A bit of a gloat

Not really on topic, though I'll rope in a few tenuous connections.

The story so far. This blog is dead, officially, since David Aaronovitch slipped behind the Romulan cloak of invisibility Times paywall, but we return to life when the World of Decency calls. Nick Cohen last posted on his Standpoint blog on the 2nd of November. He was never a frequent blogger, but that's a long enough silence to assume that he's jumped ship for the Spectator. Doubtless many of his former colleagues[1] are bereft, including Joshua Rozenberg, whom we shall come to. (I did warn you that the links would be very tenuous.)

How about that Spectator, eh? It's published an apology to Mohammad Sawalha:

We now accept that Mr Sawalha made no such anti-Semitic statement and that the article was based on a mistranslation elsewhere of an earlier report. We and Melanie Phillips apologise for the error.

Yes, it's dated the 27th. I don't understand this either.

See Islamophobia Watch for the full case.

The Spectator may have apologised, but er, hello? [SILENCE].

Quel surprise, this isn't being covered in the press, much. (A journalist wrong? What, are we supposed to report the rising of the sun now, or what?) Matthew Norman is a joyous exception:

Lovers of the unusual, rejoice! Within days Melanie Phillips will make a public apology. In July 2008, Mad Mel lifted and embellished a mistake from the neocon website, Harry's Place, regarding Mohammad Sawalha, a Palestinian-born British man whom Al Jazeera had mis-transcribed referring to "evil/ noxious" Jews at a rally. In fact, as Arabic experts later confirmed to High Court superstar Tugendhat, he referred to the "Jewish lobby". Al Jazeera corrected it instantly, and Harry's Place later, yet MM magisterially ignored requests for a simple correction until a trial was imminent, when she caved. This unwonted arrogance has presented a six-figure bill for damages and costs to The Spectator, which at the time of writing continues to host her deliciously deranged blog.

Harry's Place could rely on the legal eagle brain of David Toube. Alas for poor Mad Mel who could she call on? Oh wait, what about the afore-mentioned Joshua Rozenberg, isn't he a solicitor with a legal degree from Oxford University... and her husband? He also writes for the the Guardian.

That said, Martin Bright would do well to read his opinion on Phil Woolas.

[1] Pedants! eg Justin, how would *you* use the word colleague? I've always understood it to mean someone employed in the same organisation as oneself, more specifically someone who works directly with oneself. However, every dictionary I've looked at suggests that just being in the same line of business confers colleague status. This is certainly the way Nick Cohen uses it here: "As my colleague Julian Glover reports in the Guardian". This just seems wrong to me. Fowler's has no opinion.