Martin Bashir???

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

What the hell?!?!?!?!

@RaspberryCoulis

I watched the documentary at the time. Everyone did. Diana knew EXACTLY what she was doing and wanted to get her story out there.

Why after 25 years they are now saying she was "conned" into it I have no idea. She might not have been an academic star but by 1995 she was a switched-on, canny operator who had 15 years of media manipulation under her belt.

Why did Earl Spencer wait so long to complain I wonder??

Why did Earl Spencer wait so long to complain I wonder??

Maybe he only found out recently?

I think one of the problems that some people have with this latest revelation is that The Queen ordered C&D to divorce as a result of the interview. Diana then refused to have security guards as she thought they were spying on her and the rest is history.

I think it's disgraceful. The man lied, got documents forged to gaslight Diana. Whatever you think of her or her brother, this man should be punished. As someone else said on the thread, if we let journalists behave like this - where does it stop?!

I'm amazed that there isn't more outrage tbh. And to say he can't answer because he's seriously ill when he's been caught walking outside to pick up a takeaway is taking the piss!

Our money pays for this man to have a job - he should be called to account!

@LoseLooseLucy

No need to amend the title, the context is there 4 posts in.

And if I'd known it was a thread about that Diana interview, I'd have had zero interest in reading any of the posts whatsoever.

So yeah, a bit of context from the outset to balance the hysteria of the thread title would be useful .

@PinkiOcelot

I saw something on the news last night but didn’t really understand it. How did some forged bank statements get her to do an interview with MB? Whose bank statements were they? What was on them? It’s clear as mud to me.

He showed one set of forged statements to Diana’s brother which supposedly showed bribes paid to a member of his staff.

Then, when Earl Spencer introduced Bashir to Diana off the back of this, Bashir then showed two more forged bank statements to Diana which supposedly showed deposits from MI5 into the accounts of Patrick Jephson & Richard Aylard (Private Secretaries to Diana & Charles respectively). So he made it look like her staff member was disloyal, her brother’s staff member was disloyal, and her husband’s staff member was disloyal. So all of their offices were insecure and an MI5 conspiracy was afoot.

Then Bashir told Diana a load more tosh, that Tiggy Legge Bourke was sleeping with Prince Charles, that Prince Edward has AIDS, that the Queen was terminally ill with a cardiac condition and that William has been given a bug disguised as a watch, to record her.

The poor woman was under pressure and suddenly she thinks there is a conspiracy against her, that her ex is in on his way to forming a step family with the nanny, that her own child is being used to spy on her and that her estranged husband will soon be King. She must have terrified, jealous, panicked.

All this for Bashir’s career advancement. I never expected to feel this sorry for her.

Did he have bbc approval to get these forgeries. Surely he didnt just act alone or is that what the bbc have admitted too. I read an interview in the papers about someone I knew once and it was full of inaccuracies and lies. It was nonsense. I dont believe half of what the media report.

@satnighttakeaway

Why did Earl Spencer wait so long to complain I wonder??

Maybe he only found out recently?

He did complain years ago, and got robbed off with an insincere apology and more lies. He has been biding his time to raise it again, I think. Horrible man but he has played this well and kept scrupulous records.

@Radiatornoise

I think one of the problems that some people have with this latest revelation is that The Queen ordered C&D to divorce as a result of the interview. Diana then refused to have security guards as she thought they were spying on her and the rest is history.

The more you think about the series of events that followed that is an almost unavoidable conclusion!

It really doesn't matter what you think about any of the individuals involved. This is yet another case of a monolithic organisation discarding its morals in the chase for a good story, a desired oucome.

This is how we, as a society, are fed our news, our knoweldge of the world, form our opinions! Can anyone be blase with this?

Surely the allegations of bribery were fully investigated before they were introduced as "evidence".

The BBCs flagship show used fakery abs forgery to persuade a vulnerable woman to do an interview that rocked the royal family and did untold damage to her two young children, plus forced the queens hand to demand Diana and Charles divorce, and people on here think it should just be left because it was a Ling time ago? This is a horrific revelation and there is rightly investigation into what happened. I imagine there will be other stones unturned which will prove further unsavoury practise at the BBC. It is 100% in the public interest for this to be investigated and uncovered.

So yeah, a bit of context from the outset to balance the hysteria of the thread title would be useful . I'll remember to send you drafts of all future posts. You can vet them and decide which are good enough to see the light of day!

Alternatively. Now you have seen what it is and have decided to simplify what it is about, you can wander off again. Maybe Hide the thread, so it can stop irritating you!

I am interested, and I am too young to even really have noticed the interview. I believe it is in the public interest that practices such as this are called out.

@GroundAlmonds thank you that’s really helpful. Other posters have suggested blackmail though, doesn’t sound like she was blackmailed just made to feel paranoid and wanting to speak out?

@PleasantVille I’m 59 and remember the Diana years very clearly but I wouldn’t describe myself as having lived through them with her.
I think anyone who STILL pays attention to all the rumours and gossip really needs to find a new interest in life.

he hysteria of the thread title would be useful And if you think a name and a coupe of question marks is hysterical you must live right on the edge of your nerves

Princess Diana interview: Designer Matt Wiessler 'angry' at BBC treatment

Why did Earl Spencer wait so long to complain I wonder??

I think it was said this morning on the radio 4 that it was being said recently Earl Spencer knew they were forgeries - and his reponse was no he didn't and wouldn't have introduced Diana to these people if he had.

I don't know why it's all coming out now - though I think at one time I'd have expected higher journalist standards at the BBC.

@MrsTwitcher

Surely the allegations of bribery were fully investigated before they were introduced as "evidence".

These were secret meetings between Bashir and Diana. Who was going to investigate for her when he was convincing her that her staff were working against her? Can’t you see how manipulative it was to do this to a vulnerable woman in a fragile position?

@x2boys

I saw a clip on the news I wasnt really paying attention ,? He's quite unwell with COVID as well isn't he ?

It was heart surgery yesterday...

Thanks @GroundAlmonds I was just reading round on that! Nice succinct precis of it!

Something to do with the Diana interview? Not sure why that's being dragged up 26 after the fact

BrumBoo so if you were the victim of a serious crime and 26 years later the police came up with new evidence, would you says “why are you dragging this up again after so long?’
Forging documents is a criminal offence.

From BBC link i posted earlier:

The BBC has said Bashir, now the corporation's religion editor, is unwell and unavailable for comment.

"Martin Bashir is signed off work by his doctors - he is currently recovering from quadruple heart bypass surgery and has significant complications from having contracted Covid-19 earlier in the year," a spokeswoman said.

Lots of reporters and journalists I've known - most are ok but I am sure some have done some unscrupulous things in their past to get decent stories.

Bashir shouldn't have done what he did and Earl Spencer, nasty though he is, has kept records!

Bashir now backpedalling furiously and BBC edging away fast from him.

I agree with Ponoka7, Bashir knew she was vulnerable so created a fiction about people being paid to spy on her, and then jumped in as her new best friend, 'you ignore the baddies, I'll make sure the world knows your truth'. But it wasn't her truth, she was being fed lies from every direction and wouldn't have known what was true or not.

Targeting and manipulating a vulnerable woman, for the sole purpose of furthering your own career, is beyond despicable.

@LadyOfTheImprovisedBath

From BBC link i posted earlier:

The BBC has said Bashir, now the corporation's religion editor, is unwell and unavailable for comment.

"Martin Bashir is signed off work by his doctors - he is currently recovering from quadruple heart bypass surgery and has significant complications from having contracted Covid-19 earlier in the year," a spokeswoman said.

How incredibly convenient for both of them... Bashir's illnesses.

chasing him now when he's seriously ill seems pretty low.

He was photographed getting a take away the other night...