So farewell then News of the World

It was a moving sight to watch live coverage on Sky News (where else!) of the staff of the News of the World being led by their editor Colin Myler out of their building at Wapping after a day's hard graft putting together the final edition of the paper.

What we were watching was a team of about 200 people losing their jobs for something that others had done. What we were watching was a team of about 200 people facing an uncertain future. What we were watching was a team of about 200 people behaving with great dignity.

So who was the villain of the piece? Well, it certainly wasn't the hard-working journalists of the News of the World. Rebekah Brooks, James Murdoch, Andy Coulson, even Rupert Murdoch himself deserve the blame before Myler and his team. Indeed, many feel that the paper was sacrificed to satisfy the desire of 80-year-old Murdoch's lust for total control of BSkyB.

It is a testament to the character of the man that he was prepared to sacrifice the first newspaper he owned in the UK, and one said to have commanded a soft spot in his heart, just to sate his desire for the bigger prize. If there is any justice left in this world, he'll be denied it.

British journalism has lost one of its greatest newspapers. At the time of its death 7.5 million read the News of the World's mix of investigative journalism, hard news, celebrity gossip and sports coverage every Sunday. In its heyday the paper enjoyed an even higher readership. It doesn't matter what you think of the content it carried over its 168 year history, what it did it did well. It had no equal. Often imitated but never bettered.