I must say I admire the rebelliousness of MP John Hemmings in naming Ryan Giggs in the House of Commons over his super injunction which has had Twitter in a frenzy over the last week. Protected by parliamentary privilege, the MP cannot be arrested for flouting the law, and his revelation enabled Giggs, the hero of so many young lads, to be named and shamed by the national media.
This is not China and we should be proud of our free press. Yes, let’s please have a review of our privacy laws, but remember that our right of our free speech has to abide by our laws on slander and libel, so there is protection against malicious lies.
Today showed us that there’s not just one law for the printed media and the internet, there’s also another one for parliament….
Sorry Ellee I dont think it right that an MP can think himself above the law and therefore can do ” contempt of court ” .
The MPs are the law makers if they have got it wrong they should put it down for review , debate and then change not go around as mavericks .
As for the footballer concerned who cares , hes nothing , I dont give a monkeys who hes been s——- its no business of any one other than his wife.
By what right do all the sleezy scum bag reporters think its any of their business to out him ?
What do they get up to in their spare time ?
By the way have you seen Guido Fawkes on ” Theres no one as Irish as Barrack O’bama ” , now that really is amusing .
disaffected, that’s the idiosyncracy of this situation. Hemmings is allowed to say what he likes in parliament, and these were exceptional circumstances which he felt should be brought to the public’s attention because it’s absurd that everyone knows about Giggs on twitter, but not in the mainstream media. I don’t see how our internet can be silenced as anything salacious spreads like wildfire on a global level. Even if super injunctions are breached on the internet, we have the laws of libel which offer the same protection on twitter as in the press. It’s the lawyers who are getting rich from this.
It’s vitally important that the British press is free to report whatever it wishes so long as it is the truth.
Celebrity footballers are being used to set legal precedent for much more sinister blanket bans on information. That’s why the Giggs case is so important.
Consider that our freedoms of expression are being sacrificed in order to protect a liar and an a cheat.
A far more sinister side issue to this is that a popular celebrity breached the Giggs injunction on Twitter – a court trial with the possibiliy of 2 years imprisonment and all of it done in secrecy is a possibility.
This should worry everyone.
Please remember where all of this originated. The Human Rights Act which sought to codify EU standards on the conflicting issues of freedom of expression and privacy. Standards of privacy that keep the likes Monseur Straus-Khan as creditable global leaders.
What a mess. And how awful it’s been to see our printed media with words blacked out.
The Human Rights Act has become a lawyer’s charter and they’ve run amock with it. Mr Cameron ought to repeal it with some urgency and put the lawyers back in their box.
This is such a dangerous situation. We have a law foisted on us by Brussels where our representation is so dilute as to be nonexistent and a judiciary on a frolic of their own making up the rules as they go along and setting precedent which other justices will follow. Libel and defamation laws will cover untruths and all of us should take care that what we do can bear scrutiny or face the consequences. Celebrities thrive on the media when it suits them and are happy to bank the cheques celebrity brings but they must accept the downside of a lack of privacy as part of the package. If you want anonymity be anonymous.
Personally I do not care if these lame brains cohabit with domestic animals what I do care about is the appearance of justice for sale that has arisen. Congratulations to Mr Hemming for highlighting the asinine position taken by the High Court of Justice. Tough Mr Eady the High Court of Parliament outranks you. Congratulations too to the thousands of ordinnary twitterers who have defied the court and the self serving lawyers who have perpetrated this obscenity.