Leading article: Justice for all

It's hard not to sympathise, just a little, with Dwain Chambers, whose claim to run for his country in Beijing has now been rebuffed by the High Court. You had only to glimpse Chambers' rangy figure before that venerable façade to sense the forces marshalled against him. For all Chambers' disappointment, though, his appearance contributed to a truly vintage court season – for observers, if not for the unfortunate participants.

Day by day, the nation has been regaled with the life and times of the Darwin family, whose exploits have given the term dysfunctional a whole new dimension. Canoe accidents will never be the same. And next week we look forward – actually, we can hardly wait – to learn whether Max Mosley, of Formula One and an infamous father, will win a libel case that has made the arcane arts of S&M, plus or minus Nazis, acceptable breakfast talk across the land. Entertainment-wise, we are gagging for an appeal.