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now that Johann Hari has apologised, one wonders if many who rushed to his support should apologise too. There were many liberal, rational, and atheistic writers and pundits who defended him on Twitter on terms they would never have extended to a conservative, religious, or quack writer or pundit exposed as making a similar sort of mistake. Naming names would be inflammatory; and they, and their followers, know who they are. What is important here is the basic principle of consistency and its value. Just imagine had it been, say, Peter Hitchens, Garry Bushell, Richard Littlejohn, Rod Liddle, Toby Young, Guido Fawkes, Melanie Phillips, Damian Thompson, Daniel Hannan, Christopher Booker, Andrew Roberts, Nadine Dorries, and so on, who had been caught out indulging in some similar malpractice. Would the many liberal or atheistic writers and pundits who sought to defend (or "put into perspective") Hari have been so charitable? Of course not.

News of the World phone-hacking scandal -As it happened* Andy Coulson and Clive Goodman arrested * Guardian reveals it warned Cameron over Coulson* Both being held at separate south London police stations* Cameron announces two inquiries, one by judge* Ofcom expected to announce investigation of News Corp * News International exec may have deleted emails

Here's some News of the World news to spin the heads of American lawyers. According to British media law star Mark Stephens of Finers Stephens Innocent (whom The Times of London has dubbed "Mr Media"), Rupert Murdoch's soon-to-be shuttered tabloid may not be obliged to retain documents that could be relevant to civil and criminal claims against the newspaper-even in cases that are already underway. That could mean that dozens of sports, media, and political celebrities who claim News of the World hacked into their telephone accounts won't be able to find out exactly what the tabloid knew and how it got the information. If News of the World is to be liquidated, Stephens told Reuters, it "is a stroke of genius-perhaps evil genius."

A short essay in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society , entitled "A Proposal for Communicating Science" caught my attention today. Written by atmospheric scientist Alan Betts, it advocates technical journal articles related to Earth science be complemented by a mandatory non-technical version for the lay public.

How widespread was phone hacking in high-profile police investigations? My new post at @NewStatesman: http://bit.ly/l74wzg #HackedOff

"In a feature story published Tuesday, the English-language version of the state-run Global Times reports that 250,000 Chinese journalists are being made to attend weekly training sessions ahead of a certification exam scheduled for next year. All journalists are technically required to be certified in order to be able to legally conduct interviews or otherwise gather information. Such certification must be renewed every five years, the newspaper said, though such intensive and mandatory training sessions are new. The aim of such training is to reinforce the "Marxist view of journalism," the report said."