Phone hacking - under siege Murdoch appears before Parliament again

Moving away from virtual phone numbers again this week, we are drawn back to the telephone number phone hacking scandal again. It really does make for compelling viewing! Yesterday we had the increasingly under siege James Murdoch appearing again before the ever growing in confidence Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. Chairman John Whittingdale and his committee, which includes the Labour MP Tom Watson and the Tory former chick lit writer turned MP Lousie Mensch (nee Bagshawe) are really starting to get used to taking on the Murdoch empire now, with Watson accusing Murdoch of being a mafia boss. The former lawyer for Murdoch's company suggested afterwards that Murdoch has misled Parliament, and there were reports swirling that either Murdoch was not being truthful or was not on top of his job as he should have been. The whole sorry scandal continues.

OFCOM publishes State of the Communications Nation report

Although this blog is mainly about virtual numbers, such as virtual 0207 numbers, we like to cover all aspects of telecommunications. OFCOM published what they are calling their "State of the Communications Nation" report on 1st November. The report shows the state of communications coverage and capacity in the UK. The maps included in the report include outdoor mobile phone coverage and mobile broadband availability. The maps are available on http://maps.ofcom.org.uk. The report also considers the UK's landline network, digital radio and TV coverage in the UK. To see the full report, click here.

Murdoch AGM - phone hacking takes its toll

We promised news on the News Corporation Annual General Meeting in light of the scandal which has seen phone numbers around the UK and the world hacked, from 020 numbers to mobile phone numbers. The event certainly raised more than a few eyebrows for the votes cast against the Murdochs.

Rupert Murdoch was opposed by 14%, up from 2% the previous year.

Around 35% opposed his son's, James Mudoch, re-election, what is important to remember is that the Murdoch family owns around 40% of the shares on News Corp. Taking that into account, the rest of the shareowners make up around 60%, so over half of the non-Murdoch family shareholders voted against James Murdoch.

Murdoch was once indestructible, as was his empire. Slowly, bit by bit, he is taking a knocking.