Leading article: Sham openness will not satisfy justified curiosity
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The inquest into the death of Gareth Williams – the MI6 agent whose body was found zipped up in a holdall in his London flat – was always going to draw attention because so much remains unexplained. Thus it was a positive start when the Coroner insisted yesterday that all evidence would be heard in public.
Or it would have been, if that was what was really going to happen. In fact, the Coroner also said that some witnesses would testify anonymously and some information would be withheld because of the "real risk of harm" to national security and the public interest. She said that "gists" of withheld evidence would be revealed. Er, not so positive then.
That openness has become the buzzword of the day, even in sensitive court cases, is a move in the right direction. But that openness has to be real, otherwise it is just secrecy and obfuscation dressed up to please the crowd.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments