I think I see how it's going to pan out. First they'll get News International closed down. Now the Mirror is being dragged into the phone hacking row so we'll get rid of them too. The Mail won't be innocent in all this, you can bet. Plus the police hate them so it will be easier getting the evidence. Shut down Associated and then Express newspapers because there's bound to be something, somewhere, on Desmond. And you can bet the Telegraph doesn't survive the purge. Not after the sneaky way it got Vince Cable to admit he was a wanker. Or whatever it was he admitted.
Without a tabloid press we can gradually get rid of all those celebrity obsessed parts of the culture that relies on the support of gutter journalists for the oxygen of publicity. That means the end of X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Big Brother and the rest. Though we'll keep Beauty and the Geek because it's hilarious.
Then come the after effects. Football loses its Sky money and so the Premier League, Rugby League, Cricket and Darts collapse.
Naturally this leaves millions of working class people forced into buying The Guardian, reading Proust and watching BBC4 and then we finally get the kind of Utopia the likes of Roy Greenslade really want (ever since he realised that no matter how well he did, other journalists like Piers Morgan would be more successful).
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Sorry to hear about the untimely death, at 43, of Dean Moore, best known as the son of the legend that was Bobby Moore. But to me, he was Deano, who worked on the art desk of The Sunday Sport and then The Sun when I was at both papers.
His dad was a columnist at the former and a regular visitor to the offices. And he really was a nice man, just like everyone says. As a kid I remember bumping into Bobby Moore when I was with my mum shopping in Gants Hill. He was coming out of the butchers and my brother, about four at the time and a Hammers fan I'm ashamed to say (mind you, the other brother's a Gooner which is worse) stood there dumbstruck. It was the sixties and Bobby was possibly the most famous footballer in Britain after George Best. But he smiled, said hello to my toddler brother and walked on - stopping every 10 seconds to chat to a cab driver or sign an autograph.
Deano was also a nice bloke but who, not surprisingly, was forever living in the shadow of his old man.
And you had to feel for him because wherever he went he was always 'Bobby Moore's son.' He had trials at Southend and one or two other clubs, I believe, no doubt with managers desperately hoping a bit of the old magic had rubbed off.
But it hadn't so he took up design and worked on art desks. He was lively and fun to be with. I can remember him asking me to drive his car round to his mum's house - that's the famous Tina - in Loughton, because he was worried he was going to have too much to drink. I lived not far so it was not a hassle.
Years later I bumped into him. In a pub of course. It was at my then local, The Hog's Head in Drury Lane, and Deano was entertaining a group of lads.
He had put on weight, but then hadn't we all. And he had a pint in his hand, which wasn't unusual. He told me he was running a pub in Chelsea, which was popular with Blues fans but that wasn't a problem as, like most supporters of all clubs, they were fans of his dad and wanted to talk about Bobby to him.
Wherever he went he couldn't escape the fact of who his dad was, although he was - I thought - closer to his mum who was divorced from Bobby.
Then today I read that he was found dead in his home in Notting Hill. I don't know what happened. Speculation will be rife I suppose. But it's a sad end at a young age.
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It's 25 years since the siege of Wapping. Back then I was the secretary of the East London branch of the NUJ. A year later I went to work there. Funny how things work out.
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Have you seen that magician Dynamo? His tricks are brilliant and he's like Derren Brown. But without the personality. In fact, without a scintilla of personality. It's so unfortunate. He's obviously gifted but he has both the looks and demeanour of a wet sock. And sounds like an eight-year-old.
Shazam...Solly
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