Tim Blair

That's a mammoth post by Jeff Jarvis!

I've thought for a long time that the BBC was up a gum tree on this one. Nice to see everyone now coming to the same conclusion.

Its amazing how much coverage this is getting in the UK. I'm in Dublin, but the UK Sky News channel just gets broadcast as is over here. Yesterday they seriously ran this story all day, only stopping for weather forcasts and ad breaks.

This morning at 8am they were still broadcasting all the same interviews and statements from yesterday, it seems as if they will just keep going on until the next big thing drops. I wasnt here at the time but I dont think anything would have had this much coverage since the war itself. Unbelievable.

My only question, so far unanswered, is: Was Kelly right handed? Odds are 3-1 that he was. And since the fatal cut was on his right wrist, it's lookin' like suicide to the kid...

OOPS!

Sorry. Left wrist.

Note to self: read *before* clicking...

Crap. What's at issue here is Downing Street's spin strategy: in this case, they thought they'd neatly snooker the BBC by presenting them with two unpalatable choices. The BBC could either fold, hanging out its reporter to dry, or they could tough it out and endure masses of dung being flung at them - some of which was bound to stick, as dung does.

To their credit, the BBC refused to be cowed into doing the wrong thing journalistically, and stuck by their report.

To turn up the heat, the government outed the source. And now it's gone tragically pear-shaped.

As I have interpreted the news over the last week or so...
- UK govt accused by BBC report of sexing up intelligence reports.
- enquiry and basic looking at facts shows BBC wrong.
- opponents of UK govt go on a rampage trying to show govt lied and covered up.
- full enquiry process forced by said opponents puts David Kelly under lots of pressure.
- Kelly suicides.
- its Blair's fault.
Que?

Come on Bon, I realise you are only a dead rock singer, but please. The real issue here is that the BBC fabricated and 'Sexed Up' a story to match its journalistic bias and has now been caught with its pants firmly around its collectivist ankles.

It may as well just admit it was wrong and bend over and take the pain. It will definately be a far better prospect than trying to tough it out, as you so aptly put it. The Beeb's reputation is happily falling past the S-bend. To come clean and simply admit that they were wrong, might go some way towards resurrecting their severely blackened reputation.

But then we all know how often leftists apologise, don't we, so I won't hold my breath

Close, Peter, but for two crucial steps: the BBC is still standing by its report - so it hasn't been shown to be wrong as yet - and it wasn't opponents of the government who went on a rampage, it was Downing Street itself.

So yeah, it is at least partly Blair's fault. (Or more specifically his press secretary, who's been driving this whole affair.)

So far David Kelly has been treated as an innocent party in this. As far as I see it, he was a public servant who leaked classified information (is that treason?), then lied about it to a parliamentary inquiry. He wasn't hounded to death... perhaps he topped himself in shame.

Chris, you are utter scum. Simple as that. You are also have shit for brains. What a disgusting, pathetic, lazy, crude, self-satisfied piece of scapegoatery.

Play nice, Bon!

"Chris, you are utter scum. Simple as that. You are also have shit for brains. What a disgusting, pathetic, lazy, crude, self-satisfied piece of scapegoatery."

I didn't realise that Chris was a lefty. Thanks for clearing that up Bon. :-)

I feel sad that Mr. Kelly took his own life.

However, people make choices and have to bear the responsibility of those choices. Mr. Kelly chose to take his life. No one need take responsibility for that choice; not the BBC, not Blair or the "government". And for their own sakes, Mr. Kelly's family will need to accept these very simple facts of life. Blaming someone or something for his death is an act that will only prolong their misery (which is entirely of their own making and the ending of which is entirely in their own hands).

On this "hounding to death" thing: unless you actually chase someone and physically kill them (or pay or persuade someone to physically kill them), then hounding to death by saying things about someone is just plain bollocks.

When the lefties resort to content-free personal abuse, you know you have won the argument.

the BBC is still standing by its report - so it hasn't been shown to be wrong as yet

Well, it has been proven false in at least one particular: the BBC acknowledges that Kelly was its source, yet the article states that the source was an intelligence official - which Kelly was not.

Now "false in one, false in all" may or may not be accurate in this case but it's certainly reason to raise an eyebrow at the sensational allegation at the heart of this. Particularly since Kelly, the acknowledged source, stated that he didn't recognize the allegation as having come from what he'd said. Either Kelly or Gilligan lied about that, and we already know that Gilligan included in his reporting a wee fib about his source's position in government. So while it hasn't been proven beyond doubt that he made up the "sexed up" allegation, I wouldn't say the BBC is in a good position here.