![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
An Unrelenting Stream of Negativity
Jul. 7th, 2014 11:36 pmJan 2014
50 People who buggered up Britain - Quentin Letts - Constable, 2008
*
[It is ten years to the day since the first posts in this blog. Given that my one of my intentions in starting it was to point readers at worthwhile books, it is somewhat ironic that today's review is of one that really isn't. But that's the way it goes...]
Anyone who has perused this blog before will doubtless be unsurprised to hear that I am not a regular reader of the Daily Mail. In fact I consider it one of the more pernicious elements of modern British society. But I am also aware that my liberal biases are not necessarily intellectually sound and sometimes seek out more right-wing and conservative opinions to test my opinions. This applies to humour too. There is nothing intrinsically unfunny about right-wing or conservative humourists - while preferring the vaguely left-wing chatter of, say, The News Quiz, I have read and enjoyed books by the likes of P.J. O'Rourke.
This one, however, left me completely stone-faced. Written by the Daily Mail's parliamentary diarist, it is a series of character sketches of the people who, in the author's opinion, have made Britain the miserable dump that it is today. This would be fine if they were funny or insightful, but they're not. They are merely depressing.
( Read more... )
50 People who buggered up Britain - Quentin Letts - Constable, 2008
*
[It is ten years to the day since the first posts in this blog. Given that my one of my intentions in starting it was to point readers at worthwhile books, it is somewhat ironic that today's review is of one that really isn't. But that's the way it goes...]
Anyone who has perused this blog before will doubtless be unsurprised to hear that I am not a regular reader of the Daily Mail. In fact I consider it one of the more pernicious elements of modern British society. But I am also aware that my liberal biases are not necessarily intellectually sound and sometimes seek out more right-wing and conservative opinions to test my opinions. This applies to humour too. There is nothing intrinsically unfunny about right-wing or conservative humourists - while preferring the vaguely left-wing chatter of, say, The News Quiz, I have read and enjoyed books by the likes of P.J. O'Rourke.
This one, however, left me completely stone-faced. Written by the Daily Mail's parliamentary diarist, it is a series of character sketches of the people who, in the author's opinion, have made Britain the miserable dump that it is today. This would be fine if they were funny or insightful, but they're not. They are merely depressing.
( Read more... )
