If David Grier, Paul Clark and David Whitehouse, of Duff and Phelps, have any friends perhaps those friends should talk them out of taking the BBC to court for libel. What happened to Oscar Wilde should stand as a warning to anyone attempting such a course of action when they have things to hide. The BBC has far more resources than the Marquess of Queensberry ever had and there is a lot easier access to information these days than there was 120 years ago. Any decent QC will make mincemeat of this trio and they could end up doing longer inside than Wilde did. After all, the three of them are due in court themselves to answer criminal charges of fraud. They're skating on very thin ice here.
Grier was involved in Craig Whyte's purchase of Rangers; we don't know (yet) how deeply others at Duff and Phelps were involved. At the very least they should never have handled the administration and there are huge question marks over the legality of the way they went about that little exercise. Administrators are supposed to act in the interests of the creditors but Duff and Phelps, or, at least, their three employees, manifestly did not. Separating the company the way they did was calculated to defraud all the creditors; it is also illegal. And yet, nothing was done about it and a blind eye was turned. Then there was the sale of the assets. Again, no consideration was given to the creditors as some backstairs deal was made to hand over the assets to Charlie Boy for just enough to cover Duff and Phelps's bill. I believe this sort of sharp practice is illegal as well. Again, however, everybody looked the other way.
Do these three clowns really want their actions put under a magnifying glass in open court? The fraud charges against them and Whyte will probably be swept under the carpet so as not to embarrass some of the bigger players in the scandal. The libel case, however, is another matter entirely. The best, in fact the only, way to fight against a libel case, just as it was 120 years ago, is to show that you were telling the truth and that it was in the public interest to do so. The BBC will dredge up all manners so there will be plenty of quivering sphincters at the moment from Govan to France and Monte Carlo! I think this libel case will just quietly disappear before it reaches court!
Meanwhile, it looks like Level 5 has taken custody of 'Ze List' and has started taking 'revenge' already. Chris McLaughlin of the BBC and Graham Spiers have been banned from Ibrox, just because The Peeppul don't like the things they say. It's not like when Keevins was barred from Celtic Park; the stuff he came out with was tantamount to libel. They don't like Chris McLaughlin mentioning arrests for sectarian singing or Spiers going on about it in his columns. As somebody on Twitter mentioned, Sky Sports showed statistics for 'Rangers' that showed that they had only won two league titles. Somehow, though, I can't see Jabba and his colleagues trying to take on the Murdoch empire!
The BBC has decided to support its employee and is boycotting Ibrox completely. Time to get those pishy bedsheets out again for another march down to Pacific Quay; that'll show them! How long the boycott will last is anybody's guess; there are plenty of agnivores at BBC Scotland that won't take this news too well. I don't know if any other media will join the boycott but one thing's for certain: the Daily Record won't. Any attempt by the Record to boycott Sevco would result in mass Hari-Kari in the Sports section. (And, yes, I'm aware that it's not really called Hari-Kari, but it sounds better!)
Chick hears about the BBC boycott.
And don't forget!
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