BBC Martin Bashir - Diana shocked.

[justasking111]

The more that comes out about the panorama interview and the way things were invented/forged. Bank statements, telephone records, stories about the family to encourage Diana to talk to Bashir. I just cannot believe what is emerging from this, things that would have influenced me if I had been Diana and no-one verified it independently.

Incidentally, that was not aimed at you. We may disagree on this but you can argue a point sensibly!

@Iamthewombat I thought tort was basically a civil wrong? The civil equivalent of a crime?

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Bashir can be held legally culpable for her death, but he did deceive both Diana and her brother, commissioned the fake documents, defamed a few people, gained a career advantage from it all...

Is there really nothing potentially actionable in that little lot, IYO?

Speculating on the chain of further events it set off is a separate matter.

@Iamthewombat

Incidentally, that was not aimed at you. We may disagree on this but you can argue a point sensibly!

Fair enough.

That poor lad. He handled it so well, well publicity.

It’s utterly appalling from an institution that only exists because of the licence fee. I remember vividly watching the programme and whilst I was very pro Diana, I still recognised her manipulation of the media, but it was clear she had become paranoid.

Whilst it was a very “big” interview of the time she did come across as a bit unhinged and then when you hear all this terrible subterfuge and downright lying it really is appalling from a national institution.

Yes it did lead her to rejecting her security, yes it did lead her into believing Al Fayed could provide appropriate security etc. Of course she made poor choices herself but it just seems now as she was let down by even more people than originally thought and crickey there were enough of them.

I honestly don't think a civil or criminal case is going to bring anybody any comfort, or compensation.

The only way is to stop having an appetite for this kind of scandal.

The BBC (quite rightly) might not survive this long term.

As PP says, watch Al Jazera and other news networks. The slants and bias become more apparent.

Any chain of causation you might try to argue from Diana being allegedly manipulated into that interview and her refusal to have RPOs is broken by numerous intervening and unforseeable events. Their decision to leave the hotel in the middle of the night; to take the route they did; not wearing seatbelts; the driver being drink. It's naïve to say Bashir or the BBC should be sued or prosecuted. And where does the duty of care arise in the first place? Her death in the Alma underpass was not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that interview.

@Interestedparty132 she had a live in psychotherapist at KP.

My post should have said "whole adult life" not "whole entire life"

Those who think this could topple the BBC don't be daft.
The BBC has just proven why the UK needs a national broadcasting service with all the work it did during the last 18mths in Bitesize and home education.
One of the first thing BJ announced was BBC had been asked to provide 13 weeks of education at all levels. Hence the first clue that Lockdown wasn't going to be 3 weeks.

It's naïve to say Bashir or the BBC should be sued or prosecuted.

Why? Faking documents and conning people would normally run the risk of legal trouble, surely?

@Lockdownbear

Those who think this could topple the BBC don't be daft. The BBC has just proven why the UK needs a national broadcasting service with all the work it did during the last 18mths in Bitesize and home education. One of the first thing BJ announced was BBC had been asked to provide 13 weeks of education at all levels. Hence the first clue that Lockdown wasn't going to be 3 weeks.

That isn’t enough to cancel out the Savile and Bashir scandals, though.

We are better off with a decent public service broadcaster, but the BBC isn’t acting as one.

They’ve adopted a very “woke” news agenda over recent years. Conversely a lot of their entertainment output now is more ITV style than traditional BBC. They’ve lost their way.

I am more shocked by her brother sitting on the notes he made and not

a) using them to reinforce to his vulnerable sister that he thought there was something fishy about Bashir
b) showing the notes to someone at the BBC to ask if this was how they conducted business
c) showing the notes to the RF

So why didn’t he? Either he truly believed what Bashir was saying, which makes him as batshit as his sister, or he didn’t believe what Bashir was telling them but didn’t really care about protecting her precarious mental health by exposing the lies.

@viques Bashir is an absolute scumbag but IMO Earl Spencer isn't far off either.

He reportedly turned away and disowned Diana who asked if she could live with him after her divorce. We know that he used her funeral to make a speech taking pop shots at the RF. completely inappropriate. And he reportedly hadn't seen William and Harry for years but insisted walking beside them on the funeral day. He seems to be intent on making a lot of noise about Diana but actions speak louder than words. He quite likes attention but his only interesting talking point is his sister

This will give the RF more leverage in negotiating deals with the press I expect.
Certain things about the RF will now be swept under the carpet permanently, never to be aired or printed in the press.

@ajandjjmum

I have not yet watched the documentary, but based on what I have seen/read, Bashir/BBC were instrumental in her early death. Had false 'proof' of people she needed to trust not have been produced, she would not have let her security go, and they wouldn't have let her get into a car driven by a drunken driver.

BBC et al, clearly preyed on a vulnerable person whose mental health was rather fragile. She didn’t make the best decisions and she also didn’t have the best people to help her. But it could be argued that even if she had her security personnel, would she really have listened? Would she still have gone in that car and supposedly not worn a seatbelt? Would she have been kept safe from the paparazzi. Who really knows?

Even back then there were rumours that there was a reason why she didn’t have the security detail that she was supposed to. I’m not surprised she found it difficult to trust when its now proven that some were clearly lying to her face. It’s hard to tell what really happened, but the fact of the matter is that a series of unfortunate events caused her death.

I suppose she got married really young and had very little to no support from the looks of it. I think it’s very telling that her sons, William and Harry, still bear the marks of what happened to her and what she went through in various ways as seen by the lengths they go to protect their wives and children.

Reliving that trauma with all this going on, it must be really difficult.

I just watched Prince Williams response. He looks both devastated and livid at the same time, and yet despite that he handled that speech amazingly well.

[quote FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop]@viques Bashir is an absolute scumbag but IMO Earl Spencer isn't far off either.

He reportedly turned away and disowned Diana who asked if she could live with him after her divorce. We know that he used her funeral to make a speech taking pop shots at the RF. completely inappropriate. And he reportedly hadn't seen William and Harry for years but insisted walking beside them on the funeral day. He seems to be intent on making a lot of noise about Diana but actions speak louder than words. He quite likes attention but his only interesting talking point is his sister[/quote]
Agree

Oh so it's now BBC's fault that Diana and Charles relationshi has deteriorated? And that sge was paranoid because of the bank statements - no, she was paranoid for years before the interview and of courtse she was watched. Sge wanted the interview to speak out and would haev done so, bank statements or not.

William is understandably emotional and resentful (not least because of Harry's 'revelations' on tv) but he's obviously defending the family and the institution - I'm not saying he's wrong of doing that, I'm not anti-RD and I like Charles, but objectively speaking Diana wanted to be geard for ages and the interview is a historic moment in terns of shedding light on RF. So don't make the BBC a scapegoat.

Agree with those posters, it's a damage limitation, and William does want to restore the RF's reputation. Just gone OTT with it.

Bashir is an absolute scumbag but IMO Earl Spencer isn't far off either

yep, Spencer is a slippery so and so. I agreeFrangipani he was cold towards Diana and her DC (and is generally a cold fish), it's all about self-interest.

*RF, not RD

he should be investigated for fraudulently uttering a false document in order to gain a pecuniary advantage.
look at the money bashir made on the back of that interview, and fame.

Oh dear, poor "naive" Charles Spencer, who chose to become a journalist and work in the media himself. Shall we give Andrew Morton, My True Story, a bit of a bashing while we're here? Was Bashir twisting her arm to get that written too? Lets blame BBC for everything.

Thing is, while the deception is wrong, some of what was claimed was likely true.

As a pp pointed out, insiders had sold stories to the press before.

Apparently Diana used to confide in William Bashir allegedly told her his watch was bugged by the Royal family can you imagine dealing with that

I find this quite upsetting. Diana was so vulnerable.