If anyone thinks this government with the divine Blair at it's head has a shred of decency about it, this must disabuse them of such a fanciful notion.
And if you think I exaggerate, consider the sequence of events:
- The BBC run a story critical of the government and the government don't like it.
- The government try to bully the BBC a la Tebbit to back down and go after the journalist who reported the story.
- The BBC put up a surprisingly - considering it is run by Blair's placemen - robust defence.
- The government, unable to convincingly get the better of the BBC, turn their attention to the source of the story. Geoff Hoon demands to know from the BBC if MOD official Kelly was the source, despite the convention - that ensures the press is free - that journalists do not reveal sources.
- Somehow Kelly's name becomes public.
- The government coerce Kelly into appearing before the Foreign Affairs select committee.
- Kelly, harrassed by the press, cross examined by a hostile committee, in danger of losing his job, tops himself.
Probably got some details wrong, but hey ho, I'm a blogger not a journo.
Anyway, the point is what started as a tactic by Blair and friends to take attention away from their problems with attitudes to the truth about why we went to war, spiralled out of control to such an extent that some poor fucker dies.
That's politics for you.