Andrew Neil, chairman of the company that publishes The Spectator, thinks it was "stupid" for the magazine to have published Rod Liddle's article about the Stephen Lawrence trial.
The piece, carried at the outset of the trial, was referred last November to the Crown Prosecution Service by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve.
The CPS is still making up its mind whether to take action against Liddle and the magazine for breaching the Criminal Justice Act.
Neil, asked in an Independent on Sunday interview whether he was embarrassed by the article, is quoted as saying:
"It's quite clear it shouldn't have been published, but if you are going to be a magazine like The Spectator, and take strong positions and be controversial, every now and then you may do something stupid."
Stupidity and illegality are, of course, very different.
Source: Independent on Sunday
