160 days ago
My Dad wrote a book on 1984 and was upbeat. I am not sure that he, and his pal Bill Whitehead, would be so upbeat today. In this podcast I discuss Orwell, the BBC, its Verify Unit, Hislop on Orwell and the Reform Party of Nigel Farage, Trump and Putin.
230 days ago
In the house of my late uncle Christopher Booker the walls feature a number of original cartoons from the publication he co-founded, Private Eye. Yes kids… the professional celeb and media tart Ian Hislop did NOT found Private Eye. My favourite is one that is very much in my mind today amid news of the latest Tory sex scandal, one from the Profumo era of 1963, drawn by Willie Rushden.
1333 days ago
I sometimes find myself searching my emails for something or other and stumble on something completely unexpected. Tonight I stumble on the raw text of what my uncle, the late Christopher Booker, submitted to the Sunday Telegraph for January 16 2015 after the Charlie Hebdo massacre. I am not sure if the Torygraph tweaked it but here is the original and in exposing the pious hypocrisy of the great and good back then, we might all reflect on matters such as the drowning silence of the left in defence of free speech in Bradford today. But also, as Chris notes, on why certain sections of the Moslem community do feel so justifiably angry and that can vent in various ways. I commend to you a great piece of journalism.
1401 days ago
Private Eye was co-founded by my late uncle Christopher Booker. At his funeral, there were a few folk from the Eye led by the current Editor and professional celebrity Ian Hislop and also Chris’s great pal Peter Hitchens. Today the latter takes on the former, rebutting an appalling hatchet job on himself in the Eye. Once upon a time, Private Eye challenged the establishment. Today it is part of the establishment and thus lockdown sceptics like Hitchens who dare to question the mask & lockdown GroupThink gripping the political and media classes are “the enemy.” I am in no doubt at all that Uncle Chris would be in the barricades with Hitchens on this one. He would also be appalled by the casual way that Private Eye just distorts facts in its attack on his good friend. This is not the journalism which Christopher Booker would have recognised as worthy of praise.
