Arc Capital Share Discussion Threads

[haystack] 18/7/2001 16:09

I still hope he gets off. As I said befre if a newspaper looks into people's private business and causes trouble for them then they deserve all they get. Who cares if Archer went with a prostitute. It is not illegal. It is his business and his alone. In those circumstances he should lie and screw them for as much as he can in court even it means more lies. The damages were no where near enough anyway. A few million would change their attitude. Good luck to him.

[rcturner2] 18/7/2001 15:03

I fancy his wife as well.

[spongy2] 18/7/2001 14:54

The point is, he made a packet in damages, out of sueing the newspaper and then allegedly lying in court.
He could have happily denied it forever more, had he not been greedy and sued them. This is a case of his own making, I hope the jury see him for what he really is. Particularly as he was not willing to take the witness stand, and possibly commit further perjury

[alchemy] 18/7/2001 14:42

Oh Haystack..what moral decline is here.

[lesk] 18/7/2001 13:41

peterreidsmith

'makes me a tad sick of UK politics'

The hand you rightly mention might prefer it if the 'man in the street' lost interest in politics - serves the cause don't you think??

[peterreidsmith] 18/7/2001 13:37

I think this was all very very suspicious and I'm deeply cynical of the whole affair.

a) Whole issue lay dormant for years.
b) "Friend" raises it publicly during mayoral elections - why not just see him privately and say: "Look buddy, I want you to retire from this or I'm going public with what I know"? Would have achieved his claimed objective with less turmoil.
c) Charges brought during politically sensitive time and exploited to the full during general election (what a coincidence of timing don't you think??).
d) He was an ICON of the conservative party; massive PR gain for New Labour to embarrass him this way.
e) Who on earth can really feel sorry for a newspaper that entraps someone with a prostitute (allegedly) - if it ever even happened.

I have this really nasty feeling in my stomach that there is a steering hand behind all this and that - more than anything little archy could do - makes me a tad sick of UK politics.

[To be honest I've always admired the guy - real guts and determination to get where he has got in life the way he did it.]

imho/dyor/oo

[jgb] 18/7/2001 13:29

If he does go to prison he will no doubt follow the example of Jonathan Aitken and come out bragging that he learned a lot from his fellow prisoners and is now a better person - available (for a fee) for media interview and further exploiting his 'punishment' with a follow-up book/film/TV series. These people have no shame and even when found guilty never FEEL guilty.

[alan greenspan] 18/7/2001 12:13

I have only seen and heard news broadcasts of this trial and I do not rush to any judgement on those reports alone. I will rely on the jury`s verdict when it comes.
I am somewhat surprised (perhaps not) by the bigotry of some posters on this thread. Perhaps they will sing a different tune if J.A. is found not guilty and decides to take legal action against those bigots. I wish him well in that event.

[zzaxx99] 18/7/2001 10:04

Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty Guilty!

And did I mention that I think he's Guilty?

[lesk] 18/7/2001 10:01

wannabee sorry! was that a political statement or just a general slag! (anyone would think you disliked the man!!) ;@)

[wannabee] 18/7/2001 09:55

Let's just hope the jury comes to the correct decision after hearing the facts of the case (well, half the facts since Jeff decided not to tell the court his side of things!). If found guilty, it'll be interesting to hear the Judge's summing and sentence - JA has an amazing ability to more or less always escape any penalty for his reported actons.

Apart from this case, I think the little git has a lot to answer for and has affected greatly the lives of people in the UK, although in a roundabout way. The Anglia affair reinforced the view of the Tories as sleazebags, and Hessletine declaring he had no case to answer confirmed that view in my mind. From that point, I saw the Tories as certain to lose the next election. Later, seeing Hague welcoming JA as a senior stateman for the Tory party made me cringe, and I think that action ensured the Tories remained unelectable, just on that point.

Even if Jeff is found guilty, and gets 3 months in Ford open prison, it will give him time to possibly plagerise another blockbuster novel, as I believe he has been reported to have possibly done before.
All imo.

[spats] 18/7/2001 09:13

How can he not be guilty on perjury alone? I guess clout and people you know can get you out of sticky situations and my guess is that Archer will let off

[jgb] 18/7/2001 09:13

I suspect that all the sympathy for Mary Archer is misplaced. Like Mr & Mrs Clinton, I suspect that this is a couple made for each other; both ambitious as hell and with a taste for money that will not let anything stand in its way. Why do we assume that she was not an equal partner in the Anglia insider dealing case (she was the one on the Anglia Board). I suspect her 'class' resides in a more subtle approach to 'hanky-pankey' whether financial or of any other kind. Like Hilary, she stands by her man because it's still helpful to her ambitions and lifestyle. Like hilary, she appears to live a life largely separate from her husband except for the PR pantomime of turning up at court each day withhim for the photographers and then leaving (I beleive she has not attended even one full day of the actual hearing). Whether JA is guilty of this specific charge is for the jury but I would not trust either of them further than I could throw them.

[lesk] 18/7/2001 08:51

alan greenspan - sorry your offended mate, this was supposed to be a 'lighthearted' opinion poll. No-one is trying to pre-judge something we don't know about (I still fancy his wife, though!!) ;@)

[dellyob] 17/7/2001 22:50

Now i know Jeff,and he said to me put your money into Redstone and Baltimore,
"bloody good bloke realy".
D.

[ahkeen] 17/7/2001 22:43

Richard,

Yes I would have had him swinging from the beam by now!

Paul, good job you weren't down here today, it was really awful all day, bits of flooding in parts. Re the wine, you're welcome, practically a half pint I think.

Regards,

Andy.