Are you being hacked?

I'm old enough to remember the extremely politically incorrect BBC show, 'Are You Being Served?'  It ran from the early 70s through to the mid 80s, and was set in a London department store called Grace Brothers. It featured John Inman as the effeminate, camp Mr Humphries, who would squeak every so often, 'I'm free!' as he minced around the menswear department, and Molly Sugden as the wisteria-rinsed Mrs Slocombe who spent the entire series referring to her cat as her pussy.  A prime example being "Animals are very psychic; the least sign of danger and my pussy's hair stands on end".  I kid you not - this was what the great British public watched and loved 30 years ago!



The store's owner was Young Mr Grace, an octogenarian who was pushed around in a wheelchair by two mini-skirted bimbos dressed vaguely as nurses.  Mr Grace would periodically visit the store and praise the staff by saying 'You've all done very well!', before collapsing into the arms of his nurses. 



So what has brought this unfunny show to mind?  It was Rupert Murdoch's comments to the Wall Street Journal that he and others in management had handled the hacking crisis "extremely well in every way possible" with just a few "minor mistakes."  What?

When you see the once all-conquering Murdoch dwarfed by his security men as they clear a path for him, and then you read comments such as those quoted, which border on delusional, then it's hard not to see him as Young Mr Grace.  If you're old enough to remember the show, I defy you to tell me otherwise. 

When he gives his evidence to the select committee next week, think Young Mr Grace, and then whatever he says and does can't possibly be scary.