Unless James Murdoch proves particularly impressive in his Commons grilling on Thursday, his family may cease to be a force in British life.

It is difficult not to feel something for James Murdoch, as he prepares to answer questions for a second time at the House of Commons media committee. This is a man – not a bad man by any means – who is faced with maintaining a plea of ignorance when everyone knows that as the man responsible for running News International, not only should he have known about the extent of phone-hacking at the News of the World, he almost certainly did know.

It stretches credulity to suggest he was not briefed with the facts about the toxic waste lying in the basement after he succeeded Les Hinton in 2007. Indeed, new evidence – emails, a note and a legal opinion prepared for the News of the World, released by the committee – seems to point to a much more detailed knowledge of the scandal than he is admitting to.

The astonishing extent of Britain’s surveillance society was revealed for the first time yesterday.

Three million snooping operations have been carried out over the past decade under controversial anti-terror laws.

They include tens of thousands of undercover missions by councils and other state bodies which are not responsible for law enforcement.

Cases include a family who were spied on to check they were not cheating on school catchment area rules and so-called ‘bin criminals’.

The campaign group Justice is demanding the hugely controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act – under which all the operations were authorised – be scrapped altogether.