Success

We crave success. We hate those who achieve it.

Rupert Murdoch is the latest successful man to raise our hackles. He actually wants to profit by his success. And people say the Government is guilty, too. It shouldn’t let him be so successful.

In the West, it is possible for any of us to be a success in business, sport or showbiz. All you need is a vision and the ability, guts and determination to make it work.

Very few have all these qualities.

Millions of youngsters are clever with computers. Bill Gates at Microsoft, Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Google and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook have turned their skill into businesses generating millions. The rest are just clever with computers.

Millions of youngsters are brilliant at sport. Roger Federer, Valentino Rossi and Lance Armstrong are champions. The rest are good losers.

We like a good loser. The Americans say a good loser will always be a loser.

Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are bad losers. They have cupboards full of trophies to prove it.

Rupert Murdoch built a successful newspaper business in Australia. He then came to Britain and wanted to repeat the trick. We wanted all sorts of assurances before we let him buy The Times. We didn’t ask him if he was prepared to pour money into it, to employ journalists in it, even though it has never made him money. He did because it was part of his vision.

He saw the possibilities in satellite broadcasting. He reckoned people would be prepared to pay for good programmes. They didn't initially, so he did a deal with British Satellite Broadcasting, which limited both their losses and bought the joint company the time to make it work.

That took guts and a lot of money. But, eventually, the losses turned to profits – huge profits.

He spent the money to produce good programmes - Sky News, with all its journalists, Sky Sports and HBO programmes, even though they cost him a fortune.

He then took the same vision to America and made it work there, too. And if you succeed in America, you become rich and powerful. They understand about success and power in America.

Now, he wants to buy out his old BSB partners here in the UK. He wants to keep all the profits, no doubt so that he, or his organisation, has the money to spend on other ventures.

We want assurances again. We don’t think the Government should let him do this. He would become too successful. He would overshadow other News organisations.

The door is open to any other news company to be as successful, as powerful. They could try to emulate his success, or even exceed it.

But they don’t. They complain and try to restrict him.