Most political scandals are easy to comprehend, even if sometimes the facts are disputed. A minister not paying the correct amount of tax. A backbencher claiming expenses fraudulently. Racist remarks on social media. A “hot mic” moment of unwise candour. Deliberately misleading parliament. Bribery.
However, the China spy case is obviously in a wholly different league of complexity. It is one where even lawyers, security experts, ministers, former ministers and, it must be conceded, journalists find it difficult to understand what went on and why. It is not so much that people cannot see the wood for the trees, as much as the wood itself can be chimerical.
