To the Alchemist bar in central London, where former News of the World staffers converged on Monday evening to toast, commiserate and, in some cases, celebrate a year since the final edition of their beloved Sunday red-top. About 130 former members of staff turned up, although curiously former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were nowhere to be seen. Colin Myler, who steered the ship through its final days, was engaged overseas editing the New York Daily News, but a message was read out on his behalf. The absent editor thanked "Barlow" – a reference to the paper's former PR boss, Hayley Barlow – for putting together a "final moments of the News of the World" video and said that although he was across the Atlantic, he was keeping an eye on his former staffers. Those present included Tom Crone, the former legal boss, and the paper's ex-crime editor, Lucy Panton, while breakfast sofa king Dan Wootton, ex-assistant editor Jules Stenson, and former associate editor (politics) David Wooding, were among those trading the bon mots over a libation or three. One mole notes: "The anger may have diminished, but the ability to knock the drinks back has not ... Perhaps a good thing the party was restricted to staff only. We certainly had the last laugh".
