How the baddies got their come-uppance

Surprising as it may appear to my usual readership, there are those who insist that I am in possession of a twisted mind. That may be the reason I take such pleasure from a story in The Independent about the News International settlement with Mr Gordon Taylor (whose enormous quantum - to use a Murdochism - may or may not have young James in the doo-doo).

The paper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck ... had called on Mr Taylor inquiring whether he was having an extra-marital affair with his legal adviser Jo Armstrong. He was not.

The mistake arose because Ms Armstrong had left Mr Taylor a message thanking him for the previous day. The sleazy NOTW hacks thought that Ms Armstrong was thanking him for bedding her; she was actually thanking him for speaking at her father's funeral.

And so the filthy minds of those at the News of the Screws not only led them ultimately into a pay-off of over £600,000 but also failed to provide them with a story they could publish in their comic. There's a certain justice in that.