Ten Years On, For God's Sake Get It Right: Part 2

I have to say that I'm a bit mystified by Mohammed Al Fayed's comments about the coroner's opening remarks in the Diana and Dodi inquest.

Al Fayed's spokesman reportedly complained that by raising "contentious issues" early on (such as Diana's possible pregnancy, her apparent belief that there was a plot to kill her or whether she and Dodi were just about to announce their engagement) "could have presented the appearance of bias, whether it was intended or not." He went on to say that the coroner's thrust "was that Mr Al Fayed was in the dock - that we weren't actually pursuing the truth so much, as trying to disprove Mr Al Fayed's firmly held beliefs".

Now don't get me wrong. I'm no Establishment yes-man. I mis-trust the State as much as next man. Al Fayed is not the only one looking for signs that this inquest might be a stitch-up with a pre-defined outcome. But I've read the coroner's opening remarks and I just cannot come up with that same interpretation.

To me, as a complete layman, there's an argument for saying that the coroner giving these issues such early prominence acutally lends them credence, rather than being some sort of sign to the jury that they should forget all about them. I'm not even sure the coroner should be pre-empting the allegations, giving them "air time" until they actually get brought up as part of the procedings. If anything the coroner's helped the Al Fayed case, because he's telling the jury quite clearly that these issues have to be seriously considered.

I suppose it comes down to which side of the fence you're on. Mohammed Al Fayed is obviously convinced that his son was murdered, and that the State are covering it up. He's not going to be swayed by whatever the inquest says, either.

Ten Years On, For God's Sake Get It Right

The inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and and Dodi Al Fayed starts today.

This is a case where justice must not only be delivered - it must be seen to be delivered. If, as an outcome of this hearing, it is seen as a whitewash by the significant body of opinion in this country, then a judicial system that is already thought by many to be out of touch with the people it is designed to serve risks being plunged further into disrepute.

The death of Diana is already, inevitably, a conspiracy theorists' paradise. After all, it does have all the ingredients to be just that: the sudden and dramatic death of one of the most famous people in the world; that person's arguments with those high up in the British establishment; the fact that she was in a relationship with - and possibly pregnant by - a Muslim. Some people will always believe that Diane and Dodi were "done in", and the objective of the inquest should not be to persuade them otherwise. Rather it should be get to the truth, and to be seen by those with an objective view that it has done so.

The signs till now have not been encouraging: the long fight by Mohamed Al Fayed for the inquest to be heard by a jury; the fact that the inquest has taken ten years to come about and is now being chaired by its third coroner; the process's refusal - so far at least - to call on members of the Royal Family to give evidence, despite Diana's apparent belief that some of them were out to get her and the extraordinary remark allegedly made by the Queen to Paul Burrell about the "dark forces" at work in this country.

Somehow this inquest needs to overcome the obstacles - some of which have been self-imposed - and be seen by the overwhelming majority of people to have left no stone unturned, no reasonable question unanswered.

I feel desperately sorry for Diana's two sons and all the other other bereaved people that they are still having to go through all this. It is frankly pitiful that the inquest should start ten years after the event. But now it's underway, it absolutely has to deliver.