Summary: Anne McElvoy talks to the journalist Luke Harding about the inside story on the whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The former director of GCHQ, Sir David Omand, fears the leaks have endangered state security. Claims that America hacked the phone of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel caused uproar in Germany, and the journalist Annette Dittert argues that the memory of the Stasi's spying machine is still raw. There has been little outcry among the British public and the philosopher Alain de Botton explores the nature of news and the 'noise' it generates.
