You may recall that I was unable to view the celebrated Mosely ‘Nazi orgy’ video. Alexander Chancellor, the Guardian columnist and former editor of the Spectator was more persistent…

Having primly waited for permission from a high court judge, I have finally got on the internet and looked at a video of Max Mosley’s sado-masochistic sex games with a group of London prostitutes. I tried the News of the World’s website, but this was a bit of a disappointment because, while I could hear the formula one boss pleading for more punishment in a stage German accent, no pictures appeared on the screen at all.

I had more success on YouTube, which showed a woman with a rather posh English voice fiercely ordering the wretched man to “bend over, right over” before inflicting strokes of a cane on his naked bottom. The video was rather dark and hard to fathom, but it involved at least one woman dressed like a concentration camp inmate in black and white stripes as she waited for her turn to be beaten…

Walking down Trumpington Street after lunch today we came on this spectacle — an elaborate wedding taking place in Pembroke College. The bride arrived in an antique Rolls. The really interesting thing, though, was the amount of effort that went into recording every second of the event.

Note the expensive, fully-professional video camera. And the size of the still photographer’s bag.

We’re getting to the point where no moment of our lives goes unrecorded. I’m reminded of Heidegger’s crack about technology being “the art of arranging the world so that we don’t have to experience it”.

… in 1951, President Harry Truman fired General MacArthur for insubordination. The NYT of the day reported the decision thus:

Washington, Wednesday, April 11 – President Truman early today relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of all his commands in the Far East and appointed Lieut. Gen. Mathew B. Ridgway as his successor.

The President said he had relieved General MacArthur “with deep regret” because he had concluded that the Far Eastern commander “is unable to give his wholehearted support to the policies of the United States Government and of the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties.”

General MacArthur, in a message to House Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin Jr. Of Massachusetts, made public by Mr. Martin last Thursday, had publicly challenged the President’s foreign policy, urging that the United States concentrate on Asia instead of Europe and use Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Formosa-based troops to open a second front on the mainland of China.

The change in command is effective at once. General Ridgway, who has been in command of the Eighth Army in Korea since the death in December of Gen. Walton H. Walker, assumes all of General MacArthur’s titles – Supreme Commander, United Nations Forces in Korea, Supreme Commander for Allied Powers, Japan, Commander-in-Chief, Far East, and Commanding General U.S. Army, Far East.

I’ve always admired Truman. He’s been unfairly under-estimated, mainly because he stepped into FDR’s shoes and forever lingered in his shadow. He’s also the author of one of my favourite sayings: “It’s remarkable how much you can accomplish in life so long as you don’t care who gets the credit”.

David McCullough wrote a terrific biography of him.

When you read the background stuff about MacArthur’s behaviour, it’s obvious that the decision had to be made. But MacArthur was a very big figure in his time, and something of a popular hero in the US. What’s striking about Truman was his ability to make very tough decisions. Gordon Brown is the exact opposite.

Er, not me, Guv. Just the heading on the News of the World‘s web page celebrating the refusal of a judge to grant an injunction banning them from showing a video allegedly showing F1 boss Max Mosley doing unspeakable things with jack-booted ladies of the night. I’m afraid I was unable to view the offending video because it required the installation of browser plug-ins that I was reluctant to accept, but here’s the surrounding text:

Max Mosley’s attempt to suppress the News of the World’s video of his sordid activities has failed. The film is now back on the News of the World website.

Watch F1 boss Max Mosley in 5 vice girl Nazi orgy

[special plug-in required]

As the judge acknowledged, he was able to see only “very brief extracts” – less than two minutes – of the very much longer video. Had he seen it in its entirety, we are confident that he could not fail to recognise the Nazi connotation which Mr Mosley so strenuously denies.

If, as he claims, this filmed orgy of sex and violence was not meant to be a sick fantasy based upon the brutalities of Nazi Germany, we must ask Mr Mosley the following questions.

1. Why are German military uniforms worn?

2. Why does he issue orders and threats in German to women who cannot speak German?

3. Why does he deliver and count out beatings in German to women who cannot understand German?

4. Why does he put on a German accent when speaking English?

5. Why are the victims of these beatings in German made to put on sinister striped uniforms?

6. Why the head lice inspections, the forced shaving of body hair and the sinister references to inmates being housed in “facilities”?

We look forward to Mr Mosley’s answers to all these questions.

Me too.

Also: is this Max Mosley any relation of Sir Oswald Mosley, the 1930s Fascist leader who was mercilessly lampooned by P.G. Wodehouse as Roderick Spode, the Amateur Dictator and Leader of the Black Shorts movement? Surely not? But (check Wikipedia) yes he is! This is too good to be true. It wouldn’t be the first time that the News made things up. On the other hand, it’s interesting that Mosley hasn’t sued them for defamation (which might suggest that he doesn’t challenge the truth of the story) but for invasion of privacy.

Later: The News of the World claims that traffic on its site has increased by 600% since it re-posted the video.