The example used – Ofcom – proves this. The current Chief Executive is Ed Richards, a former policy advisor to Tony Blair. The former Chief Exec was Stephen Carter who then went on to serve in Brown's government.

This is not 'independent'. This is arms-length unaccountable government. Do we really want the government telling us what can and can't go in newspapers?

Rather than setting up expensive bureaucracies of the great and good who have good relations with government, we'd be better off reforming and modernising our ridiculous libel laws so they're easily and cheaply available to the public at large.

But that would involve handing power to us rather than to a self-selecting elite wouldn't it?