Actually, just out of interest...

The title of the previous post echoes something Evan Davis said twice on last night's Newsnight. He was 'summarising' Andrew Mitchell MP's dismissive response to the whole 'Whittingdale Affair' whilst interviewing Mr Mitchell:

OK. Move along, move along. Nothing to see. Actually, just out of interest... 

And later, during his interview with Nick Clegg, Evan again 'paraphrased' Andrew Mitchell's position:

While we've got you, I just wonder if we can talk to you about John Whittingdale very briefly and what you make of, I mean, Andrew Mitchell telling us earlier, "Nothing to see at all. Move along"...

Now, in popular culture (from The Naked Gun to South Park and The Simpsons) the phrase has pretty much become entirely ironic these days. It's the kind of thing a police officer usually says when, say, a Godzilla-sized Barbara Streisand goes on the rampage in a small American town.