Parliament

All eyes were on Greece at last week’s crisis summit in Brussels, but other indebted countries took advantage of Angela Merkel’s generous mood. In line with concessions made to Greece, the Irish secured a substantial cut in interest repayments on its bailout loan: the rate has fallen from 6 per cent to somewhere between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent, and the loan period has been extended from seven to 15 years. This was a long-term goal of Enda Kenny’s government and the renegotiations are being heralded as a major victory. But the matter does not end there.

Much though most readers probably want it to, the phone hacking saga just won’t do the decent thing and die. Today brings fresh revelations. Colin Myler and Tom Crone, respectively former editor and head of legal affairs at the News of the World, have said that they sent an email to James Murdoch that supposedly undermines Murdoch’s testimony to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. The Guardian reports that the email, “known as ‘for Neville’, because of its link to the paper's former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, is thought to have been critical in News International's decision to pay out around £700,000 to Taylor in an out-of-court settlement after he threatened to sue the paper.

All hail, Wendi Deng. It took her a split second to attack the guy hurling a pie at Rupert Murdoch, slapping so hard that the sound was picked up by the cameras. According to the BBC's Nick Robinson she then started shouting "I got him, I got him." First tiger mums, now tiger wives. "Mr Murdoch, your wife has a good left hook," said Tom Watson afterwards. Better than his, at any rate. For all the hype, it was a strikingly uninformative session. About ten minutes into this Trial of Rupert Murdoch, it was pretty clear the committee was not going to get a "you can't handle the truth!" moment out the Dirty Digger.

There is a growing controversy about the timing of the arrest of Rebekah Brooks. Having now been arrested, Brooks may well not appear before the select committee on Tuesday. This will enrage parliamentarians who feel that parliament has been misled several times during this scandal and want answers. (The Murdochs, though, are still scheduled to appear). The next source of controversy is that the arrest occurs at a time when the police were beginning to take centre stage in the scandal. There will be those who suspect that this is not just a coincidence. Then, there is the fact she has been arrested just two days after resigning from News International. Although Brooks’ representatives are stressing that she did not know she was going to be arrested when she quit the company.

The Murdochs have done a reverse-ferret and now will attend the Culture select committee on Tuesday. The harm done to their reputation by their initial refusal is yet another self-inflicted wound. It was clear, given how previous select committee inquiries on these matters had not received proper answers from various representatives of News International, that parliament would do everything it could to compel their attendance. Indeed, both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had gone on the record to say they should attend before the Murdoch’s curt letters saying they wouldn’t were dispatched. Their appearance on Tuesday will, I suspect, now become the focus of this story in the UK. The weekend papers will be full of previews of it.