Accused of working in a scheme designed to loot more than $80 million from Chicago-based publishing company Hollinger, Conrad Black has called the charges a "massive smear job" and has predicted he will be vindicated. He also has a go at prosecutor Patrick Fitgerald, the special counsel in the CIA leak case and nemesis of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "I accept that he's a competent prosecutor, but he doesn't know anything about this case,'' Black said. "He just swoops in for the press conference and fluffs his lines."

Still, Black is now reportedly trying to get his Canadian citizenship back . This is the same man who slammed Canada for being a "one-party federal state with no deliverance in sight.'' Now it seems all is forgiven. Watch this space, because the Canadian Government is introducing a new law that will stop people getting citizenship if they have been convicted on foreign criminal charges. Wonder who will get there first?