I don’t want to go near the actual phone-hacking debate as such, but rather touch upon one of the subsidiary events surrounding the enquiry into how much the Murdochs really knew about the sinister goings on at News International. Let’s talk about PieGate, and the Twitter aftermath…
As yesterday’s Parliamentary Select Committee hearing was reaching the end of a mammoth two-and-a-half-hour session, an (at the time) unknown assailant accosted Rupert Murdoch armed with a disposable plate covered in shaving foam. In the wake of the botched ‘attack’ or Murdoch Snr, Twitter was predictably rife with jokes, praise and condemnation for the rogue Cream-Piesmith. But then people started to pick up on a series of tweets by UK Uncut member Jonnie Marbles:
“I’m actually in this committee,” he posted, “and can confirm: Murdoch is Mr. Burns.
“It might be quicker if Baby Murdoch simply listed all of the things that he does know,”
However, Marbles’ final message raised the most questions and eyebrows: “It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before. #splat”.
He’s now been arrested and will probably be charged with common assault.But things only got worse following the incident, with Jonnie Marbles’ girlfriend dumped him publicly on Twitter after she tweeted “Not funny. Not clever. Not your girlfriend.”. Who’s eating humble pie now?