Concessions Free

Some campaigners from Hacked Off have had a meeting with Oliver Letwin, the weird little man who advises Daveybloke on making pratfalls look like policies, and have been advised that "wholesale concessions" are necessary in order to persuade the press barons and their hirelings to continue self-regulating in the manner to which they are accustomed. The Leveson proposals, which are necessarily a compromise between what Rupert Murdoch wants and the various resignations, public humiliations and acts of seppuku which natural justice demands, are therefore being compromised yet further; rather as if one were to photocopy a human being too many times until they faded into Nick Clegg. Given that the Government contains a number of high-level cast-offs from the Murdoch empire, it seems likely that Letwin was understating the matter and that the concessions are not so much wholesale as free of charge. Hence, some uncharitable persons from Hacked Off have accused the Government of selling out to the press barons, which may be a little unjust. One does not accuse the monkey of selling out to the organ-grinder just because he has to jabber and grin a little in return for being allowed to keep his nuts.