MILLIONS of words have been rolled out in the wake of the Hutton report. Here are a few more.

Ordered by the Government, this inquiry looked into some of the issues surrounding the suicide of David Kelly, the Ministry of Defence scientist and an expert in weapons of mass destruction.

In crude terms, Lord Hutton had to step into a nasty Westminster playground spat between the Government and the BBC. The Government stood accused in a BBC report of "sexing up" the case for war against Iraq; the Corporation stood accused of poor editorial judgement and sloppy journalism.

There was more besides, enough indeed to cause unending bafflement in the observer, yet that strikes me as the essence (having subjected this affair to a dose of Old Dr Cole's Issue Shrinking Pills).

In giving judgement, Lord Hutton came down from the mountain and dropped a tablet of stone on the BBC. He concluded that the BBC was wrong in almost every case, while the Government was wholly right.

In football terms, it was 10-nil to Tony Blair. Some commentators had been rubbing their hands at the prospect of Tony Blair heading the way of Leeds United. Instead, the prime minister was left once more as a Teflon-coated amalgamation of Manchester United and Arsenal.

Such a complete vindication must have seemed like all of Tony Blair's dreams tied up in a bundle. Yet once the shockingly good news had sunk in, Mr Blair must have felt worried.

A bloody draw or a well-fought close victory would have let matters settle.

But Lord Hutton gave the Government the benefit of every doubt, while granting the BBC not a single doubt. This was, frankly, an embarrassment of good fortune.

The resignations at the BBC, including the regrettable loss of the combative director general Greg Dyke, were an enormous price to pay for one mistake broadcast on the radio at seven minutes past six in the morning.

Those of us who value the BBC, who feel that for all its faults this world-class broadcaster adds to the quality of British life, can sometimes find ourselves nervously seeking out like-minded company.

Post Hutton, almost everyone was suddenly a BBC supporter.

Governments rarely enjoy a good relationship with the BBC, a situation to be embraced. The BBC has always had to rebuff strident complaints from Number Ten - especially when they came persistently from Alastair Campbell doing his thuggish best to keep the news bent Tony Blair's way.

So this too-good report is already re-bounding on the Government, leading to cynical muttering about a whitewash. The suspicion, fair or not, that the Government ordered a report that conveniently got it off the hook will only add to the murmuring dissatisfaction with politics.

Journalists writing about such matters stick with their tribe, which is to be expected. A robust media helps shape our democracy. That's what we are here for, as well as providing fun, distraction and information.

Yet not all journalism looks shiny bright. On a national scale, the media and the Government are locked into the Westminster hot-house, scrapping away in a virile world in which no mistake can be admitted or learned from, and every Government decision has to be taken with the sound of the braying pack at the door. This can lead to an arrogant, contemptuous sort of journalism in which all politicians are liars, cheats and idiots; all judges are fools; and only the journalist knows best.

Good or bad, all journalism takes place in a rushed, pressured world. It is an untidy, hurried business. While facts should be sacred, a certain messy imprecision will sometimes intrude. None of which seems to have been understood by Lord Hutton, who did not appreciate how journalism works at all, choosing to subject heat-of-the-moment reports to a cold appraisal more suited to marking a law student's doctoral thesis.

Now another notable, Lord Butler, is to inquire into the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. This issue lies at the heart of how and why Tony Blair led the country to an unpopular war. Some are already saying this will be another inadequate inquiry. More bother looms.

Updated: 10:00 Thursday, February 05, 2004