Murder should not be subject of Chatham Rules

The Great Housing Debate, organised by the Wriglesworth Consultancy, opened with those words dreaded by every journalist – Chatham House rules apply.

That meant we couldn’t actually report anything that was said.

Apparently, just one person on the Great Housing Debate panel insisted on the Chatham House Rules as a condition of appearance, so I suppose I shouldn’t even mention the chief suspect (and frankly, if my suspicions are correct, it’s worrying), let alone the ‘green shoots but no roots’ recurrent theme.

By contrast, just outside where the debate was taking place, a huge demonstration was happening. Thousands of Tamils were occupying Westminster Square – and they certainly didn’t want Chatham House rules to apply.

So, as it seems unfair that I can’t report on the Great Housing Debate and the demonstration went almost completely unreported, I would like to do my bit.

The Tamil protestors were truly impressive: they were polite, dignified, peaceful, friendly – and passionate. Whole families were there, supporting the most urgent plea for humanitarian help I have known.

“Dear British people and the government,” began the heartbreakingly simple handout that even young Tamil children were giving to passers-by.

God knows, they are asking for very little – not money, asylum, tax-allowable expenses on second homes, nor rates of pay for just turning up to do their job.

No, all they are asking is for us to take a bit of interest in their country, Sri Lanka, the scene of genocide.

Pictures displayed by the demonstrators of slaughtered people, including a disembowelled and bleeding baby, showed brutality by a government beyond words. No newspaper would ever dare publish these images, but they most certainly should. Help from the neutral Red Cross and United Nations is desperately needed.

What is not needed is a Chatham House-style news blackout, at one of these moments when the world must not turn its face.