Lord Black Footnote

As widely reported today, Conrad Black's legal and financial problems are mounting, and in one weird twist, the great Dr Martin Luther King is giving Lord and Lady Black an extra 24 hours of breathing room, because a deadline he faces in the US is eased by the fact that Monday is a holiday for MLK's birthday. It looks like Conrad may be able to realise some substantial cash in the meantime, because as widely reported on Sunday, he is hoping to sell his media holding company to the "reclusive" Barclay brothers.

One little thing we want to note about the Barclay brothers, relevant to the question of how the Daily and Sunday Telegraph would stand in the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy under their ownership. Their highest profile editor is Andrew Neil at The Scotsman -- pioneering executive editor of the Fox News Channel. We wouldn't be at all surprised if Mr Neil is dreaming of being back in London quite soon, facilitating a continuing stream of "London's Daily Telegraph is reporting that..." rumour-mongering for the US branch of the VRC. But in terms of knowing a lot more about these Barclay brothers, we wish we'd kept around more old copies of Private Eye.