted in the re-telling - and turned into a symbol of mass hysteria among the tabloid-reading sections of the population.
If you search the web or back issues of newspapers to discover the truth of the paediatrician-bashing incident, expect to be confused. Some reports say a male paediatrician was attacked, others that it was a female paediatrician.
There are clashing reports of where the incident took place. Some say it was in south Wales, others that it was in Portsmouth. In an article in 2001, the Daily Mail asked: "Who can forget the targeting of an innocent children's doctor in Portsmouth by a populace too ignorant and enraged to recognise the difference between paedophile and paediatrician?"
An online magazine, The Register, also says that it was in Portsmouth that "dictionary-starved and enraged mobs attacked a paediatrician".
Yet on a discussion board of a website that focuses on strange events, one contributor says the incident took place in London.
Lynch mob
There are conflicting reports as to what happened. A 2001 Guardian article says a female paediatrician was "hounded" from her home by her own "neighbours, who confused 'paediatrician' with 'paedophile'."
Some reports say the outside of the paediatrician's home was daubed with "paedo", others say the paediatrician woke one morning to find "the term 'paedo' spray-painted all over her walls" - which suggests breaking and entering as well as vandalism.
According to some accounts she was asleep in the house while the mob vandalised it; according to others she only discovered the vandalism upon returning from work. Some say it was far more serious than just offensive graffiti.
In 2003, a Northern Irish newspaper recalled the time that "Portsmouth became famous when paedophile-hunting locals chased a paediatrician down the street" (there's that mention of Portsmouth again). This account suggests the paediatrician may have been in real physical danger.
A student newspaper at the University of Essex described how "a group of people in Portsmouth... burned down a paediatrician's office in righteous anger."
On one online discussion board it said that "a howling mob stoned [the paediatrician's] house and firebombed it".
In the mainstream media, meanwhile, there are clashing reports over whether the paediatrician was attacked, hounded, chased or abused, but they all agree that it was an "hysterical mob" that did it.
Police talk
Just what is the truth? In August 2000, a female paediatrician consultant called Yvette Cloete was indeed labelled a "paedo" after a campaign by the News of the World to name and shame paedophiles in the community.
The incident took place in Newport, Gwent, not in Portsmouth (where there had been anti-paedophile protests after eight-year-old Sarah Payne was murdered) or London.
Dr Cloete returned from work at the Royal Gwent Hospital to find "paedo" spray-painted on her front door. Local police believe the graffiti was written by someone who confused her job title with the word paedophile.
It was no doubt a very distressing incident for Ms Cloete, who decided to move home shortly afterwards. But there is no evidence that a mob was involved or of any threats or incidents of physical pressure or violence.
"Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?" says Chief Inspector Andrew Adams, of Gwent Police, who was the liaison officer in charge when news of this incident broke six years ago. He remembers very well that stressful night, when he gave 18 live interviews to various media outlets.
"There was no big mob," he says. "Nothing like that happened. I know because I was there and I was involved. The lady was not in her home when it happened. She came home from work to see her door daubed with anti-paedophile graffiti.
"When we heard about it we set about dispelling the rumours that she or anyone else in that house was a paedophile. We explained to the local community the difference between paediatrician and paedophile."
Who did the graffiti? Mr Adams says he still isn't sure. "We think it was youngsters, probably someone in the 12 to 17 age bracket."
And the community was outraged by the incident and "supportive of the woman involved", he says.
Nevertheless, the story has taken on a life of its own, transformed into a dire warning about hysterical mobs who threaten the fabric of our nation. The irony is that some in the media, in challenging the scaremongering over sex offenders, indulge in some scaremongering of their own. They raise fears about violent tabloid-reading protesters who will attack, hound and destroy a paediatrician - which seem to be just as unfounded as the fears about thousands of paedophiles stalking the land.
Last Updated: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 12:25 GMT
Whispering game
By Brendan O'Neill
|
Whenever the debate about sex offenders rears its ugly head, we are reminded of this incident and its cruel irony: how protesters targeted a paediatrician (a doctor who cares for children) because his or her job title sounded vaguely like paedophile (a sexual deviant attracted to children).
Last month, when education secretary Ruth Kelly was under pressure to reveal how many individuals on the Sex Offenders Register work in our schools, various newspapers revisited the paediatrician/paedophile story.
A columnist for the Independent criticised the tabloid attacks on Kelly, warning that we might once again end up with a "howling mob" consumed by a "paediatrician-bashing hysteria".
The Glasgow Herald lamented the current "hysteria over alleged sex offenders", and reminded us of the "illiterate lynch mob" that attacked the home of a paediatrician the last time there was such hysteria.
Who what where
The paediatrician incident is mentioned endlessly, but rarely examined in detail. Commentators refer to it all of the time but don't explain where and when it took place, and what exactly happened.
|
In fact, it was a relatively minor incident, which has been exaggerated and distorted in the re-telling - and turned into a symbol of mass hysteria among the tabloid-reading sections of the population.
If you search the web or back issues of newspapers to discover the truth of the paediatrician-bashing incident, expect to be confused. Some reports say a male paediatrician was attacked, others that it was a female paediatrician.
There are clashing reports of where the incident took place. Some say it was in south Wales, others that it was in Portsmouth. In an article in 2001, the Daily Mail asked: "Who can forget the targeting of an innocent children's doctor in Portsmouth by a populace too ignorant and enraged to recognise the difference between paedophile and paediatrician?"
An online magazine, The Register, also says that it was in Portsmouth that "dictionary-starved and enraged mobs attacked a paediatrician".
Yet on a discussion board of a website that focuses on strange events, one contributor says the incident took place in London.
Lynch mob
There are conflicting reports as to what happened. A 2001 Guardian article says a female paediatrician was "hounded" from her home by her own "neighbours, who confused 'paediatrician' with 'paedophile'."
|
According to some accounts she was asleep in the house while the mob vandalised it; according to others she only discovered the vandalism upon returning from work. Some say it was far more serious than just offensive graffiti.
In 2003, a Northern Irish newspaper recalled the time that "Portsmouth became famous when paedophile-hunting locals chased a paediatrician down the street" (there's that mention of Portsmouth again). This account suggests the paediatrician may have been in real physical danger.
A student newspaper at the University of Essex described how "a group of people in Portsmouth... burned down a paediatrician's office in righteous anger."
On one online discussion board it said that "a howling mob stoned [the paediatrician's] house and firebombed it".
In the mainstream media, meanwhile, there are clashing reports over whether the paediatrician was attacked, hounded, chased or abused, but they all agree that it was an "hysterical mob" that did it.
Police talk
Just what is the truth? In August 2000, a female paediatrician consultant called Yvette Cloete was indeed labelled a "paedo" after a campaign by the News of the World to name and shame paedophiles in the community.
The incident took place in Newport, Gwent, not in Portsmouth (where there had been anti-paedophile protests after eight-year-old Sarah Payne was murdered) or London.
|
Yvette Cloete, speaking in 2000 |
It was no doubt a very distressing incident for Ms Cloete, who decided to move home shortly afterwards. But there is no evidence that a mob was involved or of any threats or incidents of physical pressure or violence.
"Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?" says Chief Inspector Andrew Adams, of Gwent Police, who was the liaison officer in charge when news of this incident broke six years ago. He remembers very well that stressful night, when he gave 18 live interviews to various media outlets.
"There was no big mob," he says. "Nothing like that happened. I know because I was there and I was involved. The lady was not in her home when it happened. She came home from work to see her door daubed with anti-paedophile graffiti.
"When we heard about it we set about dispelling the rumours that she or anyone else in that house was a paedophile. We explained to the local community the difference between paediatrician and paedophile."
Who did the graffiti? Mr Adams says he still isn't sure. "We think it was youngsters, probably someone in the 12 to 17 age bracket."
And the community was outraged by the incident and "supportive of the woman involved", he says.
Nevertheless, the story has taken on a life of its own, transformed into a dire warning about hysterical mobs who threaten the fabric of our nation. The irony is that some in the media, in challenging the scaremongering over sex offenders, indulge in some scaremongering of their own. They raise fears about violent tabloid-reading protesters who will attack, hound and destroy a paediatrician - which seem to be just as unfounded as the fears about thousands of paedophiles stalking the land.
Last edited:
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
As does the pay off to the Director General after his resignation.
Hatterlovesbrighton
something clever
It's unlikely though that this sort of storm would have been created about an ordinary person. i.e. The BBC wouldn't have run the story if it had been about a builder from Brockley.
£180k is probably quite a bit lower than what he could have got from going to court. These days paedophiles are probably seen as being the lowest form of humanity especially if they are seen as having committed their crimes by vritue of an huge abuse of position and privelige. Regardless of the apology many will still consider him to be suspicious.
He is to be applauded for the way he has handled it. Will definitely make people think twice before tweeting.
Shropshire Seagull
Well-known member
You haven't thought this through fully - it will only go to court if those he seeks £5 off think they can defend it. Remember the loser pays court costs - so if you wrote those words [which I reckon are pretty easy to (dis)prove] but you reckon you can dodge the £5 - you may end up paying a whole lot more. I'm sure most would rather pay the £5 than drag it through the courts, even if there was a faint hope of ducking a fiver.
Shrewd move in my view.
- Thread starter
- #32
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