A PUBLIC boycott of the News of the World, in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, was inevitable.

A slump in sales this weekend, coupled with a rash of advertising withdrawals, would have sent a very clear message that such deplorable practices would not be tolerated by the newspaper-buying public.

What no one expected was that one of the most powerful newspaper brands in history would be scrapped after one more edition.

Despite our condemnation of the News of the World in the past few days, we take no pleasure in last night’s shock announcement that the paper is to be closed.

Love it or hate it, the News of the World is a British institution, serving up a combination of celebrity gossip, scandal and investigative journalism.

It has unearthed stories of international significance which clearly served the public interest and it is a matter of enormous regret that it will now be best remembered for its failure to uphold basic human rights.

As Rupert Murdoch said in a statement last night: “The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.”

The irony is that, having faced calls for a boycott, the final News of the World this Sunday will be a collectors’ item and sales will go through the roof.

And then we will surely see the dawn of a new brand from the same News International stable – The Sun on Sunday.