Index 2014

NEWS 

POLITICS
Scotland independence referendum
06.08 Darling stymies Salmond in referendum debate
26.08 Salmond shouts his way to debate win
19.09 Salmond steps down as Scotland says Naw - for now
UKIP, by-elections etc.
02.04 Farage to the forefront after Europe debate
22.05 Election night: UKIP "earthquake" strikes
26.05 Euro-thrashed
06.06 No news in Newark
22.11 Rise of UKIP continues unabated
Other current affairs/politics blogs
20.03 Budget 2014: Osborne appeals to the Tory core
20.07 MH17: Transcending rivalry
27.09 Back to Iraq
05.11 US mid-terms: Republicans add Senate to House

MEDIA
30.04 Paxman packs it in
24.06 Coulson guilty, Cameron guilty by association
13.08 Irresponsible reporting on suicide
12.09 Fallen idols
30.09 Mirror faces questions after Newmark honeytrap sting

WORLD WAR ONE
04.08 Dulce et Decorum Est: the old Lie
09.11 Lest we forget
30.12 The awkward truth about the Christmas truce

SPORT

FOOTBALL
World Cup 2014
11.06 Maracanazo redemption and la joga bonito
11.06 Preview - part I
11.06 Preview - part II
12.06 Complete results sheet
15.06 Stay positive, England
20.06 Fallible England exposed and out
25.06 England slip out quietly
26.06 Back home
29.06 The late, late shows of the Last 16
06.07 Krul conclusion for Costa Rica
09.07 Humiliated Brazil blitzed by Germany
13.07 Freude, schoener, Goetze-funken
14.07 For the record
Season 2013/14
04.01 FA Cup Third Round features North London clash 
04.02 Arsenal lead a three-horse race
14.04 Title tilts towards Anfield
27.04 Go ahead, Gateshead
12.05 Manchester City surface first
17.05 Comeback ends Arsenal drought (score/teams only)
19.05 Heed fall just short
26.05 For the record
Season 2014/15
15.08 Premier League preview: Man City seek total dominance
22.08 Match of the Day at 50
24.12 Man City chase down Chelsea
Euro 2016 qualifiers/Other internationals
07.09 UEFA fails to see that less = more
08.10 Wembley should share the wealth 
13.11 FIFA farce set to run and run
19.11 England easily shrug off Scotland

FORMULA 1
14.03 Preview: Ripe for renewal
29.05 More to come from Mercedes pair
07.07 Hamilton shines at Silverstone
22.09 Hamilton leads the way under the Singapore lights
24.11 Hamilton reaches another level
26.11 Magnificent Mercedes find no equal
15.12 BBC SPOTY: Hamilton finishes first again

CRICKET
The Ashes 2013/14
05.01 Australia complete the whitewash
05.01 Stats: Complete Aussie dominance from just 11 men
Post-Ashes
01.04 World T20: Embarrassing England are the fools again
18.08 Cook sees through tumultuous summer

OTHER
Winter Olympics
07.02 Genuine Sochi hopefuls
07.02 Hockey/curling results
07.02 Medal table/full results
24.02 Britain's finest for 90 years
Ryder Cup golf
25.09 Europe enjoy favourites status
28.09 Dominant Europe win Ryder Cup again
Rugby Union
25.01 England seek Six Nations redemption
16.03 Ireland give O'Driscoll the perfect send-off
29.11 Autumn relief for Lancaster and Gatland
World Snooker
22.04 Champion O'Sullivan tames his chimp 
05.05 'Torturer' Selby completes Triple Crown
Grand National
06.04 Pineau De Re wins before riders' revolt
Tour de France
04.07 Yorkshire ready for t'Grand Départ 

MISC
09.05 Eurovision: Will Europe be Smitten with Molly?
31.07 Halcyon days of Sir Bobby

Coulson guilty, Cameron guilty by association

PHONE-HACKING VERDICT 

(2) = facing two charges

Defendant	Charge(s)	Verdict
Andy Coulson	conspiracy to hack phones conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	Guilty No verdict returned
Rebekah Brooks	conspiracy to hack phones conspiracy to pervert the course of justice(2) conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	Cleared  of all charges
Charlie Brooks	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Clive Goodman	conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	No verdict returned
Cheryl Carter	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Mark Hanna	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Stuart Kuttner	conspiracy to hack phones	Cleared

 
PRIME MINISTER David Cameron apologised today after his former Director of Communications, Andy Coulson, was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones while editor at the News of the World.

Coulson, who was editor of the newspaper between 2003 and 2007, was convicted by the jury of eight women and three men at the Old Bailey.

However, his predecessor at the now-defunct paper, the flame-haired Rebekah Brooks, was cleared of all of the charges against her.

Mrs Brooks's husband, Charlie Brooks, was cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, as was her long-standing personal secretary Cheryl Carter and News International's head of security Mark Hanna.

The last of the seven defendants, former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, was cleared of conspiring to hack voicemails.

The trial, which lasted 138 days, was one of the longest and most expensive in British legal history - but, with justice served in the courts, attention soon turned to Downing Street.

Mr Cameron, who hired Coulson only weeks after he resigned from the News of the World, had earlier promised to apologise if Coulson was found guilty.

And, today, Mr Cameron had to make that apology, stating that he was "extremely sorry" that he had made "the wrong decision" despite the assurances he had received.

Of course, the apology is all well and good - although, frankly, anything less would have surely been an abdication of responsibility. Nevertheless, doubts will remain over Mr Cameron's judgement.

After all, the PM had gone against the advice of some his own colleagues in making the appointment.

It was no surprise then to see Labour leader Ed Miliband look to make some easy political capital out of the verdict.

"David Cameron brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street," declared Mr Miliband.

But the Tories can point out that Labour also once had a close association with the News of the World, such was the power of the Rupert Murdoch-owned weekly.

As a matter of fact, it was revealed during the trial that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had sent a series of text messages to Mrs Brooks signed with a "T" and a kiss.

And, this was not the only close relationship exposed in the deliberations at the Old Bailey.

It emerged, quite sensationally, that Coulson and Mrs Brooks had indulged in a long-term affair between 1998 and 2007 while Mrs Brooks was married to her ex-husband, actor Ross Kemp.

The jury ruled today, though, that while Coulson definitely knew that phone-hacking was going on at his newspaper, it could not be said that Mrs Brooks did.

So, while her embarrassment may be quite considerable - at least, in the eyes of the law, she cannot be considered a criminal.

In spite of this, few tears will be shed among phone-hacking victims for Mrs Brooks.

They will argue that the pain they suffered through the invasion of their privacy by Coulson and others at the News of the World far outweighs her embarrassment.

And, while welcoming Coulson's conviction and the damages they have received in their own civil cases, the phone-hacking victims could easily argue that they are still without an overriding resolution.

That, of course, was meant to emerge from the Leveson Inquiry into "the culture, practices and ethics of the press", which concluded that some kind of statutory regulation was required.

Political wrangling and some reasonable worries about state control of the press resulted in outright statutory regulation being replaced by a Royal Charter.

But, while Murdoch has been able to start up a new weekly paper on a Sunday, none of his publications has yet signed up to the Charter.

Nor have the newspapers from the Mail group, the Telegraph group or the Trinity Mirror stable.

Indeed, despite the Coulson verdict today, not much seems to have changed at all.

Fox falls on his sword

DEFENCE Secretary Liam Fox resigned last night after days of mounting pressure over his professional links to his friend, the self-styled advisor Adam Werrity.

Dr Fox had apologised last weekend and he was put under investigation by the Permanent Secretary Gus O'Donnell for an apparent breach of the ministerial code.

But, realising the slow, drip-drip effect of the media storm against him, Dr Fox pre-empted Mr O'Donnell's report by stepping away from frontline politics.

"I mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my government activities to become blurred," Dr Fox wrote in his resignation letter.

"The consequences of this have become clearer in recent days. I am very sorry for this."

Prime Minister David Cameron praised Dr Fox for his "superb job" in the role but also said he understood the reasons for his departure.

Indeed, Dr Fox's decision relieved some of the pressure on Mr Cameron as well after it appeared that he had effectively passed all responsibility to Mr O'Donnell.

In doing so, Mr Cameron faced accusations of dithering and errors in his judgement, just as he had over his employment of former News of the World editor Andy Coulson once the phone-hacking details emerged.

But at least the PM acted quickly in reshuffling his Cabinet. Transport secretary Philip Hammond moves to Defence while Treasury minister Justine Greening is promoted into Mr Hammond's role.

Although he has no background in Defence, Mr Hammond is seen as a safe pair of hands who will provide continuity for his department at a time in which the British forces are still involved in two wars.

Meanwhile, Ms Greening becomes the fifth woman in the Cabinet as the PM seeks to regain some of the support which the Conservatives have lost among female voters.

Labour has, of course, been making plenty of political capital out of only the second ministerial resignation from the coalition government so far, and the first Conservative to go.

Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy has called on Mr O'Donnell's investigation to be continued despite Dr Fox's resignation.

But, while it looks disingenuous and even hypocritical given the actions of some Cabinet ministers in the previous 13 years, Labour is simply doing the job of HM Loyal Opposition... by opposing.

The press has also come in for some criticism from some members of the Conservative party for having an agenda against Dr Fox.

Peter Bone, who will now be joined on the backbenches by him, was most critical and accused the media of indulging in "tittle-tattle" and organising a "witch-hunt".

Mr Bone added: "He said he made mistakes and with hindsight he wouldn't have done it but I didn't think that was enough to require him to resign."

However, Mr Bone needs to realise that this is exactly the sort of situation which causes a minister to resign.

Of course, the daily front-page headlines will have been hard for Dr Fox to take - and some would even suggest they were unedifying.

But, just as the Labour opposition are there to oppose, then the press are there to hold ministers to account - and it could hardly be said that Dr Fox did not have a case to answer.

After all, Mr Werrity had made as many as 18 trips abroad with the minister despite having no official role in the government.

He had also handed out business cards suggesting he did, in fact, have an official role and he was present at meetings which Dr Fox had with military figures, diplomats and defence contractors.

There remain unanswered questions such as who was funding Mr Werritty's global travels, why were they doing it and why was it allowed to continue for so long.

But, even if the investigation shows Mr Werrity had not paid cash for access to government, the impression that he had done - and the fact that he was too close to Dr Fox - could not be shrugged off.

Dr Fox knows the ministerial code prevents Secretaries of State not only from wrongdoing but also giving an impression of wrongdoing. In this regard, Dr Fox knew he had to resign.

Oddly, by apologising and pre-empting the report, Dr Fox may have saved his political career in the long-term.

Clearly one of the more intelligent ministers of recent times, his mistake was nevertheless a simple one - the entwining of his personal and professional lives.

And, though his position had become untenable, it was not a good old fashioned British sex scandal and no cash has been proven to have actually changed hands between Dr Fox and his friend - yet.

If that remained the case, it would be no surprise to see Dr Fox back at the top of British politics before his career is over.

But he would be wise to read the ministerial code from cover-to-cover first.

Murdoch empire starts to fall apart

THE PHONE-hacking scandal has moved onto a new level in the last two weeks with arrests, resignations, apologies and recriminations.

Since my last post 12 days ago, the 168-year-old News of the World officially closed on 7 July and Rupert Murdoch withdrew his bid for full control of BSkyB on 13 July.

On 15 July, 11 days after it was revealed Millie Dowler's phone had been hacked, Rebekah Brooks - the chief executive of News International - eventually fell on her sword.

Two days later, on Sunday, she was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of phone-hacking and making illicit payments to police officers. She was released on bail until October.

Just hours on from that, the country's most senior police officer, Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson then resigned.

Stephenson had received criticism for hiring former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis as an advisor and for using a luxury health spa owned by a company for which Wallis also worked.

But the Commissioner departed with a stinging criticism of his own in the direction of Prime Minister David Cameron for the PM's ill-judged appointment of former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his director of communications.

It is worth noting here that Coulson had been arrested on 8 July for conspiring to intercept communications. On 14 July, Wallis was arrested under suspicion of committing the same offence.

Before Brooks' arrest on 17 July, News International used their own newspapers and others to print a full-page apology.

The apology took the form of a letter from Murdoch in which he wrote: "The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account. It failed when it came to itself.

"We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing which occurred. We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by individuals affected. We regret not acting faster to sort things out."

However, in the next line, Murdoch added: "I realise that simply apologising is not enough." Even the 80-year-old Australian media mogul appears to think he is a busted flush in Britain.

That so much was evident by spiking of the BSkyB bid, although Murdoch and News International took it upon themselves to give the government and Parliament perhaps one last run around.

First, Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt looked less than impressive in referring the bid to the Competition Commission shortly after Murdoch confirmed he was happy to do this.

And then Murdoch pre-empted a special debate in the House of Commons on the bid by withdrawing it before proceedings started anyway.

Nevertheless, the debate went ahead and the MPs acted as if a millstones had been removed from their necks and spoke against Murdoch and News International without fear of reprisal.

These were quite extraordinary moments with members on all sides of the House lining up to pour scorn on the man who has indirectly controlled British politics since the rise of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

The British political system may remain far from perfect, to say the least, but it seems now to be free of the clutches of Murdoch at last.

Even former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in the chamber for only the second time since his general election defeat last May.

And the former Labour leader used his rare appearance to lay into News International.

He accused NI of "law-breaking on an industrial scale" and claimed it had "descended from the gutter to the sewers".

Mr Cameron had pointed out earlier at Prime Minister's Questions that, despite there being questions over his relationship to Coulson, he had at least set up an independent inquiry which his predecessor Mr Brown had failed to do.

However, Mr Brown attempted to defend himself saying his moves to set up a judicial review were blocked by senior civil servants.

Meanwhile, his successor Ed Miliband has had his strongest few weeks since gaining the Labour leadership last September.

Mr Miliband was written off as a weak performer after mixed May election results.

But, in this scandal, he has been judged to have set the agenda, giving his personal poll ratings a much-needed boost to the heady heights of -28 'approval'. Mr Cameron remains ahead of Mr Miliband on -13, though.

And, of course, the Labour leader has not emerged entirely squeaky clean from the scandal himself after confirmation he had also attended events in Brooks' lair.

I guess the mere fact that Mr Miliband was even present as Leader of the Opposition just goes to show how deep Murdoch and the other top brass at News International had their claws into British politics.

Ah, Murdoch and Brooks - back to them, inevitably.

Inevitable because they will provide the next development of this fascinating story when they appear before a House of Commons Select Committee tomorrow.

There, we will see if Parliament really will show its teeth having been freed from the leash of the Murdoch empire.

Phone-hacking: how low can the News of the World go?

THE phone-hacking saga at the News of the World has now become an outright scandal.

Previously confined to the concerns of celebrities, it is apparent that the tapping tentacles of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, working on behalf of the News International paper, went much further.

Murdered teenager Milly Dowler was one such victim while she was missing, the Guardian reported on Monday.

Others, according to police, who may have been hacked include the parents of murdered 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and the father of David Foulkes who died in the 7/7 bombings.

None of these people sought fame or notoriety. Rather, it was foisted upon them by tragic circumstances.

And, even when the phone-hacking related to celebrities, there was a sense of unease. Nevertheless, many journalists argued that these public figures were fair game having courted the media so much themselves.

Now that defence definitely cannot be used and the reputation of journalism as a profession is soiled once again.

Never mind that most local reporters would not dream of doing what the News of the World (and allegedly other nationals) have done.

FleetStreetBlues hoodies, stating 'I'm a hack, not a hacker', might help some of those reporters ride the storm of the next few days but, ultimately, it is the nationals on which journalism is judged.

This has not been a good week for the self-proclaimed Fourth Estate.

These phone-hacking revelations follow on the back of an admission by top Independent columnist Johann Hari that he routinely adds what interviewees have said or written previously, passing them off as quotes from his own interview.

But, while Hari was deservedly pilloried for his astonishing revelation, it could still be laughed off by the profession as a whole - hence these amusing tweets using the hashtag #interviewbyhari.

The difference this time is that the issue primarily concerns the News of the World (circulation of 2.78m), not the Independent (185,000), and it is of course no laughing matter.

Really, this should spell the end of the line for News of the World. It will not be - but, really, there is an argument it should*.

How the newspaper can ever take a moralistic tone on any issue again is quite beyond me.

No doubt it will still fill its pages on Sunday with stories about benefit cheats and drunken louts or teenage mums along with the news of who's screwing behind whose back, of course.

The phone-hacking issue will even be raised in Parliament today in a special Emergency Debate in the House of Commons.

Prime Minister David Cameron will surely repeat his condemnation from earlier this week of the practice of phone-hacking. But even Mr Cameron does not escape this tangled web entirely.

For, in 2007, the then-Leader of the Opposition appointed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his senior media advisor where he remained in place until his resignation in January this year.

In fairness, Mr Cameron was presumably unaware of how critical the phone-hacking situation would get but Mr Coulson's appointment still showed a serious lack of judgement on the Conservative leader's part.

After all, Mr Coulson had previously resigned from his position on the paper after royal correspondent Clive Goodman was jailed for four months for conspiracy to access voicemail messages left for royal aides.

At the time, Mr Coulson claiming the actions were the work of Goodman alone but this is a defence which subsequently collapsed in court.

Now, having been caught out, Rupert Murdoch's News International group should be forced to come clean altogether.

Though, if indeed they do, it is already difficult to imagine anything other than the News of the World coming out of it smelling like raw sewage.

*EDIT: Well, surprisingly, it has actually happened. This evening, News International chairman James Murdoch, son of Rupert, has announced that the last edition of the 168-year-old News of the World will be sold on Sunday. 

It is unclear at this stage whether this is simply an attempt to re-brand this part of the News International but clearly the outrage regarding the phone-hacking scandal has had an effect. 

When the advertisers started pulling out in their droves, it did not look good. Circulation among most newspapers is now so low that it is in fact the advertisers which provide the lifeline. 

Nevertheless, the News of the World - or the News of the Screws, as it became known for its salacious celebrity gossip - has been, in journalism parlance, spiked more quickly than I expected. 

Some remain skeptical that this is the end of News International's interest into producing a populist paper on a Sunday. 

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said: "All they're going to do is rebrand it". 

And Lord Prescott, who believes his phone was hacked while he was in government, added: "There's no doubt it will become the Sunday Sun". 

Perhaps, if that is Mr Murdoch's idea, someone should tell him that the Trinity Mirror-owned Newcastle Evening Chronicle group ncj media have already got there first.

Gray and Keys over-step the line in NewsCorp's annus horribilis

POOR Sian Massey.

The 25-year-old assistant referee is seemingly the biggest loser out of the furore which has called time on the SkySports careers of Andy Gray and Richard Keys.

As if running the line was not a nerve-wracking enough experience in the first place, Gray and Keys' comments have made Massey's next appearance even more unsettling.

Undoubtedly, the performance of Massey in her next match will come under even greater scrutiny - and that is not a pressure which she deserves.

Perhaps, it is this reason why Massey's next appointment is as a referee in the rather lowly surroundings of a Conference North match between Corby Town and Eastwood Town.

It was certainly wise of the referees' association, the PMGO, to withdraw Massey from Tuesday's clash between Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City in League One.

For, at that stage, this sexism row was still in full flow after further details emerged of Gray and Keys' indiscretions.

Former Scotland international Gray and broadcasting veteran Keys really only have themselves to blame.

There was nothing actually wrong with them pointing out there would be a female official in the televised top-flight clash between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool match on Saturday.

After all, it is still an unusual enough occurrence to be worthy of comment.

The duo might have even got away with a rap on the knuckles if their comments about women's understanding of the offside rule had been made in jest.

However, their tone expressed a complete lack of faith in the competency of Massey herself - and for no other reason than that she was female.

As it happened, Massey proved her detractors wrong by keeping her flag down, allowing the onside Raul Meireles to cross to Fernando Torres who gave Liverpool the lead.

But it was clear that the recriminations of Gray and Keys' assessment would last far beyond the 90 minutes at Molineux.

Gray was sacked on Tuesday from his £1.7m-a-year job after footage emerged of a separate incident which showed the former Everton and Aston Villa striker asking co-presenter Charlotte Jackson to tuck his mic into his trousers.

At this stage, it was unclear why Keys had seemingly been reprieved but the former GMTV man would soon fall on his sword.

Following a bizarre apology on TalkSport, in which he said "dark forces" were at work, Keys was also caught out by a leak from the archives which was actually far worse than anything that had gone before.

This time, the tape showed Keys talking to pundit Jamie Redknapp about a former girlfriend.

First, Keys asked: "Would you smash 'it'?" before he then went on to surmise, "That's a stupid question - if you were anywhere near 'it', you definitely smashed 'it'.

"You could have gone round there any night and found [Jamie] Redknapp hanging out the back of 'it'."

This matter will not end here. Gray has called in law firm Schillings to deal with the severance of his contract at Sky while Keys' references to "dark forces" may be related to the phone tapping scandal in the News of the World.

Even before the sexism row began, Gray had fallen out with the top brass at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp after he announced his intention to sue the News of the World over allegations his phone was tapped.

Murdoch's News Corp owns a majority shareholding in Sky and News International which produces the Sun, the Times, the Sunday Times and the News of the World.

As stated previously on this blog, the News of the World claimed that any phone tapping was the work of a rogue reporter, the jailed Royal correspondent Clive Goodman.

But, last week, former NotW editor Andy Coulson resigned as Government Director of Communications after the paper's former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire destroyed the 'rogue reporter' defence by implicating former head of news Ian Edmondson.

Edmondson was sacked and the Metropolitan Police have re-opened their investigation after confirming they have received new information.

It looks as if 2011 could turn into an annus horribilis for Murdoch's News Corp - and, certainly, Gray and Keys have spoiled any sense of celebration around SkySports' 20th birthday.

But, while it is hard to feel any sympathy for Gray or Keys, or - on a separate issue - anyone found guilty of tapping the phones of Gray and others, my thoughts go out to Massey.

For her part, Massey will understandably want to move on from the whole furore and prove herself to be a top official.

And, given her strength of character to have already come so far in the male-dominated game of football, there is a good chance she will.

Resignation season

GOVERNMENT Director of Communications Andy Coulson became the second major political figure in under 24 years to resign after Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson quit yesterday.

Mr Coulson stood down today having endured months of speculation over claims that phone-hacking took place at the News of the World while he was editor.

Yesterday evening, Mr Johnson left his post from the Opposition front bench "for personal reasons", amid allegations that his wife had an affair with a policeman assigned to protect him.

And, while both resignations come in rather different circumstances, it is much harder to spot the difference between the lack of judgement of the two main party leaders.

Resignation #1: Andy Coulson
Government Director of Communications (until today at 11:37GMT today)

Prime minister David Cameron first appointed Mr Coulson as Director of Communications in 2007 while the Conservatives were still in Opposition.

However, even back then, the arrival of the former News of the World editor caused a stir and the decision by Mr Cameron was questioned.

After all, these phone-hacking allegations, which have since stunk out the Wapping offices of the News of the World, were prevalent then.

And Mr Coulson was only able to take up his post at Conservative Central Office because he had resigned from the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper after Royal correspondent Clive Goodman was jailed for plotting to intercept phone messages.

For his part, Mr Coulson has always denied any knowledge of the phone-hacking scandal - and, indeed, the newspaper has always maintained the practice was down to a single rogue reporter in Goodman.

However, that claim is in danger of unravelling after the paper's hired private investigator Glenn Mulcaire told a court this week that the head of news Ian Edmonson commissioned him to access voicemail messages.

Of course, Mr Mulcaire's claim does not corrupt Mr Coulson in itself - but it is fair to say that the former editor now has some questions to answer.

And, undoubtedly, Mr Coulson would find it much easier to answer to the allegations without somehow having to deal with the press on a daily basis.

Bafflingly, Mr Cameron does not seem to understand this, claiming that Mr Coulson has been "punished for the same offence twice".

True, Mr Coulson has had to resign twice but then it was a surprise he got the chance in the first place, given the allegations hanging over him.

As Mr Coulson today said himself: "When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on", echoing a line used in September by The Thick Of It writer Armando Iannucci.

Surely, Mr Cameron must realise this.

Resignation #2: Alan Johnson
The Labour Party's Shadow Chancellor (until yesterday at 17:00GMT)

While Mr Coulson's resignation has perhaps been coming for some time, Mr Johnson's departure "for personal reasons" was a genuine bolt from the blue.

Several newspapers now carry the story that his resignation relates to his wife's affair with a policeman employed to protect him while he was Home Secretary.

From this, Mr Johnson appears to be blameless and the popular former postman's promising political career has crashed around him through little fault of his own.

However, Labour party leader Ed Miliband must take a share of the blame - not for the affair, of course, but for a poor political strategy which left Mr Johnson flailing.

Mr Miliband appointed Mr Johnson as Shadow Chancellor in order to temper the influence of Brownite economist Ed Balls.

But Mr Johnson was ill-suited to job, admitting on his first day that he needs an "economics primer".

The MP for West Hull and Hessle was subsequently caught out by not knowing the rate of employers' National Insurance contributions or the rate of VAT on food.

However, given Mr Johnson's overall appeal to voters, it was likely that he would have been given time to grow into the position - and so his resignation was still a shock.

Now, Mr Balls is back and in a stronger position than before as Mr Miliband cannot afford to lose another Shadow Chancellor.

In other words, it could be said that Mr Balls has his party leader by the... er, balls.

Of course, the Conservatives will hardly find it difficult to associate Mr Balls with the size of the deficit left by Mr Cameron's predecessor Gordon Brown.

Mr Balls was in as an adviser to Mr Brown for 13 years between 1994 and 2007 until he became Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Much now depends on the relationship between Mr Miliband and Mr Balls - and the ability of the latter to land hefty blows on his opposite number, George Osborne.

All in all, a rather messy end to the week in Westminster - and a week which has left both main parties shuffling their pack and scratching their heads over just what might happen next.