Harry v NGN 2

[mainecooncatonahottinroof]

I don't think we're done talking - and I never start threads!

As you were!

Yes. They specifically denied that any of their journalists, let alone their senior editors, were involved in anything illegal.

So I ask again what illegal activities were admitted to? The whole point of accepting a settlement is that the defendant admits no liability in return for offering a financial settlement.

Im off to do things but will come back tomorrow to see if posters want Harry to make a statement or to shut up.

If you see one of my posts further back you will
see that I acknowledged that some people feel he didn’t win.

It's not about 'feelings'. It's about your claim that he wanted to 'prove' certain things happened. By definition, if a case does not even go to trial, nothing has been proved.

And I don’t know why Harry said what he said late last year. You’d have to ask him.

But surely you can see, if as recently as a month ago, Harry was publicly claiming he would never settle, then the fact that he has done so means he has not achieved his own stated aims?

Accepting a settlement was definitely the right thing for him to do, especially when it came with a profuse apology. But that is pointedly not what he said he was going to do only last month.

I would like him to say how much he is donating to charity ( Not Archewell ).

Haha course they did! Blame it on the PIs instead 🤣

NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun

Please yes. Let's get this one sorted once and for all

Then there can be no ambiguity

He hasn’t managed to get out of bed yet

I'm repeating my post again

Pick a side and go for it

Do you want him to make a statement on the result of the court case. Yes or No

Simple question

Unlawful as I understand is not the same as illegal. I think this is where the disagreements arise. The text says unlawful but when it's quoted people substitute illegal. Or have I misunderstood?

"Unlawful activities".

Not 'illegal activities' as you claimed. And yes, there is a difference. A very important one in a legal context.

And they fobbed if off on freelance PI's who were not employees of The Sun. Again, a very crucial distinction. The senior staff who Harry supposedly had in his sights have not been touched by this settlement.

And they fobbed if off on freelance PI's who were not employees of The Sun. Again, a very crucial distinction.

No one knew. Yeah...heard all this before from a certain Piers Morgan

I think it was a victory

You don't.

That is fine. Vive la difference

Any takers?

Doesn’t he still have his case against the Mail and Mail on Sunday still to come? He’s probably been advised to pipe down til he’s slayed the last dragon. Although, actually, it’s Harry: they’ve probably reverse-psychologised him and told him to speak up, safe in the knowledge that will shut him up.

Exactly. We've heard it all before. Nothing new here. Unnamed lowly freelance workers get the blame and and the dragons remain breathing fire. That's precisely what so many of us have been saying for the past two days.

And again, although I don't know why I bother, this isn't about personal opinions or who thinks what. The claim that NGN admitted to illegal activities is simply false. Nothing was proved. The claimants accepted money and an apology in return for no admission of liability. Pretty much the same as any number of civil settlements, and what had likely been on offer for months if not years.

Ok. We agree to disagree

I thought

You must agree, you must comply 🤪

No, I don't want him to make a statement. Perhaps he's showing some maturity and moving on.

. The facts don't need clarification. Yes he got a payout and an apology . But no, he didn't achieve his stated aim not to settle. He had a choice. He could stick to his guns and risk real financial ruin or accept a settlement. Take away his dragon slaying grandstanding and no one in their right minds would blame him for doing the latter. So yes a statement might be interesting but it's hard to see what it would add. Maybe something along the lines that he did what he could and managed a few meaningful blows but he couldn't risk destroying his family by pursuing it to the bitter end? So that's a sitting on the fence from me Yes I'd be interested enough to read a statement, but no it is unlikely to add much unless he intends donating the money to a charity (other than Archewell) But then why should he?

Failed?! Come on....admit that there's never been such an apology before admitting illegal practices.

Shurely shome mishtake? Did you actually READ the final edition of the News of the World?!

I rather thought his barrister’s grandstanding was Harry’s statement. After all, I didn’t think David Sherborne would personally have believed what he was saying…

But wasn't he skating on thin ice by publicly saying things which were contrary to NGN's statement? Couldn't he potentially be in trouble for that? Couldn't he have deflected that possibility by saying he was reading 'a statement from the Duke of Sussex'?

No ... I admit I'm surprised he hasn't, but no all the same

There's no need anyway, just as there was no need to blow a gale about what he was supposedly going to do. Those of us who prefer the facts can see what each party and the judge actually said, and those who don't will go on pretending they alll said something else

I don't know Sherbourne but have worked alongside one of his partners and some associates when my clients have had a reputational crisis in the past. Aside from being very aggressive and scarily good at what they do, they are incredibly PR savvy, in fact they launched their own wholly owned PR firm about 3 - 4 years ago I think - headed by George Pascoe-Watson, formerly of the Sun, and a senior Blairite PR spinner. So, I've not read the whole of Sherbourne's statement but I have no doubt it's been drafted by some of the finest PR brains in the country.

I personally would be delighted if we never hear anything from Harry again, silence is golden.

So theb your delighted he hasn't said anything following the settlement then. Happy that he is learning from the past and staying quiet.