So THAT's what should have been sexed-up

Here's a story that illustrates how much the US arm of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy misinterpreted the reaction in the UK to the Hutton Report. While the US neocons gloated at the BBC's expense, British conservatives were far more reserved, for reasons of both oppositional tactics and true reflection of public opinion. Today's London Times picks up a Guardian story on the new career of the supposedly disgraced BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan:

Gilligan, the BBC journalist at the centre of the Kelly affair, has reportedly been hired to write for the Spectator magazine.

That would be the Spectator magazine, owned (for now) by Conrad Black and edited by Tory MP Boris Johnson. By the way, the invaluable Sullywatch had already noted the apparent divergence between Boris's view of the Kelly affair and that of his alleged chum, the US-based gloater-in-chief Andrew Sullivan. In fact, a follow-up remark of Boris's about Gilligan makes us wonder what Sullivan might have privately told him really underlies his tirades about the Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation:

Mr Johnson added: "I think the reason there is all this beastliness towards Gilligan is because he is not particularly good looking."