The class politics of Fake Sheikh scams
Posted on Tuesday 25 May, 2010
Filed Under Society
FUNNY how you never hear of a Fake Sheikh sting blushingly rebuffed by the target with a properly decent British response such as ‘thanks awfully old boy, but I really couldn’t possibly. I’m afraid your suggestion would be most, erm, unethical.’
No, the suckers somehow fall for it time and time again. Fortunately for the Sunday papers, the ker-ching! reflex repeatedly proves irresistible across to the wealthiest 1% of the population, be they royal divorcees, discredited New Labour cabinet ministers or common or garden snooker champs. Front page splashes don’t come any easier than that.
Grasping ginger gold-digger Sarah Ferguson attempted to justify her pledge to pimp out the old man for half a million quid on the grounds that her finances are not all they might be. Poor love. And they wonder why forelock-tugging deference to the House of Windsor is a thing of the past.
You can imagine how far Shannon Matthews’ mother – another single mum on benefits, who looks so scarily like Fergie one almost assumes they were separated at birth – would have got if she had stood up in the dock and tried a line like that on the judge. Ferguson almost succeeds in making Karen Matthews look classy.
Nor are Stephen ‘cab for hire’ Byers, Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt short of a bob of two. And while I have no idea how much John Higgins pulls down for being world snooker champ, such a title has got to be worth a fair whack. Yet bung them a few grand, and they are anybody’s.
Some have contended in their defence that all of the above have been victims of ‘entrapment’. That argument misses the point. Sure, they all fell for a set up. But how dumb and avaricious do these people have to be not to see it coming?
Suppose you were in the public eye and you were approached with the promise of a shedload of cash for doing something dodgy. Where many of us would instantly think ‘hang on a mo’, there’s got to be a catch here’, these people’s thought processes have not evolved much beyond ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’.
More often than not, there isn’t even a price to pay for News of the World front page notoriety. Ms Ferguson remains the Duchess of York, safe in the knowledge that she always will be. This side of the British republic, anyway.
The New Labour Three were suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party for, oooh, all of six weeks before they left Westminster anyway. Only Higgins has been hurt in the pocket, with a suspension from tournament snooker until the match-fixing allegations are settled.
Compare and contrast their fates with what would happen to most of us in similar situations. Anywhere I have ever worked, anybody caught on the take would have been out the door immediately.
All we can do is wait and see which overpaid knobhead takes the bait this week. I just want to say thank you to Mazher Mahmood and the News of the World; they are doing the left a tremendous service.
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Erm, aren’t the victims of the fale sheik all well to do because well, most people in the public eye are? I’m sure if he pulled the same trick on a normal punter he’d have just as much chance of success. Also, we never read of his failures do we?
I have no time for the Duchess of York, Byers, Hoon and Hewett, but I do think entrapment is bad journalism!
For a long time I never thought in my lifetime there would be a majority in the UK in favour of a republic. Although I’m quite old, I’m very hopeful that this is not too far away.
Who cares.
I don’t think the antics of the royal ‘add-ons’ really affects how many people perceive the Royal Family and the institution of constitutional monarchy. The Duchess of York has NEVER been popular and always regarded as on the make (by the tabloids). The Sovereign will only be removed once she/he/it has outlived her/his/its political usefulness. Look at other previous monarchies that are now republics…Germany, France, Italy etc. All quiet on the Western Front now, Les? I read in the paper that Thaksin has been arrested for something or other, or a warrent had been issued.
In Spain a(constitutional) monarch was re-instituted, so there’s life in the old political form yet.
“All we can do is wait and see which overpaid knobhead takes the bait this week. I just want to say thank you to Mazher Mahmood and the News of the World; they are doing the left a tremendous service.”
Are you being ironic Dave, or is that what you picked up on your Medya Studies course? Support for the NoW etc. populist spin that any problem is with a few (selected) rich knobheads, the system is otherwise OK? Trust us, we are YOUR free press, vigalent,always watching? Honest.
Meanwhile, the activities and lifestyles of bankers, hedge Funds, FTSE CEs, corporate directors, and even, yes even, the owners, editors and posturing hacks of our “free” press are totally out of bounds? Dogs lick Dogs balls?
FACT : WE have a scum press and media that pimps for power.
What would Richard Harris say if tempted by the News of the World’s fake sheikh?
“I made an excuse and left.”
[this expression may be patented or copyrighted, like "Intimacy took place."]
All quiet on the Western Front now, Les?
Sue R it is quiet. There’s still a curfew in Bangkok but it’s hours are now midnight to 4AM. The Thaksin terrorism charge is probably just local politics as I doubt there will be many governments prepared to extradite on it. Most notable event at the end was how the red shirt leadership abandoned the crowd and there was nobody (from the left) there to take over the leadership. In the UK the leadership would be ridiculed for what they did, but here in Thailand there is a more forgiving attitude to personal weaknesses like cowardice.