Wanted: one crucial person “of unimpeachable independence from the press, government and Independent Press Standards Organisation” to review and report on Ipso’s performance. Per diem remuneration. Independent legal, research and analysis resources provided. It’s the standards team’s answer to the royal charter recognition team with £3m to spend and not much to recognise. At which point, you’d love to square the circle and appoint Elizabeth France, once information commissioner, once chief ombudsman, once chair of the Office of Legal Complaints, currently chair of the Security Industry Authority. Why? Not a judge, not a journalist, she’s a peach of an unimpeachable. Oh, and she’s one of the appointments committee that appointed the charter recognition committee, and the more what comes around goes around in this closed circuit of an independent world, the more simple folk may learn to stop the sniping and get on with the regulating.
