Huw Edwards named as presenter by his wife, is in Hospital

Why is this the thing the country cares about bascally some guy did an onlyfans with someone of legal age? Is it creepy? Yup that's a huge age gap. But looks like it's had the nation on tenter hooks Reddit's UK sub put a megathread up for what? Other than being the usual news outlet suckups they've turned that sub into. I havn't paid attention to it but noticed the rags were full of this like some sort of whodunnit that they seemed to have a greasy pact for.

Far be it for me to suggest it's diverted attention from Boris failing to hand over his mobile phone before the COVID inquiry deadline.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-covid-inquiry-whatsapps-b2372638.html
- More likely that the economy is at the point of collapse. The mortgages story is the tip of the iceberg. UK's value abroad has gone into freefall. Country's economic value is at lowest point in entire history. No one in press or mainstream media reporting this.
- Yup. You do get the feeling that whenever something like this is being broadcast ad nauseum something else is afoot that they don't want us to see.
Why is this the thing the country cares about

Because The Sun has run it on their front page four 4 days now and the coverage has been amplified by the rest of the Murdock outlets. They hate the BBC. The BBC News then had to run it front-and-centre to avoid it looking complascent/covering up. Meanwhile the mystery-identity angle sent social media into overdrive. It was a perfact storm.
Much ado about nothing.

The stench of homophobia hanging around this story is vile.

All today's newspaper front pages (except The Star that ran something about Klingons travelling to Mars?) decided this is the biggest thing going on in the cuntry today. Meanwhile, Bank of England tells us that 1 million households will be paying an additional £500 a month on their mortgages and that it's ok because the banks will be able to deal with all the defaults on payments.

This cuntry has lost the plot!

I'm missing the homophobia here? I wasn't even aware of who he was sending the messages to. Maybe I missed that part.
- It was always made clear that this was a male "star" and a supposed "boy".
  
  Similar story the Philip Scofield.
The stench of homophobia hanging around this story

You what? Was there a new twist I missed?
- The Sun... that virtuous newspaper that used to pay 16 year old girls to leave school so they could pose naked for Page 3... made it clear this was a male "star" and a boy. It's a re-run of the Phillip Scofield nonsense. This wouldn't be front page of all the papers and radio stations if it was an older man and a teenage young woman. Sure, they'll be some coverage but not as much as this homophobic stuff
What's this about Klingons??
- Not sure if I can embed images in a post so I'll just link to the page:
  
  https://www.frontpages.com/daily-star/
I'm not sure its homophobia, but people are noticing ANOTHER BBC presenter taking advantage of their position of power.
- There's no suggestion that he abused his position in the BBC over younger colleagues, is there? Or are you suggesting that any relationship between an older and younger person is immoral in some way?
@tenebrisnox @Flax_vert The plot is by groups including the newspaper proprietors.

(Other plots are also available)

Here is Vicky Flind's statement on behalf of her husband, given to PA news agency, in full:

"In light of the recent reporting regarding the 'BBC Presenter' I am making this statement on behalf of my husband Huw Edwards, after what have been five extremely difficult days for our family.

"I am doing this primarily out of concern for his mental well-being and to protect our children.

"Huw is suffering from serious mental health issues. As is well documented, he has been treated for severe depression in recent years.

"The events of the last few days have greatly worsened matters, he has suffered another serious episode and is now receiving in-patient hospital care where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.

"Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published.

"To be clear Huw was first told that there were allegations being made against him last Thursday.

"In the circumstances and given Huw's condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.

"I know that Huw is deeply sorry that so many colleagues have been impacted by the recent media speculation. We hope this statement will bring that to an end."

I loved the way the story came through on my phone in breaking alerts in less than five minutes.

1: Police are taking no action 2: Wife says it's my hubby Hew. 3: Wife says, he's needing unwell and in hospital.

So are his news reading days over?

I would be surprised if he came back to the news to be honest. Why would you want to put yourself through constant scrutiny after all fo this? Especially given his age and how much he's earned. If I were him I would take early retirement
So are his news reading days over?

Difficult to say. If the mucky photos the teenager was laid to send him took place after their 18th birthday, if the threatening messages he sent on social media weren't too sinister and if nothing else emerges now his name is well-known, he might be able to weather the storm and spin it as a redemption narrative then he might get a documentary out of it that'd clean his name up enough that he could be back behind the desk.
- if nothing else emerges now his name is well-known
  
  From the live Guardian feed:
  
  The BBC has reported that Huw Edwards is facing “yet more allegations of inappropriate behaviour” this evening.
  
  The new accusations are that he behaved inappropriately towards colleagues at the BBC.
  
  We'll have to see how that shakes out.
- So far the police have said that nothing illegal has taken place. But I think he'll probably be too unwell and his reputation will be too harmed to do any work for some time
  
  Plus like you say if there is anything else that hasn't come to light yet that might change things
- He resigned, didn't he?
- If he's not acted illegally then what should he fear? His private life is his own.
  
  Shame that the same witch-hunting standards aren't adopted by the press when it comes to our former PM. Is that 9 children or as many as 14? (It's ok though because Boris is a red hot-blooded "man's man").
- The police have concluded, finally, that nothing illegal took place.
  
  So it's down to whether people are that bothered that he paid for mucky photos or said not nice things to someone online. I think the latter isn't even going to move the needle.. but the first, could potentially be career ending, depending on the actual details.
I definitely think his career is over - I can’t see his reputation ever recovering from this, even if he could overcome the shame and embarrassment of going in front of the camera again.
- Personally, as it appears that nothing illegal has occurred, I'd be perfectly happy to see him return to reading the news. He has a calming demeanour and is very good at what he does.
  
  Now, whether he'd want to sit in front of the camera again is another thing.

When I heard rumours it was him I was worried he would end up very unwell (or worse). The whole situation is just so sad for everyone involved. I hate how the media have so much control over people's lives

Shouldn't you hate how people let the media control their lives?
- To an extent, but tabloid culture is still so embedded in the UK that it's hard to avoid (though thankfully it's slowly getting better)

I propose the BBC need the role of noncefinder general.

He's hardly a nonce
- Its a multifaceted role.