Boris Johnson

The Daily Telegraph 01 June 2009

MPs' expenses: Everything will be all right when Simon Heffer rides to the rescue - Boris Johnson says his colleague must follow through with his threat to stand for Parliament

"I can't stand the tension. It is far more exciting than Britain's Got Talent, and far more important for the future of the country. Day after day the tumbrels roll past, and the guillotine falls and, amid the horrible yells of the crowd, the head of another politician is held aloft"...

Boris Johnson Simon Heffer

Peter Wilby

The Guardian, 24 May 2009

The fiery practitioner of polemical warfare - Peter Wilby enters the lopsided world of Peter Hitchens

"If you are short of time, rather than reading this book, you can just flick through the index. There you will find, among much else: Afghanistan, very long way from North Atlantic; baby farms, officially known as "day nurseries"; Blair, Anthony, not missed on departure; Cameron, David, exaggerated praise for; Conservative party, does not love Britain; Labour party, does not love the poor. The index doesn't include "bonkers, author sometimes called", but that must be an oversight.

Hitchens, a Mail on Sunday columnist (and a good, provocative weekend read), is best known as the younger brother of Christopher..."

Peter Wilby  Peter Hitchens  Christopher Hitchens

Peter Wilby

The Guardian, 18 May 2009

So much news, but so little comment - Papers went big on foreign news and story counts were high, but celebrities, features and columnists were a rare commodity

How did readers know what to think in 1984? Once you get over the minuscule, blurred pictures and the lack of colour, the first thing that strikes you about the newspapers of that year is the paucity of opinionated columnists. The finger-jabbing, red-faced anger of today's commentariat, the passionate, omniscient certainty with which they declare opinions, scarcely existed 25 years ago. Incredibly, the Sunday Times – under that most opinionated of editors, Andrew Neil – did not then have a single serious regular weekly columnist, its political pundit Hugo Young having recently decamped to the Guardian...

Peter Wilby

Peter Wilby

The Guardian, 27 April 2009

Crash course in economics

The morning after the budget, the Telegraph's Simon Heffer instructed us to be "in no doubt". The financial crisis that formed the backdrop to Alistair Darling's measures - which were a "persecution" of the "middle England" that Heffer imagines to be on annual salaries of more than £100,000 - was a result not of "global forces outside his control" but of "reckless economics". Heffer explained: "The few of us who saw this debacle coming required no genius to do so: it happened because ... Gordon Brown chose ... to allow the money supply to grow by between two and three times the rate of inflation plus growth."

I would not wish to doubt Heffer's claim to be one of "the few", although my recollection is that he wanted money to be used differently, for tax cuts, rather than restricted in supply. But he is not among the heroes of a report this week from Editorial Intelligence (EI), entitled The Credit Crunch Commentariat

Peter Wilby  Simon Heffer

Stephen Glover

The Independent, 13th April 2009

So farewell then Paul Johnson, struck down in his prime

There are still columnists I always read in The Spectator: Taki, who grows more reflective and original with age; Charles Moore's diary; Matthew Parris when on form; and Paul Johnson.

This small band will dwindle further now that the 80-year-old Mr Johnson is leaving the magazine after 28 years. He was reportedly asked by its editor, Matthew d'Ancona, to write his column fortnightly rather than weekly. Sensing that this request did not imply unlimited confidence in his abilities, Mr Johnson has sensibly decided to move his stall...

Paul Johnson  Charles Moore  Matthew Parris  Matthew d'Ancona

Stephen Glover

The Independent on Sunday, 6th April 2009

Muslim extremists and a bitter schism in left-wing journalism - True papers of record give due credit, even to fierce rivals

This is the tale of a loquacious, and apparently tipsy, well-known columnist who harangued his fellow columnists in public. It is also a story of how journalists wrote to this man's newspaper suggesting that he might be better employed writing a different sort of column. Above all, this is an account of an important difference among left-wing journalists about what constitutes Muslim extremism.

Nick Cohen Yasmin Alibhai-Brown Peter Oborne Peter Hitchens James Harding Simon Jenkins

Roy Greenslade

Greenslade Blog, MediaGuardian.co, 13 January 2009

Indy still keeping Glover column under wraps

"Another day passes and the Stephen Glover column in The Independent that upset Telegraph Media Group bosses, What's happening to The Daily Telegraph is a national tragedy, is still not available on the Indy website."

Roy Greenslade, Stephen Glover

Roy Greenslade

Greenslade Blog, MediaGuardian.co, 12 January 2009

Why is Glover's Telegraph-is-not-a-national-tragedy column missing from Independent website?

"Why has Stephen Glover's December 22 column - the one headlined What's happening to The Daily Telegraph is a national tragedy - been taken down from The Independent website"

Roy Greenslade, Stephen Glover

Ian Burrell

The Independent, 05 January 2009

I've never had a go at Muslims, only Islam - His outspoken views have made Rod Liddle one of the UK's most colourful and controversial columnists

Rod Liddle

Stephen Glover

Daily Mail, 25 December 2008

Pontificating Mr Peston, self-indulgent bloggers, and why the BBC should stop putting opinion before facts

"The BBC's Panorama was once the most respected current affairs programme in Britain, if not the world. It provided in-depth analysis of all manner of subjects. In recent years it has been cut back to half an hour, and somewhat sensationalised."

Stephen Glover, Robert Peston