Because of the rain, I found myself home and realised that Hackgate was live on TV. Was actually tweeting to Poppy (who wasn't near a TV, and offered extra points for any tweets that combined humour and accuracy successfully) that I wasn't finding evidence of either. She tweeted that she was asked to switch off her phone, just when all hell broke loose.
By the time you're reading this, you'll no doubt have seen the footage of the ever stylish Wendi Murdoch (to be played by Lucy Liu in the film) sending a swift right hook (or was it left? It looked right) to the perpetrator of the custard pie. But what I couldn't get over was that minutes earlier, I was getting a bit bored during the slow parts, and my mind was wandering to the combination of her pink jacket, with a bit of blue blouse peeking through, and thinking that I hadn't seen that combination since Jackie's infamous blue suit, which will forever be linked in our collective psyche with President Kennedy's assassination - the day our world, as Americans, changed forever.
Say what you will about Hackgate - and Rebecca Brooks is speaking now, and I don't have a lot of time for that woman, personally - but I was very moved with the immediate action that Wendi Murdoch took. Talk is cheap but that was the behaviour of someone who loves her husband deeply, unconditionally: it was the most honest thing I saw in that courtroom.
It also surprised me - how instantly I felt compassion for Rupert Murdoch. I was, already, at times, but the custard pie clinched it for me. As the other Rebecca Brooks - the one who lives in New England and unwittingly became something of a twitter sensation here - just asked: 'Wow. Doesn't Parliament have security? Why are people allowed to lunge at Murdoch in the middle of his testimony?' And I don't have an answer. You can say what you want about the Murdoch empire, but I was greatly moved with the dignity and - as people have said to him - courage, that he continued with the investigation. That's class.
I've played around in photoshop - multitasking while following twitter AND the BBC coverage (which is still on)and made these images, which I shot off the TV and lifted from the internet, into kind of Impressionist Paintings. And, as is true with most things in life, things are often perceived differently when you look at them closely, in detail, and then stand back to see the bigger picture.
If you'd like to read more about the history of Jackie's pink suit, click here.
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2 comments:
thank you jill to have brought this up.
i've been in my office all day watching this on bbc and was shocked and later annoyed by this idiot who is now going to take up all the press in tomorrow's editions which will draw attention away from the serious business that was going on before he rudely interrupted proceedings.
as for wendy, she showed her deep commitment to her husband even at the beginning when she tapped him on the arm to stop banging the table when one of the committee members was getting to him. did you see that?
i also have to say that james murdoch has laid to rest all fears of shareholders that he was incompetent to take over stewardship of news corp.
he spoke with confidence and certainity and guess what, news corp shares inched upwards during the hearing.
have a great evening jill and don't forget to watch tonight's newsnight on bbc two. it is going to be intense.
I too sat watching the proceedings in amazement as someone was stupid enough to interrupt.
In answer to the question about whether or not there is security - there is. But these meetings have to be open to the public - as a part of having an open and democratic government - and the custard pie or whatever it was probably wouldn't have shown up on the scanners!!
I have to say, I think Rupert Murdoch looked like an old man who'd lost control. A bit sad really but then maybe it is a lesson to all those who aspire to big business and not to lose control of any part of it - even parts that are only 1%!!
Newsnight was a little dull, I thought. Not much added really.
Great post and thanks for raising it.
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