Saturday 17 January 2009

RIP Sir John Mortimer

Yes, he defended the Chatterley and Oz pornographers.

But he fought for field sports from within the Labour Party.

And, above all, he created Rumpole.

No one is all bad.
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 January 2009 at 22:55

    Can you clarify the BPA's position on censorship?

    I get the distinct impression from comments here and elsewhere that you're personally very keen on it, but it would be useful to see the party's own statement of principles.

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  2. David Lindsay17 January 2009 at 23:35

    Anything that we have to say on the subject is on the website.

    We make no bones about being equally opposed the decadent social libertinism of the Sixties and to that from which it is inseparable (and which is inseparable from it), namely the decadent economic libertinism of the Eighties.

    Nor about being against the "free" market not least because it cannot exist at all without existing in pornography (or, among much else and picking up on an earlier thread, in drugs).

    Squealing "Censorship! Censorship!" as if it were an absolute evil rather than, depending on the circumstances, sometimes an absolute economic, social, cultural and political necessity is the behaviour of bad Sixth Formers and worse undergraduates.

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  3. Anonymous18 January 2009 at 00:00

    Once a Fabian and a Christian Socialist David.

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  4. Anonymous18 January 2009 at 00:02

    Since I'm neither a sixth former nor an undergraduate, and I certainly can't be accused of "squealing", I shall assume that that somewhat intemperate parting shot wasn't aimed specifically at me - but I also note that you didn't answer my question.

    Or rather, you answered the bit about the statement of principles, but not the one requesting clarification of the BPA's position on censorship.

    So can I assume that you advocate the repeal of the 1959 Obscene Publications Act and the retroactive banning of Lady Chatterley's Lover and everything else that the Act permitted? And if not, how do you propose to turn back the tide?

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  5. David Lindsay18 January 2009 at 00:08

    Absolutely. And I still seem to be on the books of the Christian Socialist Movement. Oh, well, I suppose that someone has to be...

    Were the Fabian and the Christian Socialist pioneers come again to bodily life, then they would jump straight back into the grave at the sight of what this country has become during by far the longest ever period of "Labour" government.

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  6. David Lindsay19 January 2009 at 00:10

    As to how to do it, I have been giving that some thought. As in bioethics and other things, some sort of elective but strictly non-partisan body, with each us of voting for one candiadte and the requiste number being declared elected at the end, could do the job.

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  7. David Lindsay19 January 2009 at 00:11

    Oh, and if you are neither a bad Sixth Former nor a worse undergraduate and yet you are coming out with this, then you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.

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