The truth will out

We've been waiting for the Chilcot report to appear nearly as long as we've been waiting the Avalanches to release a second album, but now it's been published (all 2.6 million words of it), it's abundantly clear that it hasn't told most of us much that we didn't already know - or, at least, confirmed what most of us already suspected : that the 2003 Iraq War was a fuck-up from start to finish, instigated on false/exaggerated premises, fought by ill-prepared troops and waged without exhausting all peaceful methods of resolving the situation.

Robin Cook and Charles Kennedy were ridiculed and vilified by the right-wing press for saying so at the time, so the report comes as vindication of their principled stances - it's just a shame neither of them are alive to witness its publication.

The report also highlights the catastrophic deficiency of post-war planning, which led to the country becoming a breeding ground/playground for extremists. It's a good thing that times have changed and our leaders would never again take hugely significant decisions without any consideration of the consequences or any plan about how to clear up the messy aftermath, isn't it?

Still, Jeremy Corbyn has had the decency to apologise on behalf of Tony Blair's New Labour for leading the country into an unjustified and unjust war. That's something, at least - albeit too little, too late.