Tramp the dirt down

I remember, long ago, Tony Benn objecting to the coining of the phrase "Thatcherism" as it personalised a political philosophy we opposed.



It is pretty much axiomatic that Tony Benn is right, as he certainly was on that point.



However, individuals are not unimportant sometimes, and one individual who did as much as anyone to drive through the Thatcherite agenda in the 80s was Rupert Murdoch.



Therefore, as much as I look forward to celebrating Thatcher's death (remembering the Falklands, the Miners and the millions of wasted years of unemployment), I today also enjoy the fact that Murdoch has had to close a profitable newspaper in a doomed attempt to rescue his reputation.



It's impossible to celebrate the loss of hundreds of jobs by ordinary people employed to produce a newspaper (http://m.newsoftheworld.co.uk/notwmobile/home/). But it is absolutely right to look forward to dancing - soon - on the political grave, not only of the man himself but also, perhaps of those politicians who subordinated themselves to him.



What we need is an independent judicial inquiry into News Interrnational - and a labour movement enquiry into what successive Labour leaders thought they were doing sucking up to a gang of scoundrels.

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