Nick Pickles’s blog

so, i’m on the train up to T in the Park, I’ve had a beer and I’m listening to Bon Iver. So I really don’t want to get angry.

But something is really bugging me about this tappergate scandal.

Yes, it’s a very serious issue. Yes, anyone at the News of the World who knew what was going on, and especially those involved in commissioning the ‘private investigators’ should be prosecuted.

But don’t for a second try claim this is the same as Smeargate. There, a person working in downing st, whose salary was being paid by the taxpayer, was on our time discussing how to invent bollocks to damage the government’s political opponents with cheap, false smears.

This involves a newspaper using illegal means to acces personally confidential information for profit. No public interest at all. One person at the time involved was Andy Coulson, now at CCHQ as comms director. So when the story broke, all Labour’s big guns were rolled out trying to make out Coulson was personally tapping the phones and that David Cameron hired him for his tapping skills. Load of shite.

Yes, coulson has questions to answer and I hope he will resign if he did know what was going on - it was criminal and he is not fit to work for the conservative party.

But before we get carried away, if he knew what was going on, the odds are that Rebekah Wade did. And she’s currently in charge at the Sun, and is set to become Chief Exec of News International.

Yet while Prescott et al were lightning quick to question David Cameron’s judgement, not one person seems to have questioned Rupert Murdoch’s judgement in promoting Wade. Indeed, I have not heard one labour party person mention her name.

So let me be clear - Coulson has questions to answer. But so does Wade. Indeed, Murdoch’s reputation as a very hands-on proprietor does lead me to think that if 3,000 phones were being tapped he might have known. He has questions to answer.

Want a crystal clear demonstration of the cheap, spineless politics the Labour party is willing to stoop to? This is it. They are terrified of attacking Murdoch or Wade in fear of pissing off The Sun / the biggest media baron in the Western World. But they have no problem attacking someone now working for the Tories.

If that’s a moral compass in action, Gordon Brown must be stood on one big fucking magnet because to me, and I’m sure to many others out there, it looks like a load of petty-political shite from a Government clinging onto power with it’s fingernails.

i’ve not blogged for a couple of weeks, and of course for that i am extremely sorry. my readers (well, reader - thanks mum) have of course been bombarding my inbox with questions about this and that.

as some of you may know, i am a music photographer when i’m not doing my day job or being a political type. the summer festival season is one of my busiest times of the year. last weekend i was at glastonbury, and next weekend I’m up in Scotland at T in the Park. My blog on glastonbury is here and the photos can be found on my flickr page.

while i’ve been running around in fields it seems the public spending debate has really kicked off - and Gordon Brown came out with the golden “zero percent increase” line. there’s also an interesting debate growing around trident - one which I have to say I’m firmly against the ‘renew fully’ line. it’s an entirely unsuitable tool in the modern security climate and is the diplomatic eqivalent of men arguing over who has the biggest cock.

the new cabinet has been getting to work on well, getting into more trouble. first ed balls starts making spendng commitments and seemingly acting as chancellor, then alan johnson cancels ID cards without even bothering to ask the PM.

Oh, and Gordon tried to sing ‘Old Macdonald’ with much (well, no) aplomb.

right, i need to go. Ive just managed to break two walkmans (dont ever try plug any musical device other than an ipod into a Mac) and have a 1TB external hard drive to back up everything on.