Conrad Black vs The BBC

I don't get it. What possible reply to such a confrontative statement by the interviewer could be expected?

I'll settle this. They're both right.

"You're a priggish, gullible British fool."

In simple English that means "you work for the BBC"

Don't you need to be a "priggish, gullible, pedophile-assisting, British fool" to work for the BBC?

What a feisty bugger! Good for him!

You are a criminal is not the same as you have been convicted.

A criminal is one who has been rightly convicted. Would anyone say that Donald Marshall is a criminal?

Given how particular Black is with the English language, I can understand his objection to the characterisation.

I Love Lord Black of Crossharbour. Canada need more of his kind.

Conrad Black. Lord Black.
Some see him as an arrogant and elusive 'rich guy' who disdains the average person.
I doubt anyone around Black, including himself, views him as average in any way.
I certainly do not and I have never met him.
I do admire though, the things I have read and heard about him. Even from his harshest critics ( that weasel who cut a deal to 'testify' against Conrad Black in that sham trial in Chicago that did see him convicted of 'obstruction of justice' in taking his own files from his own office in Toronto. ( files, by the way already vetted by the prosecutors, et al)
Mr. Black, in my view was convicted of the impardonable sin of having achieved success by his own will and expertise and hard work.
He created something ( Yes, he DID build that) and it was viewed as a juicy trophy by those who coveted his achievement and success.They undertook any means necessary to take him down, including the PM of Canada who thwarted his success by demanding he give up his Canadian citizenship to accept a lordship in England. Something NOT demanded of others.
The former head of the SEC took over Lord Black's company and raided it for over 100 million dollars
added to his own personal fortune.
THAT is theft. Then they used the justice system to further demean and humiliate the man who has done nothing wrong except succeed. He spent his own money but that was seen somehow as defrauding somebody for something. Yet, the corporate raiders took over his company and raided it right down to the ground.
I agree with Lord Black. He many have been convicted of something but he is not a criminal.

Haven't followed the case, but from the way Uncle Sam treated that hacker Gary Mckinnon I can well believe Black. And Paxman was being an utter knob. All in all a good example of why I don't watch telly.

Conrad Black is an asset to British politic and the House of Lords. I hope he takes up the defence of Free Speech in the U.K. as it is so greatly under siege there.

The Orwellian warnings of totalitarianism have proved prescient with the recent arrests of Paul Weston of the British Freedom Party and 52 members of the English Defence League, including Tommy Robinson.

Black's ability to trounce political correctness and wooly headed thinking is without peer. Both traditions of British Liberty and Canadian Liberty are in greatly in need of such skill.

I eagerly await his return to Canadian public life in the media.

Very amusing to watch Black's upper-crust demeanor and private school speech patterns dissolved rather quickly into high-pitched exasperation, though Jeremy Paxman, arrogant and aggressive as always, deserves everything he got.

Anyway, it wouldn't be SDA without some kind of anti-government spin, so lest you think the BBC was the sole deserving target of Lord Black's disdain, here's Conrad vs. (the Rupert Murdoch-affiliated) Sky News: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222305/Conrad-Black-brands-Sky-presenter-Adam-Boulton-jackass-Jeremy-Paxman-gullible-fool.html

Also, anybody care to reflect on Conrad's indictment of the US's bloated criminal justice system vis-a-vis your own passionate embrace of the conservative/Republican "three-strikes-you're-out"/"Tough on crime" mentality and agenda?

"I was surprised by the corruption and venality of the US legal system."

True enough.

I think I would pay to see Black smash the face off Paxman.

Black is awesome. I admire him greatly.

For those who don't know, Jeremy Paxman used to have communist aspirations in school when he was younger.

Lord and Lady Black? Tell me again why they are still in Canada???

His lack of faith in the US justice system is disturbing.

LS from SK.... they are more deserving to be here than Omar Kahdr, but I bet you supported his repatriation.

Black got the same treatment Martha Stewart or many an other successful individual by a Prosecutor looking to make a name for themselves.
Janet Reno besides being a baby burner, was at the fore front of the "Devil in daycare's" Madness. She jailed thousands for years because they would not admit to insane lies or worse rat on people to get out of Jail. She ended up Attorney General of the US for her incarceration of thousands of innocents.
Of things latter proven to be hysterical none sense.
Blacks mistake was doing business in Chicago. For that he got the shaft. Just ask a certain video maker.

My knowledge of Black's case comes from following about 1/3 of Steyn's coverage back in the day, and I'm no expert on the case, but of course I'm inclined to trust Steyn.

Davs - apparently you don't know sh*t about "speech patterns". AFAIK Black has never affected a British accent (I assume that's what you're implying), "upper-crust" or otherwise. There's no "dissolving" here. As for "demeanor", I'll say he maintained his a hell of a lot better than I would have. Who amongst us hasn't dreamed of decking Jeremy Paxman?

Anyone who just knows Black is a crook, pleasec tell me why. Because he's a successful entrepreneur? Because you find him pompous? Because you his wife seems imperious? I'll need more than that.

Well, at least Davenport is amused. Davs, noone wants innocent people going to jail. To elide a strict approach to law enforement with a disdain for establishing real guilt or innocence is pathetic. You can do better.

Well I heard a lot about this interview and it was nothing like I had been led to believe.

Paxton was perfectly fine.

Black, who I know believes in his innocence and in his having been railroaded by the U.S. legal system, was also perfectly fine in his agitated response, given those beliefs (I have no idea if Black is wrong or right in having those beliefs as I never followed his case and in any event I'm not a lawyer).

That was a good honest interview.

Now if the Baron can just get himself an interview with that other British twit who works for CNN and then tear a new one for him!

Watching the interview overthrew the Uugh I did from the initial sound-byte I heard on morning radio. He carried himself perfectly. I welcome hime to Canada.

He's not a small man.

Alyric, you missed sanctimonious

One take on Black vs Paxton - http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/hes-pummelled-paxman-hesbattered-boulton-now-im-rooting-for-a-conrad-black-hattrick-8223425.html

Revnant Dream,

you are spot on; glad someone else notices. Reno needs a deconstruction (to use a post-modern term).

Hard not to agree with Conrad about the 'merican legal system...there is no justice system.

There is much to admire in Conrad Black.

What part of a corrupt judicial system can the fool not get his head around?

He will protect paedophiles that work for the BBC (Jimmy Savile), and not listen to a word the man is saying.

I have no idea if Conrad Black is innocent of crimes or not, but I do know that his quoted statistics are accurate and that they speak for themselves.

Love old Conrad saying "I should smash your face in!" That's Hamilton style!

What he really should have done is laughed at the poncy Brit and walked out. Stick him with no interview, -that- would have hurt.

Davenport said: "Also, anybody care to reflect on Conrad's indictment of the US's bloated criminal justice system vis-a-vis your own passionate embrace of the conservative/Republican "three-strikes-you're-out"/"Tough on crime" mentality and agenda?"

A) Conrad Black is the same guy who killed Massey Ferguson in Ontario. So I take what he says with a box of salt. However as Revnant Dream said above, its clear that he got the same deal Martha Stewart did. So I'd say in this case he's got nothing to be ashamed of, by a long shot.

B) Conservatism is about less regulation, less corruption and generally less government, Davenport. Not more punishment. Under a sane regulatory scheme (or before a judge who wasn't crooked) Black would never have been charged.

C) "three-strikes-you're-out" and "Tough on crime" are the kinds of things you hear people saying in large DemocRat run cities in those blue states you like so much. You hear it there because that's where the crime is out of control. In fact, "three-strikes-you're-out" started in Washington and California if I'm not mistaken. It was a direct result of liberal "justice" policy crashing and burning in the 1980's. Crack epidemic, y'know.

You remember the '80s Davenport? Or were you little?

"You're a priggish, gullible British fool."

Do they come any other way?

Conrad Black left Upper Canada College as a young man, before the rest of his graduating class. Scurrilous rumours abound that his early departure was requested as a result of Mr. Black's entrepeneurial spirit. It is foully alleged that Mr. Black surreptitiously obtained advance copies of final exams, and then peddled those papers, perhaps foreshadowing his future career, to other students. Not that I have one whit of belief in such slander.

However, since most people would believe that someone who possesses a criminal record is, in fact, a criminal, I believe this is a case of Black calling a blackguard black.

rroe wrote: "Would anyone say that Donald Marshall is a criminal?" Yes, many people would say that.

Donald Marshall was a criminal who was wrongly convicted for one crime that he didn't commit. One reason that led to his arrest was that he was in the vicinity of the crime with the intent of committing a lesser but nonetheless serious crime.

The attempt to make Donald Marshall out to be a hero ultimately did him no good, and certainly hasn't done much for any other young people, aboriginal or otherwise. The lawyers got very wealthy off Marshall's travails, and journalists got book deals and prestigious by-lines, and various grievance-mongers will dine out on Junior Marshall's case for years. The man was as ill-used by his so-called friends and supporters as he was by a sloppy and racist Nova Scotia justice system.

Smash'im, Conrad! Smash'im!!

Lord Black admitted to some "mistakes" (an act of contrition he should not have made, IMO), upon which he did not elaborate. I do not even remotely believe that he made any mistakes, let alone commit any criminal acts (and SCOTUS has ruled the same -- a matter of public record that people like Jeremy Paxman and Thomas Mulcair don't quite seem to get...)

In a very direct way, Lord Black's so-called "mistakes" derive from his voting no-confidence in the future of the MSM, of which he was a member who strove for decades to change: he simply chose to monetize the value of the companies he led, having realized that his efforts had brought those companies to their zenith and that the only available future direction was down.

Perhaps his minority shareholders believe that he should have led them over the cliff, and died with his boots on. Or, perhaps, his media confreres/critics believe that he broke ranks in a way that hung the rest of them out to dry (maybe they were upset at the way he played Prisoner's Dilemma, and find happiness that he ended up as a prisoner, and they didn't...)

I don't know, exactly, but in Lord Black's case, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

Saying that he would smash somebody's face in is way beneath Lord Black, whom I revere, and he really shouldn't do that (and his position is way too strong and credible for him to undermine his position like that). On the other hand, maybe just this once...

"LS from SK.... they are more deserving to be here than Omar Kahdr, but I bet you supported his repatriation.
Posted by: Chris at October 24, 2012 5:49 PM"

I certainly did but to PAKISTAN with the rest of TO's #1 terrorist family.

I never particularly liked his corporate governance practices but I don't think he deserved to be convicted of anything other than rudeness and bad judgement. I also never invested in any of his companies - that's all the punishment he deserved. If rudeness and poor judgement were the standard then I'd have spent a lot of time behind bars myself.

Black was convicted of moving boxes in Toronto and the last time I checked, Toronto was not under U.S. sovereignty. He may have been "convicted" but that doesn't make him a "criminal".

Smash'im, Conrad! Smash'im!!

Black has a good Toronto accent. He attended Upper Canada College, where he had some issues. He then attended Carleton University in Ottawa, certainly not an elite institution.
I was there at the same time (I don't know Black, though we had an acquaintance in common). Carletonians of that era had a bit of an attitude, especially when
Queen's University was brought up.

Conrad Black is certainly a brilliant man, and an excellent, perhaps even a great historical writer. Had he been an academic, or leftwing,
his biography of Maurice Duplessis would have given him a huge reputation. He was one of the few Anglos with much knowledge of Quebec politics, and his writings
on Quebec for the Globe and Mail were insightful (though then as now he would benefit from a fang-toothed editor).
I began to lose respect for the Globe and Mail when they severed the relationship with Black.

The British, whatever they might think of him, elevated him to the peerage. The f***ing Yanks put him in jail, and did the same for Martha Stewart.
As many have said, there is much more wrong with Yankeedom than Barack Obama, and the treatment of Black and Stewart provides cases in point.
The Americans deserve Obama. Four more years!

Aviator, 9:17p.m. --

Your comment falls under the category of "It's a great statement that has the added value of being true".

I see Davenport has decided discretion is the better part of valor and quit the field.

Good decision, ducky.

Pift, all the "Davenports" assume conservatism agrees with corruption, because “they built that”.

Therefore a corrupted justice system, crony capitalism, imperialism, et al are viewed as Conservative values by them, and precisely why they should be left out of any serious debate concerning the health of a nation.

"You're a priggish, gullible British fool."

Do they come any other way?
Posted by: Cola di Rienzi

Yes, of course they do. Many priggish, gullible fools aren't British.

I think I would pay to see Black smash the face off Paxman.
Posted by: Mark

I wouldn't be so particular about who does it. Paxman has been missing a punch in the nose for a long time.

Snowbunnie sums it up.
Stopped buying the printed press with the loss of Lord Blacks steerage of his titles.
Both he and his elegant eloquent wife are and where far better citizens and members of society in the UK than Paxman and the rest of his cohorts at the Biased Broadcasting Corporation ever have or could be.

I think Mr. Black is entering a very bittersweet, but necessary, part of his life - revenge against those who betrayed him or stole from him, and who also shortened the time he could spend with Ms. Amiel over the better part of the last decade. The list of targets is long, starting with Radler and Breeden.

Go Mr. Black, Go!

"Paxton was perfectly fine."

My oh my how our standards have dropped in terms of what we expect from journalists.

Paxton was a complete and utter idiot who was not interested in a *single* fact about Black's case.

Still, say what you want about Paxman* and the BBC, but I doubt you'd ever see this sort of TV on CBC. Just try to imagine one of those cosy and anodyne Mansbridge one-on-ones like this.

* I lived in the UK for many a year and often felt like punching the screen when dear Jeremy was on.

JJM, some people earn a living by being a dumb ignorant ass, some earn a living doing something useful. Paxman is in the former category.