If Lachlan Murdoch was a character in the British television satire Yes, Minister, department head Sir Humphrey Appleby would be praising his courageous decision to sue Crikey.

In public service speak, references to courage signal a failure to understand the consequences of a decision. Lachlan is suing Crikey for an article that mentions the M word only in the headline, “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator”, and in the last sentence: “The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis.”