Gordon in the morning: Pursuing the bosses' feud

James Murdoch is in the Commons today, hoping his "I was too busy counting my money to notice" line of defence doesn't crumble like a knackered empire.

Never mind, James: Gordon's got your back, desperately trying to tarnish the reputation of Hugh Grant. Although the world has gone 'oh, he's become a daddy and is doing his bit? That's nice', Smart ploughs on trying to spark up some sort of scandal:

HUGH Grant faces a fine after failing to register the birth of his daughter.

A fine, eh? So are local council Westminster threatening to drag Grant to court?

The floppy-haired actor, famed for playing upper-class bumblers, has already gone three days over the 42-day deadline.
[...]
But a member of staff there said: "Sometimes we wait up to three months.

"It's not like we are going to turn up on his doorstep with the police and chase them up."

So, Westminster seemingly quite relaxed about things.

What makes Smart's story even more pathetic is that, erm, Grant isn't actually legally responsible for registering the birth. Perhaps someone at The Sun should have looked at Westminster's website:

However, if the parents are not married to each other the father cannot register the birth unless the mother attends the office with him and they both sign the register or she makes a legal declaration naming him as the father.

The mother can register the birth on her own but the father's details will not be recorded in the register.

Still, why let the facts get in the way of a tiresome attempt to fling dirt at your current bosses' nemesis, eh?

Gordon in the morning: Island life

Gordon this morning runs the not altogether surprising story about Tom Jones still liking women despite - gasp - being 70:

SINGER TOM JONES is still tempted by female fans offering him sex - at 70.

The womanising Welshman admits he's "a little weak-minded" when propositioned.

Indeed he is. What's missing from this story, though, is the context in which the remarks were made. Even the Telegraph - no great fan of the BBC - manages to admit that it heard the quote on Desert Island Discs.

It's funny, the team at News International get very cross indeed when their content is lifted without any acknowledgement - as James 'there on his own merits it's just a coincidence that his surname is' Murdoch put it earlier this year:

"We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball … There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff. It's a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it's a house or a movie," he said.

"The idea that there's a new consumer class and you have to be consumer-friendly when they're stealing stuff. No. There should be the same level of sanctity as there is around property. Content is no different. They're not crazy kids. No. Punish them."

Of course, sensible people don't mind a bit of sharing and cross-quoting, providing there's an acknowledgment of the original source and it's not being passed off as your own work. But that isn't the case here - there's no concession that Gordon Smart's column is making good use of the licence fee - and, well, NI aren't sensible people. What was the official line from Wapping about websites which just print chunks of other people's journalism?

“News International makes a significant investment in journalism and we believe that it is entirely appropriate for us to ask that our rights are respected. NewsNow has acknowledged that they require our permission to use our content and, in the absence of our permission, has ceased to do so.”‬

Perhaps 79 year-old Rupert Murdoch is just "weak-minded" when quotes about sex are thrown at him.

Gordon in the morning: Myths of the near future

Back in March, James Murdoch - one of Gordon's bosses - gave a speech in which he stoutly defended the sacrosanct nature of copyright:

Murdoch, who stressed that future growth would come from original content production, took the toughest line on piracy.

"We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball … There is no difference with going into a store and stealing Pringles or a handbag and taking this stuff. It's a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it's a house or a movie," he said.

"The idea that there's a new consumer class and you have to be consumer-friendly when they're stealing stuff. No. There should be the same level of sanctity as there is around property. Content is no different. They're not crazy kids. No. Punish them."

Borrowing content is like stealing Pringles or a handbag. People who do it must be punished.

Bear that in mind, then, as you read Gordon's story about The Klaxons this morning:

KLAXONS found a drastic cure for their writers' block - a mind-bending psychedelic session.

They got their juices flowing by drinking a powerful hallucinogenic Amazonian potion under the eyes of a shaman - a spiritual healer.

If that sounds familiar, it might be because it's the focus of the band's big interview with NME this week.

Familiar down to the quotes:

Jamie said: "Everybody goes to these sessions with questions.

"Mine was 'How do I write this new album?'

"And it gave me the answer. 'You don't need anything. Just go and do it.' So we did."

Just as the NME reported.

It is possible that The Sun has licensed the content from IPC to reuse - although you'd normally expect to see an acknowledgment if that's happened. But it can't be that Gordon's just lifted the whole thing without permission or even a mention of the NME, can it? Because that would be like stealing a handbag stuffed full of Pringles, wouldn't it? And whatever would James Murdoch (a fully licensed copy of Rupert) say about that?

Gordon in the morning: Remember I told you

Given Gordon's ability to run a dozen stories that are wrong to every one that's sort-of right, it's perhaps unsurprising he's enjoying having been kind-of right earlier this week on the Oasis story.

Of course, if you read today's piece, you'd come away with the impression that Smart had written a piece predicting the actual moment that Liam would smash Noel's guitar rather than a hedging, cagey "could this be the end" type piece.

Still, he's making bold predictions now:

In ten years' time, if the money is right and Liam finally calms down from his permanent rage then maybe, just maybe, they will play again.

I hope they do. But it is going to take a long time for this one to blow over.

Still, you'll be wondering - especially in light of his boss James Murdoch insisting that The Sun and it's "independent" journalism is worth paying money for - who, exactly, on Gordon's team alerted him to the end of the current phase of Oasis? Let's see the News Corporation investment at work:

Scots singer AMY MACDONALD, who was at the French gig, said on Twitter: "Oasis cancelled again with one minute to stage time!!! Liam smashed Noel's guitar, huuuge fight"

Ah. So when James Murdoch was in Edinburgh railing at the BBC for telling people what's happening in the world without expecting people to pay, he should also be calling for the future Cameron government to dismantle Amy MacDonald for doing the same thing, should he?

Still, that independent journalism would have kicked in once Gordon was aware of the story, right? Gordon would have been sending someone out to get coverage of what was going on, rather than merely hitting F5 on his keyboard, over and over?

The man who first signed the band, ALAN McGEE, then chipped in on Facebook.

He said: "Just got phoned by somebody at Rock en Seine that Oasis have just split up an hour ago and manager or tour manager made the announcement to 50,000 fans. Madness are now playing 2 sets as they played already at festival. f*** knows..."

God, James Murdoch really has a point, doesn't he? If the BBC crush the likes of The Sun's online service, how ever will we get the chance to pay Gordon Smart for cutting and pasting from free news services online?

Gordon in the morning: If you have sides, prepare to split them now

Believe it or not, in the print edition of Bizarre this morning, this is the lead:

OASIS have had a few insults hurled their way over the years but CRISTIANO RONALDO has delivered the best one yet.

The ex Manchester Utd ace, an unpopular lad in the sky-blue half of the city, reckons the band aren't a patch on Latino pop singer RICKY MARTIN.

The lead story. In a newspaper's flagship column. A newspaper which people pay money for.

Okay, it's a faintly amusing thing to say, if you're still interested in an overpaid footballer and an over-rated musician having a long-distance dryhump in the newspapers.

But for Gordon? It's like the Punch Lunch has been arranged for the Algonquin:

I have nothing but respect for Ronaldo for playing ball by chipping in yet again with a put-down Mr Big would have been proud of.

To be fair "I bet Noel Gallagher wishes he'd said that" is hardly overselling a joke, I suppose.

I can't wait for James Murdoch's pay wall. Imagine: we get all this, and we get to throw coins, too.

Gordon in the morning: Curran affairs

According to the current edition of Wired UK, James Murdoch has said with a straight face that he believes that the Sun's showbusiness coverage will drive people to subscribe to the paper's website in the same way that the business information published by the Wall Street Journal persuades people to fork out for wsj.com.

No, seriously.

Some sort of tailspinning around Alex Curran's people making New! "clarify" a comment she made about Liverpool is apparently on a par with the latest stock prices.

James believes that Gordon copying a couple of tweets from Lily Allen and Liam Gallagher and adding some stuff about them drinking on an aeroplane is pretty much the same as having an expert in the petrochemical industries provide an overview of the day's trading in energy futures on the Far East exchanges.

Murdoch Junior is betting his digital farm on people being willing to pay for something about Jude Law possibly having another kid with a "mystery woman".

It's a lot of faith to put in Gordon and his team.