Why the hell doesn't Tony Blair apologise for this abomination?

Ed and Kate don't hide their contempt, but I'm going to subtly divert attention away from the impending parasites' ball by hauling out, from a very dark and unpleasant place, a slightly different rank and hideous spectacle. Step forward, Anthony Charles Lynton Priscilla Blair. Sunday, 31 August, 1997:

I feel like everyone else in this country today. I am utterly devastated.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Princess Diana's family, particularly her two sons. Our heart goes out to them.

We are today a nation in a state of shock, in mourning, in grief that is so deeply painful for us. She was a wonderful and a warm human being, although her own life was often sadly touched by tragedy. She touched the lives of so many others in Britain and throughout the world with joy and with comfort.

How many times shall we remember her in how many different ways - with the sick, the dying, with children, with the needy? With just a look or a gesture that spoke so much more than words, she would reveal to all of us the depth of her compassion and her humanity.

I am sure we can only guess how difficult things were for her from time to time. But people everywhere, not just here in Britain, kept faith with Princess Diana. They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was the People's Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever.

Watching this at the time made me want to stab my eyes out with a pencil to lessen the pain.

Update, via Ed:

UK kids told Princess Diana "in hell"

...two lay ministers from the Bethany Christian Fellowship in Walsall, West Midlands, told children as young as five that the princess had not repented her sins before she died...

Sarah Bailes, 39, who lives next to the school, said her son Darryl was tearful and withdrawn after being told about the supposed fate of the princess.

"How could they tell Darryl that the woman he thought was a star in heaven was actually in hell," she said.