Rupert Murdoch is so old now that he no doubt hopes there won't be too many of us around who remember what happened when he bought The Times almost exactly 30 years ago. The same doubts about editorial independence were then being expressed just as they are now in relation to Sky News. If Murdoch gains total control, the critics say, what is to stop the Sky News channel from becoming like the Fox News channel in america, notorious for its strident right-wing propaganda and support of Tea Party nutters?  Murdoch's response is to propose the setting up of a board of impartial arbiters to guarantee the editorial independence of the Sky News editors. This is precisely the same proposal as was made and accepted in 1981. Not only did Murdoch make a personal pledge that his editors would be free to express news that might directly conflict with his business interests, but he also announced the formation of a board of independent directors who included the distinguished historian Hugh Trevor-Roper to make sure that editorial integrity was preserved.  Where are they now, we might very well ask, now that The Times quite shamelessly reflects the political opinions of its proprietor, while attacking the BBC and doing its best to promote friendly relations with the Chinese?  Children are growing up in an age of fear  The headmaster of a Catholic primary school in Lancashire was encouraged by the authorities to stage a re-enactment of the Blitz. He announced to the school assembly that war had broken out, whereupon an air raid siren started up and all the children were led down into a cellar by their teachers.  But the project had to be abandoned when several children became upset. The headmaster admitted that many of them had later suffered from nightmares. Such reactions may not be unique to Lancashire, when children all over the country are currently being spoon-fed the history of the Second World War, including all the horrors of Hitler,