Three minutes after 10 is the time and it is as reliable as swallows turning up in summer,

isn't it? Every time you think you've seen the absolute nadir of political sycophancy and

client journalism, along comes a story to prove that you ain't seen nothing yet. Conservative colleagues

and various client journalists in the right wing newspapers,

queuing up this morning to claim quite incredibly that the inquiry into the political response,

the government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis should not have access to communications

between the people in charge of the government's response to the COVID-19 access,

because privacy or something, I mean every time you

think it can't get any more ridiculous and the British public cannot be let down any more spectacularly

by what passes for journalism in this country up pop the Boris Johnson fans to tear up whatever

little standards and integrity 80 odd percent of that profession have left.

No, you can't.

I mean, imagine if you're investigating the collapse of a bank.

It'd be ridiculous to suggest that the financial authorities

should have access to WhatsApp messages exchanged by the board of the bank

or by the top executives of the bank.

Imagine if you're investigating the collapse of a supermarket chain. You've got to respect the privacy of the bank or by the top executives of the bank. Imagine if you were investigating the collapse of a supermarket chain.

You've got to respect the privacy of the chief executive.

What if he was texting people saying that the head of frozen goods was an absolute flump?

That's not fair.

You can't keep that.

Oh, my goodness, these people, you can't expect Boris Johnson to be treated like the person who was actually in charge of the COVID-19 in quite.

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