One
of the great features of British newspapers – apart from the cartoons – used to
be the “Parliamentary Sketch”.
My generation is a bit sniffy about the Reader’s Digest – and its ideological purity is indeed questionable….But its original instinct is not all that different from that of Allen Lane who brought us the Penguins in the 1930s……
Television cameras were allowed to show the proceedings
of the British House of Commons only from Nov 1989 – prior to which a rather
special sort of journalist attempted (from
the early 19th century) to put some flesh and bones on the
rather dry reporting of political news.
You
might have thought that the arrival of a dedicated television channel would
have killed the parliamentary sketcher’s occupation but, instead, it gave it an
enormous boost.
Simon
Hoggart was The Guardian’s man in the place for 20 years until his sad, early
death in 2014 – but his words live on in his collection House of Fun
(2012) which I picked up recently in my second-hand bookshop in the Bucharest centre.
Each entry is about 2 pages – and is a real gem as you can see from some of the
excerpts given when you click the title…
I
suddenly realized that my “Dispatches” book has the same structure – even if it’s
missing a bit of the humour! A short entry – focusing on an idea or book rather
than a politician – which can be dipped into almost at random…….although I have
tried to give it a certain logic…..
And
that led, in turn, to another of these dangerous, creative leaps….My book can perhaps
be seen as a thoughtful “Reader’s Digest” Guide to the global crisis.
My generation is a bit sniffy about the Reader’s Digest – and its ideological purity is indeed questionable….But its original instinct is not all that different from that of Allen Lane who brought us the Penguins in the 1930s……
So what do you think?
Should I stick with my “Dispatches……” title – or call the book “A (pluralist) Reader’s Digest Guide to the Global Crisis”?
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