to be pleased with the Ofcam ruling on Piers Morgan

[TeloMere]

Even though I can't stand the bloke?

@stepupandbecounted

It is called a rehearsal freddy

No, a rehearsal and a private ceremony are two entirely different things.

Sorry freddykruger but I’m not buying it. I don’t know where you are, but I am Middle Eastern and I am aware of differing wedding cultures around the world. She is an American who married in the UK.

In America, where the legal wedding and the wedding celebration are separate, it’s usually that a small legal ceremony happens in advance and then a big wedding party with no legal standing happens (the US wedding forums call it a pretty princess day) thereafter. There is no US culture of being alone in a garden and saying vows with no legal standing at all being the “wedding” rather than the legally binding ceremony with a fuck load of guests a few days later.

It’s just mental gymnastics because you want to be on her side.

You can't have an illegal marriage and be married. I am worried you can't seem to follow the basics of law. You are either married or unmarried. You can say as many vows as you please, but it doesn't mean you are 'married' in any meaningful or legal sense.

Piers Morgan stomped off his own show and was a knob head. Not illegal, but a knob head in his job and now we are expected to say “oh it’s fine, it isn’t illegal”.
Well, we're not expected to say 'it’s fine'. We can continue, as many on here are and on Twitter and so forth, to say he's a knob. And his erstwhile employers can continue not to employ him.

@SlipperyDippery

Sorry freddykruger but I’m not buying it. I don’t know where you are, but I am Middle Eastern and I am aware of differing wedding cultures around the world. She is an American who married in the UK.

In America, where the legal wedding and the wedding celebration are separate, it’s usually that a small legal ceremony happens in advance and then a big wedding party with no legal standing happens (the US wedding forums call it a pretty princess day) thereafter. There is no US culture of being alone in a garden and saying vows with no legal standing at all being the “wedding” rather than the legally binding ceremony with a fuck load of guests a few days later.

It’s just mental gymnastics because you want to be on her side.

No it's not mental gymnastics at all. Often you have the vow exchange ceremony before hand, then the legal one after. In her culture she would refer to a vow exchange ceremony as a marriage.

You're all stuck on the 'legal' part. You can have a marriage and it not be legal. It's still a marriage. Just not legal. Why are people having such difficulty understanding this?

No, the entire point of a marriage is that it is formal entity with legal standing.

I could say the sky is bright pink and world is square it doesn't make it true does it! I mean for heavens sake, it is not hard to stick to the facts and not make yourself look like an idiot. Of course if you are going to lie openly like that, people will question your integrity and doubt everything that comes out of your mouth. Stands to reason!

The ruling is correct. The Windsors already have far too much control over how their image is represented in the media - much as their PR claims things are otherwise - and this needs to be challenged, not reinforced.

A free press is absolutely essential to any society with pretensions to democracy. A monarchy isn't.

In view of that, YANBU. This view has nothing at all to do with my opinion of the aggressive, whining, bellicose, self-pitying Morgan, however. Regardless of the outcome, he's still a weapons-grade bellend.

In her culture she would refer to a vow exchange ceremony as a marriage

What culture do you mean by her culture?

@stepupandbecounted

You can't have an illegal marriage and be married. I am worried you can't seem to follow the basics of law. You are either married or unmarried. You can say as many vows as you please, but it doesn't mean you are 'married' in any meaningful or legal sense.

I'm sorry but that is simply ignorant. You CAN. You can exchange vows and consider yourselves married to each other. You may not be married in the eyes of the government, but you have exchanged vows and are married. It's what Common Law Marriage is all about. Or DeFacto relationship. This black and white thinking of the UK is scary and quite worrying.

@SlipperyDippery

You're all stuck on the 'legal' part. You can have a marriage and it not be legal. It's still a marriage. Just not legal. Why are people having such difficulty understanding this?

No, the entire point of a marriage is that it is formal entity with legal standing.

No, that is YOUR idea of marriage. Marriage is a UNION of two people. The legal paperwork is separate from that.

Nope you can not, you are either married and legally so, or you are not. It genuinely is as black and white as that.

@stepupandbecounted

Nope you can not, you are either married and legally so, or you are not. It genuinely is as black and white as that.

Wrong, and a very insular and ignorant view. Marriage does not have to be legal.

Poor Freddy sucked in good and proper.

No, that is YOUR idea of marriage. Marriage is a UNION of two people. The legal paperwork is separate from that

It’s not about my idea of marriage, or yours. Words have meanings. Those meanings are contained in the dictionary. The dictionary definition of a marriage includes it being formally recognised - go and check.

We do not (yet) live in a post truth era where words mean whatever people want them to.

Yes marriage needs to be legal if it is to stand for anything.

You can pretend you are married, walk around calling yourself Mrs Freddy, say all the blessed vows in the world but in a court of law in this land it will count for absolutely nothing. Diddly squat.

@StoneofDestiny

The irony. Morgan gets to pass his opinion - no problem with that. When Alex Beresford, the weatherman passed his opinion to Morgan, Morgan stomps off in a hissy fit. You couldn't make it up.

@StoneofDestiny This. I watched him storm off and honestly thought he was joking - after all the times he dishes out his opinions on others, the minute someone says something to him he doesn't like, he storms off? Then I realised he was serious. Utter, utter man baby. I hope he doesn't go back onto GMB, you can actually get to hear other opinions now as well as just hear his voice.

What on Earth do you think she needed from him @JudgeJ? She was the star if a multi million dollar show and wealthy in her own right as a result. He is an objectionable grifter who hacked a dead child’s phone for financial benefit. If we are considering who has lied and cheated the most, I submit it isn’t MM.

Bloody hell. What’s all this about culture crap? So apparently she thought she was married after a bit of waffle in a garden and no one including her ‘husband’ put her right?! Ok then.

Why is everyone so hung up on this "marriage" thing. Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?

I personally can't decide which one is the dimmer lightbulb, her for thinking she got married in a back garden or him for not explaining to her that's not how it works.

I can't say that their dimness has an effect on my life

Whatever the OFCOM ruling, ITV are still at liberty to decide whose views are welcome (or not) on their own programme.

Worked the other way with Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey. Their views were not being accommodated on R4's 'Women's Hour': they were unable even to articulate them, so they both left.

This works the other way too.

In relation to the point made above, there is no such legal position as a 'common law' or 'de facto' marriage in the UK. Of course anyone can make vows such as handfasting ceremonies with personal meaning to them, but in England, any ceremony outside the CofE is not legal unless it's accompanied by the standard civil ceremony and conducted by a registrar. Even Catholic ceremonies have to accommodate this.

H&M might well have 'exchanged their own vows' ahead of their official ceremony. Personally, I don't see why anyone cares.

@stepupandbecounted

Yes marriage needs to be legal if it is to stand for anything.

You can pretend you are married, walk around calling yourself Mrs Freddy, say all the blessed vows in the world but in a court of law in this land it will count for absolutely nothing. Diddly squat.

She didn’t do those things though, did she? She made private promises to her fiancé because she knew the actual event would be a circus. She called it a marriage. Big deal.

Well good on Piers for calling out that crap anyway. I don't know or watch him but good on him. Someone needs to have the balls to stand up for the truth.

She called it a marriage. Big deal.

It is factually incorrect and a lie. What a silly thing to do in public in front of millions.

PM is a weapons-grade knob, but isn't it funny how the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Head of the Church of England has a different recollection?

As my DM taught me many years ago, liars need good memories.