Article: Why we will never have a Deep Throat; Flatterers won't blow the whistle on their own jobs.

Byline: TIM LUCKHURST

WHEN the identity of the most devastating whistleblower in the history of democratic politics was revealed earlier this year, one crucial lesson was widely overlooked.

Mark Felt, the FBI man whose leaks brought down President Nixon, was an old-fashioned public servant. The man history knows as Deep Throat owed nothing to politicians. He rose through a meritocratic system and believed fervently in the principle that government exists to serve the people.

Sadly, no Deep Throat can thrive in Scotland. If our First Minister hired thugs to eavesdrop on his opponents and concoct evidence against them, no independentminded ...

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