Dylan Jones: The knee-jerk fuss over Andy Coulson wasn't that dissimilar from the whole Michael Jackson freak show

Talk of the Town

Out and about in London last week, bumping into people in cafés, restaurants and bars – and as the "season" spreads to include everything from the White Tie & Tiara Ball to the concerts in Hyde Park, at this time of year Londoners are more social than they are at any other – I was surprised by how many people (even card-carrying lunatics who still believe Gordon Brown can perform some sort of death-defying volte-face come next May) think The Guardian has sullied its reputation with its recent, vociferous attacks on the Murdoch papers, the Conservative party and the fourth estate in general.

The consensus seemed to be, why now? And what's new?

There were exceptions, of course, as always in the media. This kind of story creates an expanded media vacuum that positively aches to be filled, while there will always be those who are desperate for a bit of free airtime – the sort who get "media-busy" when someone important dies. In fact, the knee-jerk fuss over Andy Coulson initially wasn't initially that dissimilar from the whole Michael Jackson freak show; the only difference being that, last time I looked, Andy Coulson wasn't actually dead...

Like all national newspapers, including those who were offered the story and decided to pass, The Guardian was seething that The Daily Telegraph got to spill the beans about MPs expenses. Not only were its editors reduced to buying the Telegraph every morning to see what was actually going on, but also the sales of their rival during that period outshone their own by even more than usual. The pain, the pain.

And so the Labour Party's in-house Tory-hating tip-sheet (that's The Guardian, in case you didn't guess) must be thrilled it has succeeded in creating its own little scandal with the "phone-hacking" story – one that has been seized upon with unsavoury relish by the equally partisan BBC. Coincidentally, and rather ironically, the day the story broke, Nick Robinson used his BBC blog to break ranks. His take on the story? "Politically inspired protests designed to damage the Conservatives."

Like we didn't know?

Dylan Jones is the editor of 'GQ'