Quick update

This sums up this nicely. Francis Wheen is a fine fellow, I do hope he doesn't get sued. After all, he is repeating the alleged libel and I doubt that a journalist on a respected paper would have made up a claim that the Independent's lawyers would fund his threatened action after a blog without a dedicated libel fund had repeated the same allegation.

That said, I am sure that the fact it's August is the only reason the suit hasn't been filed yet. The fear that any Indie vs Gnome case would attract a lot of coverage, and that one of the Indie's "star" employers might be exposed in court has having been guilty of the odd terminological inexactitude, shouldn't be a factor if there's a principle at stake, surely?

If the fear of looking like a wanker is what's stopped the latest writ; you've got to imagine occasional Big Brother pundit Hari as a sort of cartoon creature (yes, too easy, I know) who runs off a cliff and runs along in the air, legs pumping, for a couple of seconds before looking down and realising his mistake.