Yesterday's News

What is the news angle from hacking war widows exactly?
Other equally illegal and amoral acts were carried out by News International staff. The aim was always for NotW to reign as the prurient supremo which included creating endless spirals of gossip about any issue in the public domain. Here there was no material difference between sportsmen, celebrities and tragic cases of terrorism, murder and abduction.
That is bad enough but war widows are just that. There was nothing to be gained and now all is lost.
Clearly hacking became as an essential tool to the editorial staff as a laptop and a mobile. More than that, it allowed breath-taking hypocrisy to be added to the list of charges hurled at the News International. Their blunt, crude patriotism was fatally undermined by the British Legion's withdrawal of support and leaving the Head of armed forces, "speechless with anger."
No-one had called for the News of World to close but perhaps it was the only option left once CEO James Murdoch had found the courage to look 'Ad Profundis'. The illegal collusion with corrupt police officers, the hacking of the innocent victims and bare-faced lies told to Parliament and the courts must have made him despair.
So in an attempt to salvage the BSkyB take-over, he took the decision to simply shut a long-established and world famous title. It is like a shipping baron of the 1920s closing the gates of a yard for wider business reasons, with no regard for the work force remaining.
News International's defence over the last five years or so has been highly legalistic until now when business bottom line became dominant. The rub is that their biggest liability is Rebekah Brooks and she is still employed presumably maintaining her comical role of investigating the extent of hacking even under her own editorship.
Cameron chose to defend Andy Coulson on his resignation in April - Coulson faces arrest. Milliband has chosen his lines of attack well but both parties are mired in mud from years of courting Murdoch.
Perhaps only one face to emerge from the nuclear fission of tabloid media we have witnessed this week is actor High Grant. He has shown a tenactity and intelligence which sailed far above all his known acting skills. He has surprised his opponents and the wider country by his knowledge and articulate challenge to the status quo. He also had the final reposte to a hack, now unemployed, when he said, "You're an intelligent bloke, why not try your hand at journalism?"
The next round of revelations we can expect will centre on the other titles who did the same. What we have learned may be the tip of the iceberg, but there are other icebergs.