Yesterday, one Steve Wright was convicted of murdering five women in Ipswich in late 2006. It appears he may well be responsible also for a series of other murders, including the infamous 1986 killing of real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh. For it has emerged Wright had worked on the QE2 at the same time Ms Lamplugh had, and after she had left her job there, her father says Wright had stayed in contact with her. (She has been declared dead, although her body has never been found. It is a crime that so still sends chills through people here whenever it resurfaces in media from the unsolved pile, that when the wife saw the linkage being made, she could only respond with an “Oh, God.”)

Also yesterday, over recognition earlier this week of the independence of Kosovo, western embassies, particularly that of the U.S., were targeted by Serb rioters in Belgrade. The U.S. embassy was even set on fire.

Last night the BBC’s “10 O’Clock News” gave over nearly 15 minutes to coverage of the Wright conviction, and his seedy, troubled life. It followed immediately afterwards with the story that also appeared yesterday: that two planes carrying two jihadists (1 per flight) had landed briefly in 2002 at the U.S. base on Diego Garcia and refueled, and then headed to Guantanamo. (A report the wife characterized as tiresome BBC “blah, blah, blah…”. That those responsible for this brilliance within U.S. intelligence did what they did without having officially informed the British government in London, seems now supposedly to be the basis according to many for a severing of Anglo-American relations, and even a rationale for the first war between Britain and the U.S. since the end of the previous one, in 1814.) At some point, also reported was the rioting in Belgrade.

What does the liberal conscience of Britain think of all that? Well, this morning, while the Wright conviction and Serb rioting are given space inside that Independent, neither gets a front page mention. That “rendition” story, which one would have thought vital to the Indy given that, as many of you may know, the paper has led a crusade (if that is the right word?) against holding those captured in war, inexplicably doesn’t make the front page either. (Might that be because it was a story first reported in The Times?) The Independent’s front page today, however, does tell us this:

Although worth a mention inside certainly — whenever a regulator wants a look at such, it is newsworthy — unless there is credible evidence of “price-fixing”, there seems little government can do regardless. For, as everyone — well, as everyone who is concerned about such things, anyway — knows, fossil fuel sourced energy is now increasingly expensive across the board.

However, even if there were “collusion” among suppliers to rip off customers, one might well believe The Independent would actually be somewhat pleased about those constant increases? For they give gas and electric customers nowhere else to go? After all, higher prices=less fossil fuel use=reduction in “greenhouse gas emissions”. And the “struggle against climate change” is yet another Indy “crusade”, remember.

But no. Instead, after the paper had days ago given over its front page to the supposedly egregious and indefensible lack of employment diversity in a workforce (”walkforce”?) so highly paid and so small in number it’s hardly statistically significant, the same workforce which also pushes products so expensive few can afford the true items, the paper is now abuzz about threats to consumer wallets from gas and electric suppliers? Given its stances on nearly everything else, The Independent does “populism” about as convincingly as (new journalist) Naomi Campbell. Is it any wonder the paper’s circulation is by far the lowest of the broadsheets?

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UPDATE: The “World’s Greatest Newspaper” Daily Express:

Motorists were last night warned to brace themselves for even higher petrol prices – with experts predicting fuel will hit £1.50 a litre by the end of the year.

Drivers are already feeling the strain after a record 20 per cent increase in pump prices over the past 12 months. But the sky-high cost of oil means the pain will only get worse in the months ahead.

The threat of the £6.82 gallon prompted fresh calls for the Treasury to scrap its planned rise in fuel duty.

Which will mean that, in exchange rate terms, unleaded regular will cost $14 a gallon here in Britain.

The 2.35p a litre increase on April 1 will swell Government coffers but place further strain on stretched family finances. For every £1 we pay at the pumps, 70p goes to the Treasury in duty and VAT…

Government can “hide” that confiscatory level of taxation, to some degree, by conveniently burying it in the metric. By not allowing the sale of petrol (gas) by the gallon, they soften the blow to the extent that one might not quite immediately perceive the increases jumping as dramatically as they actually are. So the “pitch forks” don’t ever come out.

For instance, at one Shell nearby, it’s £1.02 a litre today v. £1.07 at the Esso just down the road. That doesn’t sound like a huge difference on the surface; but, actually, that’s roughly 20p a gallon. Yet there are always cars at the pumps in that Esso, too. (Why anyone would stop there short of a dire emergency is beyond me.)

So, what’s next for The Independent’s “populist” appeal? Decrying the spiralling cost of filling your diabolical “climate change” machine car?