It has been one of the most shocking of news storylines of recent years and it has claimed an incredible scalp.
The News of the World newspaper was first published on 1 October 1843 and its last edition will be published this Sunday until 10 July 2011.
Indeed, wikipedia are already ahead of the game - describing the paper in the past tense!
This is an extraordinary step but then these are extraordinary days and whilst there are journalists who now have a questionable future, the severity of the allegations means that this decision is an appropriate and proportionate response.
I never needed to boycott the News of the World as I never read it but I'm nevertheless pleased that this incredible act has been made.
Will it change the way that journalism operates in the United Kingdom? Will it merely lead to a re-marketed 'Sunday Sun' as a replacement.? We can not be assured either way of course but the scale of this crisis has run unbelievably deep.
The investigations into the hacking however must continue and those guilty, going right up to the top, must pay. This act can not be used as a smokescreen to hide away Rupert Murdoch Snr and Jnr and Rebekah Brooks and also not to cloud the issue of Murdoch's planned media takeover which the Government are currently considering.
A potential Sunday Sun which would simply be a re-hash of the NOTW, will still be run by the same people. Will the angry British public make the link and boycott any such project? I'd hope so. It is us the public that will decide. Time will tell.
Rebekah Brooks should however be ashamed of herself. It should first and foremost be her resignation on the table.
The closure of the News of the World is neverthless, if nothing else in the interim, a small victory for decency and humanity. Rebekah Brooks's resignation would be a significant other.
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