Watching the wonderful Dispatches/Sunday Times sting on TV last night, I was suddenly struck by the thought: imagine what would happen to the journalists who pulled off the coup if the sting had been conducted in Putin’s Russia.

It’s difficult to decide which of the victims was the most nauseating. The most pathetic was the fat Tory (about whom we’ve heard surprising little since) who told the interviewer (“in confidence”, of course) that he expected to be going to the Lords in due course. Not any more, he won’t.

But the most nauseating was surely the spectacle of Geoff Hoon proposing himself for the chairmanship of the fake’ Advisory Board.

Verily, a new verb has entered the language: “to hoon”.

Later: Tweet from Alan Woodley tells me that “Hoon in Oz slang=hooligan; hoodlum; loudmouth; fast, reckless driver ; pimp; bludger; despicable person.” Hmmm….