Amanda Platell

An Australian friend of Dr David Kelly describes him as the quintessential scientist and Englishman, a man of humility and honour. Richard Butler went on to say Dr Kelly was "welded to the truth". It is inconceivable that anyone would use such an expression now to describe those close to the heart of New Labour.

It is hard to imagine how such a man would have dealt with the thuggery of the Blair bullies. Only someone who has had first-hand experience will have any idea what it is like when the Blair machine turns on you. I have some understanding as I have felt its force - and it is crushing.

I was a journalist of nearly 20 years, editor of a national newspaper, when I decided to run a story about Peter Mandelson's Brazilian boyfriend. My belief then, as now, was that the identity of a gay minister's partner was as legitimate a public interest as that of Robin Cook's mistress. Mandelson was then one of the most powerful men in government.

Before the story was even published, my executives and I underwent a barrage of calls from the Press Complaints Commission, the proprietor Lord Hollick (a New Labour peer who took the Labour whip) and from Mandelson himself.

Most chilling was the warning relayed to me by one of my executives from a senior Blairite that if I printed I would be damned - he would destroy my life, my career, my family and my children.

It was a threat made in desperate anger but one I have subsequently learned had been used before. Even then I suspected it was a "one threat fits all", as I have no children, but the effect was no less shocking. I was sacked weeks later.

These are the bullyboy tactics perfected by Alastair Campbell, who regularly and ritually threatens journalists' careers if they have the audacity to run something he disapproves of.

The language he uses is unprintable even in a cosmopolitan newspaper. And make no mistake, even to a hardened hack, it is daunting.

I have seen grown men turn white on the phone to Campbell. And after the threats come the smears, the bad-mouthing in high places of non-compliant journalists to anyone who will listen. They destroy reputations, or try to.

So how on earth would a gentle, dedicated public servant cope with this barrage? Dr Kelly occupied a different moral realm to journalists and politicians. Bullying is part of our trade; it was never part of his.

Now, after six years, the trail of abuse of people and power leads right up to Tony Blair's door. The mantle of the perfect family man and devout Christian is no longer enough to disguise the fact that our Prime Minister is like an oldstyle Mafia boss, bouncing his baby on his knee while he orders another career kill.

A reporter asked if Blair had blood on his hands. Like the Mafia boss, Blair never gets blood on his own hands. But on his conscience? Only Mr Blair can answer that.

This Government is now in crisis as never before. You know the Blair project is in deep trouble when they trot out the twice-sacked Mandelson to defend it - talk about scraping the moral barrel. But Blair need not fear, as there will always be a string of disgraced, washed-up opportunists desperate to step into the limelight, even for a cause as unpopular as his.

I understand the recently released Jeffrey Archer is looking for a political party to join. Archer, the consummate bully, could even teach Blair a trick or two.

When 'sorry' is the hallmark of the gutless and cynical

Everyone, including the BBC, is profoundly sorry about Dr Kelly's death, but no one can actually bring themselves to say they're sorry. Andrew Mackinlay is the Labour MP who taunted Dr Kelly in the foreign affairs committee with charges of being set up and being the fall guy.

"I am sorry for any stress that, albeit unintentionally, I may have caused him during his questioning," he now says.

That will be a great comfort to his widow then, that you "unintentionally" tormented her husband.

How I loathe these conditional apologies - they are the hallmark of the gutless and cynical.

But the most conditional of apologies comes from the Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor after he was told he would not face criminal prosecution over claims he had covered up child abuse by a priest.

"I am deeply sorry for the damage that he has done, and to the extent that my decision contributed to any of that damage," the Cardinal says.

One of the known nine children attacked was a victim after the Cardinal became aware that this priest was abusing children. That victim may think "the extent that" the Cardinal's decision contributed to his living nightmare was very great indeed.

A word of advice, Amanda

Amanda Holden has a new love, music executive Chris Hughes. Friends say their passion is fast blossoming into a big love. She is officially no longer enamoured with either her husband, Les Dennis, or with Neil Morrissey, with whom she had a torrid affair during her marriage and whom she met at the British Grand Prix Ball at the weekend.

Given the ensuing pictures of Amanda and Neil, new boyfriend Chris may not be altogether convinced.

When embarking upon a new love affair, it is probably not advisable to stroke the hair of your ex-lover, or allow him to caress your back while you slow dance in front of the paparazzi at a celebrity ball. People just might get the wrong idea.

I just can't stomach naked fat men

If it's considered improper for women to go topless in public, then why is it suddenly okay for men with breasts to do it? And why is it that men who have lost visual contact with their sandals and socks are the ones most likely to disrobe in our streets and, even more repulsively, in our outdoor cafes? The sight of one bloke's stomach in Belsize Park at the weekend was enough to curdle the cream in my caffe latte.

Jordan reveals a hidden talent

As a young child I suffered badly from stuttering. The treatment then was either to ignore it (which my parents did), to administer a smack on the back of the hand (which they didn't), or to shock the child (like when someone has hiccups).

The surgically enhanced glamour model Jordan claims she recently cured young Gareth Gates of his famous stammer, using the third technique. Sadly for me, the option of marathon sex sessions with a pair of 32FF silicone breasts was not the received wisdom for treatment in Perth in the Sixties.