And so to the David Kelly affair, which took a bleaker and more tragic turn while I was away than anyone could have expected.

Let's do away with the pointless conspiracy theories about how killed him and assume that it was suicide.

Also, I think it's only fair that I declare my interests as a BBC staffer and make clear that by the terms of my contract I'm limited in what I can say about internal BBC matters.

What I will say is this.

Reagrdless of whether the BBC or Downing Street was right about the Iraq dossier, the fact of the matter is that a well-regarded but retiring figure widely viewed as committed and professional felt no option but to take his own life because he became entangled in a monumental power struggle that was not of his making.

Dr David Kelly is, in every sense, another casualty of the War in Iraq.