The Sun Mishears Max Mosley’s Trigger Word

WHAT would Sir Oswald Mosley, veteran of the Battle of Cable Street, have made of the news that his son, one Max Mosley, needed to pay someone to be beaten up?

One imagines he would have felt a deep and lasting red-cheeked shame.

But Mosely the younger is undeterred. Standing at London High Courts, and sometimes fearlessly sitting, Mosley explained that his sadomasochistic orgy with five ladies had no Nazi overtones. The News of the World was wrong to say it had.

Mr Justice Eady agrees. He awards Mr Mosley £60,000. And the Sun, sister paper to the NOTW, uses its front page to announce: “FREEDOM GETS A SPANKING.”

The Sun hears NOTW editor Colin Meyer explain that publishing pictures of the head of the FIA motor racing body is in the public interest. It its noble and right to feature on its front page pictures of an elderly man being spanked by young women.

The Sun’s editorial calls it a “dark day for British freedom”. It alludes to something conspiratorial in the belly of the country when it says: “A judge representing power and privilege laid down the law on what papers can write about powerful and privileged people.”

But isn’t it all just about a man who rather than feel shame for his spanking sessions took offence at being associated with Nazism? Had the NOTW not used the word Nazi, Mosley might not ever have sued.

It’s a case of freedom eroding, just a lack of foresight and understanding of Mr Mosley’s trigger words…

Anorak

Posted: 25th, July 2008 | In: Back pages, Police Log, Tabloids Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink