The Spectator’s Notes | 16 July 2011

Before we leave the subject of the News of the World, I must take issue with the idea that its closure is necessarily a loss to the cause of a free press (however sad it may be for its staff). For as long as I can remember — which is roughly since Rupert Murdoch bought it in 1969 — the News of the World has been one of the most lowering features of British life. The late Auberon Waugh used to insist that it was read only by people whose main leisure activity was self-abuse. This must be hard to prove — I don’t suppose it is a question asked of focus groups — but it is certain that the paper’s main purpose was pornographic. Nor, for the most part, was it good honest pornography — pretty, topless women smiling gamely out at the poor lonely men who bought it.