The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: Blair aides ‘plotted’ to foil police-News-Politics-TimesOnline.

I am beginning to feel sorry for these people. Who in their right minds would write down a conversation like this?

‘Lord Levy, Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser, allegedly
asked the prime minister’s most senior advisers to lie to police by telling
detectives he had no involvement in the honours system. A written record of the discussion reveals his suggestion was overruled by Ruth Turner, a senior No 10 aide, who drew up what she believed was a more “credible” strategy.’

The sub-editor at the Times must have put quotation marks around ‘plotted’ in his headline, not to mark it as an allegation, but to signal that this
childish effort was unworthy of the word. Inspector Yates must feel that someone shot his fox. Actually, for the first time in hunting history, the fox shot itself.