I haven’t written anything about the phone hacking scandal, but now seems like a good time to mention that I’ve actually met Rupert Murdoch. In fact I had a good long discussion with him.

Surprised? Well admittedly it happened in the dream I had last night, and a weird dream it was too. But I figure it must mean something. Perhaps Murdoch’s been hacking into my dreams and is trying to send me a message. Yes, that’s it.

Let me tell you about it. I was out driving in the Camry when the front left tyre went. Fortuitously I was outside a tyre shop when it happened, so I drove in and asked the old guy in charge to sort it out. It turned out that the old guy was Rupert Murdoch.

Eighty year old billionaires shouldn’t be working in tyre shops, even those in disgrace. And yet he seemed to be in his element. The skills Murdoch exhibited as he whipped the tyre off, repaired the puncture and put the tyre back on was something to see. And despite the shitstorm overwhelming him he was happy to chat about his media empire and the way he had ruthlessly built it up.

So I won’t hear a bad word spoken about Rupert Murdoch, even with all the terrible things he and his minions may have done. Anyone who at the age of 80 can flip a tyre off, fix it and put it back on in record time gets a free pass from me.