The Iraq Inquiry is on the Beeb news at the moment, with that vile specimen Campbell being "questioned". There's a "One minute delay" on the broadcast. I wonder why….

If PMQs and other business in the house can be broadcast live, why not this? OK, so it's only a minor point, but it does make one wonder.

On another note, anyone entered the lottery for tickets to see Bliar when he appears?

Currently on the sofa suffering the after effects of my last day of Tamiflu. Compulsive viewing, and I too fail to see the need for a delay.

Also, they should get Paxman and Dimbleby on that questioning panel though. The toffs they have selected are far too polite and giving the weasel far too much leeway to say what he wants, not answer their questions. They are just accepting every bit of BS and spin he spouts without really challenging him.

Regarding the delay, I guess they will claim it is something to do with issues that might come up that might have a potential impact on our troops'/country's/global security today which I guess understandably they would not want to broadcast. A bit fishy, but if they compromised something happening today in Afganistan and it led to more troop deaths, it might not be such a good thing! The Iraq war wasn't that long ago, and something might accidentally slip out which is relevant and dangerous right now.

The one minute delay has been in effect throughout the whole enquiry and isn't in place just for Alisdair Campbell. It is there so that the feed can be stopped should anything the represents a threat to national security is said, nothing more sinister than that.

Oh and writing Bliar instead of Blair puts your writing on a par with that of tabloid journalists.

gonefishin, it's only because it's the guy who finally stood up to flashy's mates running the red tops and cockograph that's being questioned. One of his tory blog boys has been instructing readers to get out there and post on thier favourite forums because Campbell is being interviewed…you get used to this after a while.

How anybody thinks anything will come of this inquiry defeats me anyway.

Darcy, time to put your tinfoil hat on again….

Nothing to do with any blog related control conspiracy, though I'm sure you'd like it to be, it's just this is the first of the inquiry that I have seen, therefore was unaware of the delay until now. Also, not sure who these "mates" you refer to are, as none of my friends run newspapers.

This is more about a mendacious liar, paid for by the public purse, being questioned regarding the acts which took us in to a war of questionable legality.

I agree with deadlydarcy about how unlikely it is for anything to come of it all (but not about the conspiracy/political stuff). Shameful waste of money. No revelations will come out, nobody will be brought to justice, and the world will still arguably be more volatile than it was before the whole shambolic episode.

Well yes but rather than descend to the level of personal or Ad Hominem attacks I thought it better to actually state the facts. I may be naive in thinking that I can change someones mind but I guess that just makes me an optimist.

Darcy, time to put your tinfoil hat on again…

Pot.
Kettle.
Black.

No revelations will come out, nobody will be brought to justice, and the world will still arguably be more volatile than it was before the whole shambolic episode.

Agreed.

I agree that there won't be any "revelations", and it won't result in anything seismic. We have a pretty good feel for the broad picture now and the complexities are not of headline interest. The result will be a pretty thorough and definitive account though. Unfortuneately hardly anyone will read it. I will certainly be too lazy, as (sadly) will most of the journalists in Britain. The only people who will bother will be know-nothing conspiracy nuts who are incapable of comprehending what they read anyway.

Hopefully it will be a useful and interesting service to historians of our age however.

There is enough already in the public domain to piece together a simple record of what happened if that was the intention. No, this enquiry was meant to really uncover the truth, and here you have somebody who (whilst not a decision maker) was certainly party to most of the important decisions, and responsible for spinning all decisions into a media friendly policy. He is a key player, despite having made no decisions himself and they are not exactly giving him the Spanish Inquisition (afterall, nobody expects the Spanish inquisition…..).

The fact that he was 'only' in charge of communications and not decisions makes him possibly the most important witness in the whole trial. He has nothing personally to lose from the truth coming out since he (in theory) was not responsible for any of it. He was merely the 'mouthpiece'. Crikey, I have just written that and even I don't believe he was ever just a mouthpiece. As I said, bring on some real questioners. These guys are never going to get blood out of a stone, and that's what's needed.

Darcy, time to put your tinfoil hat on again….

It's on old chap, I had it specially made by your guy in Jermin Street – he did mention something about you not having a problem about which side to dress. 😆

🙂

The minute delay is most probably to cope with Campbell effing and jeffing if the questions get a bit sticky, he is a vile human I will agree but also good at his job, bit like Maggies Bernard Ingham.

Won't the minute delay be so it's not simulcast, and therefore you can watch it without forking out the license fee?

Pigface might be right – given Campbells swearing in the past putting him on live might be a little tricky

>gonefishin, it's only because it's the guy who finally stood up to flashy's mates running the red tops and cockograph that's being questioned.

The same guy who used to work for the Mirror.

Pigface might be right – given Campbells swearing in the past putting him on live might be a little tricky

Alternatively, it's like I said in the third post on this topic and it's got nothing to do with Alisdair Campbell and has been there since the start of the inquiry. The feed was cut off in December.

See here is link to the BBC report!

Not having a go at you specifically TJ but tin foil hat brigade really need to do better than this.