This week's explosive Channel Four film on Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, featured a long list of accusations against him (which he denies), including the use of public money to undermine his adversaries, his tax-funded advisers campaigning for his re-election in breach of local government rules and questions about the London Development Agency's use of public funds.

Yet the really scary thing was the near total failure of anyone – bar the press – to demand proper scrutiny until now.