The talcum powder affair is revolting. Not because of the boofhead who sent the envelope, but because of the nauseating response of our political class. The profuse expressions of shame, and the grovelling apologies to Indonesia, would have been unwarranted and distasteful even if the envelope did contain anthrax. But it didn't, and we need to ask why the Government and many in the media were so keen to assume it did. It's important to focus on the two pieces of evidence we had: the white powder and the letter accompanying it. You always had to wonder about the powder. After all, anthrax is not easy to get hold of, and the chances of this being a hoax were high. But on Wednesday, the Prime Minister, John Howard, killed scepticism with the announcement that "it's not an innocent white powder", and said it came from the same family as anthrax.
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