I bought the last issue of the News of the World last Sunday, edition number 8,674 , for a quid plus pull-out souvenir, to find out what all the fuss was about.

I had hoped to find out how to hack a phone, but no such luck. The comment by Mazher Mahmood that “Our methods were examined by (juries) and found to be thorough and accurate” was reassuring. Nevertheless , many of his scoops seemed to me to have been entrapment, howsoever that is defined.

In a sense, RIP and good riddance: At the risk of being sanctimonious , at least bad apples can make good cider.

I feel that it was the advertisers’ strike/ boycott that tipped the balance. Very few jobs seem to have been lost. And there is every chance that a new gutter will emerge.

As Christopher Browne, the author of “ The Prying Game: Sex, Scams and Scandals of Fleet Street and the Media Mafia” told me: “ The closure of the NOTW was no more than a damage limitation device by Rupert Murdoch. Dramatic enough to make politicians think he takes phone hacking seriously -- and harmless enough to allow News Corp to start another Sunday in the next few months.”

Maybe Rupert Murdoch can run a competition to name the new NOTW.

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