Nostalgia Deficit

When Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, was asked whether he was happy the News of the World had closed he replied, "No".

I would guess he was commenting more on the capriciousness of newspaper proprietors and the fate of the sacked workers than on the salacious content of the 'screws' over the last 40 years.

When Steve Coogan was asked on Newsnight if it was a good day, he said it was a "wonderful day for journalism...a small victory for decency and humanity."

Now the moment has come, I side with Coogan. I feel no sadness at NotW's demise at all. Its final cover was a mosaic of old famous front pages many of whom were contemptuous. For example, the 'Naming and Shaming' of paedophiles (above) was an unmitigated disaster; wrong individuals were named and intimidated and gangs of semi-literate vigilantes were inspired to march the streets of Portsmouth. There was even an attack on a paediatrician's surgery. We know 'stranger danger' is very rare but inducing such fears in our nation took away a little more of our peace and innocence - just for the sake of their circulation.

One edition, I recall, was stoking fear and hatred of sex offenders, then over the page there was an article which in essence said "Corrr, Peaches Geldof may be only fourteen but what a stunner!"

Inside this final edition, there is a mendacious piece about "fat-cat" public servants' pensions when the majority of these wokers actual retire into poverty. No, I shall not miss their poison, bigotry and cheap patriotism. Nor its obsession with celebrity trivia, its reactionary soul and its bare-faced hypocrisy.

There is no denying today is highly significant. The omerta of News International has been broken but not fatally. There are still pervading attitudes in the tabloid end of the business which will never change.

This was perfectly encapsulated when Steve Coogan barked at former hack Paul McMullan he was "morally bankrupt". McMullan's shrug of pure indifference to this charge said it all.