#NOTW

Murdoch Jr kills the World. That's the evil genius of the Murdoch clan - their newspaper gets caught out hacking the mobile phones of... just about everyone as it turns out... and instead of firing the editor who must have signed off on it they kill the paper itself. Why? Because it's tarnished forever? No, most likely because it is an excuse to fire some staff and rationalise News International's operations and at the same time kill off another British institution. There is little sentiment in Murdoch's empire, it is a hard-nosed and ruthless organisation as son of Murdoch attests in his statement about the decision to pull the plug:

The good things the News of the World does, however, have been sullied by behaviour that was wrong. Indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our Company.

The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.

In 2006, the police focused their investigations on two men. Both went to jail. But the News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose. Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.

As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter. We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences.

This was not the only fault.

The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.

The Company paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret.

This spectacle is without precedent as far as I know and the PM's communications chief being arrested earlier today is astounding. The closest event I can recall is the destruction of Arthur Andersen after the Enron scandal.