No free press should have to surrender to a vindictive tycoon – yet Max Mosley has nearly won in Britain
It is inexcusable that the state has 'recognised' Impress as an official press regulator
Maxed out
NO democracy should tolerate the idea of centuries of press freedom being left in the hands of a vindictive tycoon.
Yet this is where we find ourselves in Britain.
It is inexcusable that the state has “recognised” Impress as an official press regulator, despite being bankrolled by odious millionaire Max Mosley and supported by just four per cent of Brits.
It beggars belief that newspapers who refuse to submit to Mosley’s organisation, staffed by zealots who hate the tabloids, will be clobbered by a law that would force them to pay crippling legal costs on libel actions even if they won.
Most newspapers are members of IPSO — a self-funded, properly independent regulator, with an arbitration service that ensures justice can be served without threatening the future of investigative journalism.
Mosley and the washed-up celebs and politicians of Hacked Off strong-armed David Cameron into the Leveson Inquiry, costing the taxpayer £5million, and police investigations and journalist trials that cost another £43.7million.
They will do anything to shut down papers that expose the wrongdoings of the rich and famous.
They must be stopped.
Ivan the terrible
WE won’t shed a tear for Britain’s departing EU ambassador Sir Ivan Rogers.
But the wet eyes of many Remainers speak volumes. Europhile Sir Ivan was responsible for the pathetic empty shell of David Cameron’s EU renegotiation.
He was reportedly always “happy to take ‘No’ for an answer” from Eurocrats, when Britain desperately needed someone to fight our corner in Brussels.
Good riddance.
Aid charade
THIS ought to be the final nail in the coffin of our wasteful foreign aid system.
In five years, the Department for International Development has doled out over £1billion of our taxes to some of the world’s most corrupt countries.
Defenders of Britain’s £12billion-a-year-and-rising aid spend claim it’s the quickest way to get money into the hands of those who most need it.
In reality it’s splurging desperately-needed public cash abroad, with no chance of checking to who it’s going.
The long-promised review of the foreign aid budget can’t come soon enough.
Sign for Johnny
WE’VE been bowled over by support for our campaign to get Dambuster George “Johnny” Johnson a knighthood.
The WWII hero and charity champion is a more deserving candidate than most.