The Huw Edwards situation

[Ali195]

If the allegations are true, and Hew was sending inappropriate messages to junior co-workers, along with paying tens of thousands for sexy pictures (legally), does anyone here think that this isn't a problem, and his job at the BBC should be reinstated immediately?

I avoided wanting to take part in this topic but honestly no one seems to bat an eye lid at elected MP's sending inappropriate messages to junior staffers, yet Hew is a news reader and the other represents part of the country. The difference in news coverage is stark.
The other part, the paying for pictures, i wonder what would happen if it was a girl and not a boy. We appear to have no issues with eldy men in their 80's having children with 29 year olds, i personally find that sick but that cheeky al pacino having a good time with a sexy something is no problem.

edit: he should resign, if anything because he has become the story instead of reading it, it's unsalvageable, untenable.

 

[dowie]

I was talking about people who are screaming the loudest about expectations of people, potentially sitting in a glass house themselves.

Yes, I'm aware that's what you were trying to say... thus why I offered the correction.

Straw man argument

No, I'm genuinely not a mind reader, you also believe I lack intelligence so that should be sufficient enough surely for you to be specific about what you were referring to rather than leaving it up to guesswork.

So now we've established that you mean "equally guilty" not in terms of these allegations, despite your previous claims of hypocrisy and garbled attempt to talk about throwing stones in glass houses (not from them!), but just equally "guilty" in " in the **** show this thread has become".

But apparently, it's totally fine for you to come in and rather than comment on the case/topic itself just throw around unclear accusations of hypocrisy.

 

[Richie]

Typical Dowie words he uses to deflect and move away from the point being made by a user showing Dowies intelligence lacking.

More than that - if you don't agree with him, then you're of questionable/iffy character and you need your hard drive checked

His preferred MO for arguing a point - continue beating the other person around the head with it, even though it's wrong, until said person gives up then claim victory because other person gave up aka - the Dowie-hole

It's what a child does when they don't get what they want - go on and on and on and on till the parent relents.

It's a little sad

 

[dowie]

I avoided wanting to take part in this topic but honestly no one seems to bat an eye lid at elected MP's sending inappropriate messages to junior staffers, yet Hew is a news reader and the other represents part of the country. The difference in news coverage is stark.

I dunno, do you have any instances of an MP being accused recently of flirting on Instagram with a 17-year-old schoolboy?

Or likewise, covid breaches were a fairly prominent issue for the previous PM - see partygate... now Huw was reporting on Covid rules when allegedly breaking them himself to meet up with someone from a dating site/app.

 

[d_brennen]

If the allegations are true, and Hew was sending inappropriate messages to junior co-workers, along with paying tens of thousands for sexy pictures (legally), does anyone here think that this isn't a problem, and his job at the BBC should be reinstated immediately?

It's not behaviour becoming of a newsreader, let alone the de facto state broadcaster. I wouldn't expect to keep my job with that kind of carry on, which is why I don't send weird messages to junior colleagues or request sexy pictures from teenagers. It's such a bizarre story

 

[dlockers]

Or likewise, covid breaches were a fairly prominent issue for the previous PM - see partygate... now Huw was reporting on Covid rules when allegedly breaking them himself to meet up with someone from a dating site/app.

Conjecture. He may have just been going for some exercise. Giggity.

 

[dowie]

It's what a child does when they don't get what they want - go on and on and on and on till the parent relents.

It's a little sad

Richie, what you've done in most of your contributions to this thread is to pop in every so often not to discuss the topic but to make insinuations about other posters... so it's a bit "rich" for you to now wine about it when you're responded to in kind.

 

[sidimmu]

Yes, I'm aware that's what you were trying to say... thus why I offered the correction.



No, I'm genuinely not a mind reader, you also believe I lack intelligence so that should be sufficient enough surely for you to be specific about what you were referring to rather than leaving it up to guesswork.

So now we've established that you mean "equally guilty" not in terms of these allegations, despite your previous claims of hypocrisy and garbled attempt to talk about throwing stones in glass houses (not from them!), but just equally "guilty" in " in the **** show this thread has become".

But apparently, it's totally fine for you to come in and rather than comment on the case/topic itself just throw around unclear accusations of hypocrisy.

No one wanted your correction as it did not need correcting, you didnt understand the point.
How many times does it take me to say this for you to read it.

You expect everyone else to be a mind reader as established in numerous other topics, but when we expect you to be it, there is a problem.
Grow up Dowie, you are an embarrassment.

 

[sidimmu]

More than that - if you don't agree with him, then you're of questionable/iffy character and you need your hard drive checked

His preferred MO for arguing a point - continue beating the other person around the head with it, even though it's wrong, until said person gives up then claim victory because other person gave up aka - the Dowie-hole

It's what a child does when they don't get what they want - go on and on and on and on till the parent relents.

It's a little sad

He may as well be a child of this generation, completely entitled and everything that comes out his mouth has to be correct and everyone else must relent.

 

[Minusorange]

I dunno, do you have any instances of an MP being accused recently of flirting on Instagram with a 17-year-old schoolboy?

Chris Pincher and his groping ? Somewhat worse than what Huw did as at least the flirting was consensual

 

[Felon]

I avoided wanting to take part in this topic but honestly no one seems to bat an eye lid at elected MP's sending inappropriate messages to junior staffers, yet Hew is a news reader and the other represents part of the country.

Dragging MPs into the discussion is just a diversion, I mean - if elected MPs are sending inappropriate messages to junior staffers, bin them - no problems there, but this is really about Hew Edwards, not MPs.

It's not behaviour becoming of a newsreader, let alone the de facto state broadcaster. I wouldn't expect to keep my job with that kind of carry on, which is why I don't send weird messages to junior colleagues or request sexy pictures from teenagers. It's such a bizarre story

I've had legal training from two law firms on diversity and workplace behaviour, after a company I worked for a while back, had a serious problem with sexual conduct - people sexting, using their positions of power in exchange for sex, that sort of thing and lots more. The firm spent a fortune on setting standards for what's ok or not ok, and most of it was pretty damn sensible and normal.

For me, in today's day and age, you absolutely cannot be "carrying on" in the workplace, if you're sending naughty messages to junior colleagues, paying much younger people vast sums of money for sexual images (which may be illegal if the person was 17) then there's no excuse...

If you're doing that and you're a public figure, then I can't see any scenario where they keep their job, other than perhaps they're Peter Stringfellow or somebody...

 

[dowie]

No one wanted your correction as it did not need correcting, you didnt understand the point.

Sure... some waffle about hypocrisy and then throwing stones from glass houses... then a follow-up post about throwing stones in a glass house at another glass house... very muddled and unclear WTF you were even referring to.

You expect everyone else to be a mind reader as established in numerous other topics, but when we expect you to be it, there is a problem.

No, quite the opposite, I expect people to try to read what was actually written and not attempt mind reading as that's an obvious area where misunderstandings occur if people try to second guess things like intent or argue against things that weren't stated but were assumed etc..

In your case, you made a very vague claim that wasn't clear in the context of apparently posting about hypocrisy and then when pushed for clarification you then clarified that it wasn't about hypocrisy but some meta-commentary about the thread.... quality stuff as usual!

 

[Maccy]

@dowie @sidimmu I suggest you two put each other on ignore.

 

[Hades]

No, I didn't say that I said "if he'd only paid for pictures on onlyfans " for all I know he may well have paid for pictures on onlyfans, but that's hardly the only allegation here!

OK, So maybe I have missed something. But what specifically are you saying Huw did that you suspect people on here have not done anywhere nearly as scandalous in their life?

* He has been accused of paying for pictures. So far the police don't believe he was breaking the law. So that's not scandalous even if I'm sure his wife is furious with him.

* He has been accused of sending abusive messages to an adult who approached Huw on a dating app. We are yet to see what those abusive messages were so unable to form a judgement on their validity. The BBC has verified they have seen the chat but have not commented on the contents. I will reserve judgement on this until more information is available.

* He has been accused of sending unwanted hearts on text messages and Instagram. This seems to be true but in isolation it's hardly the crime of the century.

* He has been accused of breaking lockdown rules to meet an adult. While breaking lockdown rules was of course illegal (and so I condemn it), it was done by swathes of people including the Prime Minister. I bet many people on here have done it.

* He has been accused of sending a message including kisses to a 17 year old who, in retrospect since the wider story broke but not at the time, feels this was "creepy" "looking back now". But I don't see any legal issues in that (the age of consent, afterall, is 16 and there hasn't been any suggestion of persistent unwanted contact, harrassment or stalking). There may be an argument to say the age of consent should be raised. But as of today the law doesn't distinguish between a 17 year old and a 60 year old in this respect.

* He has been accused of inappropriate messages to other BBC staff members (again sometimes signed off with hearts or kisses). This could be a gotcha if it is deemed to be sexual harassment. But it is still under investigation. So I'll reserve judgement on its validity until more information is available on it.

What else? What have I missed? I suspect many on here have done a lot worse than that. It's just that they aren't in the public eye.

I'd suspect that most people on here have nothing as scandalous as this in their personal life!

 

[dowie]

Chris Pincher and his groping ? Somewhat worse than what Huw did as at least the flirting was consensual

And that has been reported on and he's faced consequences over the allegations right?

 

[Minusorange]

And that has been reported on and he's faced consequences over the allegations right?

He's still an MP

 

[Hotwired]

I avoided wanting to take part in this topic but honestly no one seems to bat an eye lid at elected MP's sending inappropriate messages to junior staffers, yet Hew is a news reader and the other represents part of the country. The difference in news coverage is stark.

This story was pitched as underage sex crime. Then the specific wording which describes an underage sex crime was deleted from further publication, then the police said jog on x2. That's the context of people scrabbling around in Huws text messages after a national request was made for any dirt or suspicion of dirt on him.

The use of emotes and whatever else may not be becoming of a senior presenter to colleages but by god is there a magnitude of difference to underage sex crime. Nevertheless the initial slur taints everything that follows because even false it sets the stage and the stakes.

 

[dowie]

OK, So maybe I have missed something. But what specifically are you saying Huw did that you suspect people on here have not done anywhere nearly as scandalous in their life?

I'm not saying he did anything... I'm referring to what others have alleged he did.

Also, I said:

I'd suspect that most people on here have nothing as scandalous as this in their personal life!

i.e. that trying to normalise this or play it off as being things that could happen to anyone is rather silly.

I don't think it's normal for a married 61-year-old to pay young men to meet up (while breaking covid lockdown rules), to allegedly flirtily DM 17-year-old schoolboys unsolicited, to allegedly send flirty DMs junior employees while in a senior position at work, to allegedly pay a teen drug user for pics and allegedly try to meet (parents claim payments started at 17 teen's lawyer claims no laws broker).

To compare that to simply others on here perhaps subscribing to OF is very disingenuous and I think that sort of behavour is an outlier.

 

[Hades]

I'm not saying he did anything... I'm referring to what others have alleged he did.

OK, Noted and fair enough.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

It's not behaviour becoming of a newsreader, let alone the de facto state broadcaster. I wouldn't expect to keep my job with that kind of carry on, which is why I don't send weird messages to junior colleagues or request sexy pictures from teenagers. It's such a bizarre story

If it turns out that he has been sending unsolicited dodgy messages to junior staff then thats quite different.

Genuine question, should we apply the same criteria to newspaper journalists. If not why not.
Boris with all his known moral issues, is hammering away at a keyboard, producing yet more dubious "news", and getting paid similar to Huw.

IMO the same standards should apply to all presenters, journalists etc if your going to say one is unfit.
GBnews would need a complete new team for example