MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Tardy Chilcot is destroying public's trust
![Sir John Chilcot , pictured earlier this week on the way to his office, is leading the inquiry](http://web.archive.org./web/20170714181521/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/23/00/2B7E5DF800000578-0-image-a-21_1440284681149.jpg)
Sir John Chilcot , pictured earlier this week on the way to his office, is leading the inquiry
The Chilcot Inquiry is rapidly becoming part of the scandal it was supposed to expose. Britain’s political and official classes simply cannot be trusted to investigate themselves.
The whole thing only became necessary because the central figures in the Iraq affair remain very much in public life, uneclipsed by shame or disgrace – and in Tony Blair’s case still taken seriously and paid generously. Compare and contrast the swift forced resignation of Sir Anthony Eden, author of the 1956 Suez fiasco.
Now, while most informed observers have little doubt about what happened and who was to blame, a few key details remain elusive and contested.
The Mail on Sunday, through Freedom of Information requests in the US, has uncovered 46 pages of documents which might cast light on one of those details – exactly what Mr Blair promised President George W. Bush in April 2002. Yet the Chilcot inquiry will not even say if it has sought US records or is aware of these papers.
If this were a serious effort to discover the truth, surely it would be able to say with certainty that it had followed this line of investigation.
The longer this deeply unimpressive team takes to reach a conclusion, the more certain the British people will grow that they were cynically misled. It is hard to see how they will ever be able to trust any Government on such an issue again. It was to avoid such a danger that this inquiry was set up. It will have to work very hard indeed, and swiftly too, to avoid total failure in its task.
When a whole life can turn on a single exam grade, it is shocking how often A-level marks are revised upwards when they are challenged.
This is a deeply unfair and unwieldy system. Heavy fees mean that poor homes cannot demand re-marks as readily as well-off ones.
And, as a distressing case reported by the Mail on Sunday shows, universities cannot be relied on to wait even a week for reassessments.
![Pupils at Nottingham High School celebrate their A-level results last week. But the Mail on Sunday questions whether, with so many mark challenges successful, examiners are paying enough attention](http://web.archive.org./web/20170714181521/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/23/00/2B53BB6500000578-0-image-a-22_1440284816311.jpg)
Pupils at Nottingham High School celebrate their A-level results last week. But the Mail on Sunday questions whether, with so many mark challenges successful, examiners are paying enough attention
In any case, worrying questions arise. If so many challenges are successful, how accurate and reliable is the marking in the first place? How many mistaken assessments are going unquestioned?
If an ‘A’ grade is to be the passport to the best universities, then its boundaries should be clearer and sharper than they seem to be. Are examiners pondering carefully enough or taking enough time?
Borderline cases should plainly be referred for second opinions before publication. Exam boards should aim at reducing the number of successful challenges from thousands to dozens each year. The costs may be considerable, but fairness is priceless and should not be reserved for the rich and pushy.
![The Mail on Sunday believes we should take every opportunity to demonstrate our affection for the Queen](http://web.archive.org./web/20170714181521/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/23/00/2B96426E00000578-0-image-a-23_1440284860412.jpg)
The Mail on Sunday believes we should take every opportunity to demonstrate our affection for the Queen
It is hard for those brought up in this era to understand just how different the Queen is from most of her subjects – especially in such unfashionable virtues as personal modesty and reverence for her forebears.
She would never willingly have sought a commemoration of the milestone she will shortly pass – reigning longer than Queen Victoria, indeed, longer than any other British Monarch.
It is for us, in gratitude for her unflinching devotion to duty above all things, to insist on taking this opportunity to demonstrate our affection and admiration.
Most watched News videos
- Iraqi soldiers throw ISIS fighters off a ledge then shoot them
- GRAPHIC CONTENT: Sick gang film brutal assault on woman
- Tourists are blown away by plane jets in Saint Maarten
- Horrifying moment pensioner plunges to his death parasailing
- Trump to Mrs Macron: You're in such good shape! Beautiful!
- Bradley Lowery's coffin leaves St Joseph's church
- Man rams scooter into car then throws himself on the bonnet
- Police treat acid attack victim on Queensbridge Road, Hackney
- Multilingual Melania speaks French to children in Paris hospital
- Emirates flight attendant caught pouring wine back into bottle
- Bizarre moment President Trump yanks French First Lady's arm
- Stunning drone show at Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley
-
Heartbroken Jermain Defoe breaks down at 'best friend'...
-
UberEats and Deliveroo drivers are targeted in horrific...
-
Attack of the slime eels! Truck carrying 7,500lbs of the...
-
Schizophrenic killer's accomplice in murder of four...
-
Hands above the table! The Trumps and the Macrons dine at...
-
Bubble trouble: Passengers spot flight attendant pouring...
-
Posting pictures of children should be made ILLEGAL:...
-
Dog owner is shocked when her golden retriever gives...
-
'Largest medical fraud takedown in American history':...
-
Bizarre moment a biker pushes his moped into a car before...
-
Acid attack survivor Katie Piper describes the 'life...
-
Mother whose daughter, 7, was killed by a skip lorry as...
-
Au revoir! Donald Trump gives Brigitte and Emmanuel...
-
Grandmother 'has her bank account emptied by fraudsters...
-
ISIS suicide car graveyard: Deadly vehicles wrapped in...
-
Two female tourists are killed and four wounded during...
-
Brexit bill on the brink: Labour, Scots and Welsh gang up...
-
FIVE terror attacks have been thwarted across England in...