The best columnist around

At the moment Jeff Randall in the Telegraph is my favourite columnist, his columns are laced with sarcasm but always have a salient point. His columns are the epitome of what an opinion piece in a newspaper should be about, they are never abusive though they do make subtle digs, they are informative and they often crystallise difficult issues in terms that are easily understood. This weeks column is no different. So here’s to Jeff Randall’s column, long may it continue.

My thoughts on Derek Conway.

I will confine myself here to the following:-

He did wrong. He got caught. He is being punished. His career is over. His reputation is in tatters. Let us leave the man alone.

Also there has been in certain newspapers an utterly hideous set of exposes regarding Derek Conway’s eldest son. Yes it appears he was in receipt of money as a researcher for his father, that much is in the public interest, but to rake over his lifestyle, his friends and his sexuality is beneath contempt. The journalists responsible should be ashamed of themselves, their reporting of Henry Conway was out of order and certain aspects should be out of bounds. Also there is a whiff of blatant prejudice in the manner of the reporting that is reprehensible. I think we should demand more from our newspapers than this!

Amy Winehouse etc

Not a day goes by without more revelations about some celebrity or another. Amy Winehouse having another episode, Britney getting more bizarre, Paris Hilton doing something or other. The tabloid’s are awash with it, there are even dubious magazines that peddle gossip about celebrities. Britain in the early years of the 21st Century is obsessed with the intimate details of other people’s lives. I find it a comprehensive double tragedy.

Firstly if you have a vague degree of talent in any field, be it football, music, art, acting or the like or you have some vague claim to fame such as being related to one of the former then your life is likely to find itself into the pages either of the tabloids or of these magazines. Page after page of gratuitous rumour, is he gay? Who was she leaving the club with? Why was this person with that person? Anything to justify some long lens photo’s almost certainly put out of context, with an article including ‘evidence’ usually dredged up from rent-a-quote mongs. The free London evening papers even have spreads devoted to pictures of semi-drunk famous people.

The second tragedy is that there is such an insatiable demand for intimate details of these so-called celebrities. The fact of the matter is that it shows such a complete lack of imagination, it shows that those people who are obsessed with TV shows like “I’m a celebrity….” are completely lacking in a life of their own. I don’t mean to be overly critical but where is the interest in the life of someone who is unknown and unknowable? I know that we are all interested in other people and like to read or hear about the odd detail, but do we really need this complete orgy of voyeurism into the lives of sometimes troubled people. Is it helpful to us or to the people reported on when the complete details of their troubles are laid bare, do we need to watch Amy Winehouse falling apart? Do we need the kind of interest that surrounded Owen Wilson? How does it help if we know that Britney is destroying herself? It is simply cultural voyeurism, it is tragic. It would be more helpful to these celebs if the newspapers left them alone completely. It would give them space. Bottom line we really really don’t need to know.

Lord Deedes

I woke to the sad news that Bill Deedes the eminent journalist has passed away. He was a highly respected journalist and had experience virtually unsurpassed in modern media, this was shown in his column which still appeared until relatively recently. This was a man who although clearly partisan as his political career shows, had enough integrity to build up a phenomenal reputation as a journalist of the very highest quality. He will be sorely missed and I doubt that today’s world will produce another journalist who can slip into politics and end their career as highly respected as Bill Deedes.