News International: What A Muddle!

News that the Sun acquired details from the medical records of Gordon Brown's disabled son, Fraser, adds to the tsunami of emerging evidence confirming News International's complete moral bankruptcy. On Radio 4 this morning Brown said: "They told me they had a story about Fraser's medical condition - I was in tears but there was nothing I could do about it."

This comes on top of Brown's suspicion that his phone had been hacked during his time as Chancellor. His bank account details too may have been tampered with, this time the suspect another NI publication, the Sunday Times.

Last autumn Brown wrote privately to the Metropolitan Police asking whether his phone had been hacked. By January this year, as his enquiry entered the public domain, the Met still hadn't replied. A possible reason for the police's vapid response? Possibly, senior Met officers feared aggressive investigation and splashy articles by, guess who, The News of the World. It appears the NOTW had evidence that one officer padded his expense claims and was involved in extramarital affairs, while another used frequent-flier miles accrued during his work to go on personal holidays. And so on.

With the NOTW gone, while Murdoch waits for a verdict on BSkyB perhaps he'll acquire a taste for newspaper-closing. Old-fashioned print's in decline, while the Sun and the Times produce only a tiny fragment of the wealth generated by Fox and Sky. Murdoch's other paper interest, HarperCollins, may also come under scrutiny.

To add fuel to the fire, David Cameron's given a master-class in ducking the entire News International issue by simply not going to the Commons to make a statement, much to Miliband Minor's grateful joy. But Glen shouldn't shout too loud; he was part of the Blair regime which slavishly courted News International. What a muddle!