The Spectator

Back at Black Sir: With one exception, Conrad Black’s article (‘I’ll be back’, 2 July) is a succession of inaccuracies and outright lies. Among the most blatant is his assertion that he received a payment of $6 million in compensation for libel from Richard Breeden and the Special Committee which investigated and reported the frauds which Black perpetuated and for which a Chicago jury found him guilty. Not only did Black not receive any apology or payment from Breeden, but Breeden and his committee issued a statement last week stating they adhere to their original conclusions. Indeed, all the American courts, including the Supreme court, upheld the jury’s verdict that Black is dishonest.

Victory celebrations Novak Djokovic celebrated winning the men’s singles at Wimbledon by eating grass on the Centre Court. While not doing a lot to boost the image of his native Serbia as a modern country, the act joins a litany of bizarre victory celebrations. — After winning a 100 metres race in 2004, Maurice Greene started leaping about in apparent pain before taking off his boots and having an official spray them with a fire extinguisher. — The Barcelona football team celebrated winning this year’s Champions League final at Wembley by cutting the net from one of the goalposts.

Home A private investigator working for the News of the World allegedly hacked into the voicemail of the murdered girl Milly Dowler while she was missing, deleting messages when the box was full to make room for new messages; this might have given the impression that the girl was still alive. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said he found it was ‘quite shocking — that someone could do this’. An emergency debate was held on the matter in the Commons. There were questions about hacking into the telephones of the families of the girls murdered at Soham in 2002, and those killed in the bombings of 7 July 2005. A bronze statue of Ronald Reagan was erected in Grosvenor Square, London, on the centenary of his birth.