On Monday, the report by the Police Ombudsman into collusion between the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Special Branch and Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, was made public - even if such collusion has been an open secret for very many years.

What was already known, was not just that the RUC was using cold-blooded murderers as informers, but that they also used them as death squads against Republican activists fighting the British military occupation. But no action has ever been taken against the RUC officers involved.

Numerous past reports and enquiries which exposed the role of the RUC, as well as MI5 and other "special agents" in this respect, have been left on the back burner or even suppressed. Like the report by ex-Manchester Police Chief John Stalker, which cost him his job, or the inquiry into the murder of lawyer, Pat Finucane, conducted by "Sir" John Stevens himself, former Met Chief.

Of course, today, the RUC no longer exists. It has been re-branded as the "Northern Ireland Police Service" (NIPS) and it is supposed to be a "non-sectarian" police force.

But the truth of the matter is that behind the RUC, the long arm of the British government and its state machinery was always to be found. And today it is still very much alive.

Significantly, there is no question of exposing the role of senior British officials, MI5 or MOD special agents, in the 15 murders, 15 attempted murders, punishment beatings and shootings, etc., all documented in this latest report.

No, the Dirty Tricks Department is to remain intact and under cover in London, at all costs. In fact, this government is about to give it a new lease of life - and even higher status!

Hasn't John Reid just announced his plans to set up a "National Security Department" modelled on Bush's National Security Administration (NSA)?

This way, the Dirty Tricks Department will get a brand new legitimacy, no matter how many mountains of reports are written to expose its crimes. We have been warned.