“Speaking truth to power, standing up for the little guy and giving
voice to those on the decent, commonsense, middle ground who find
themselves marginalized by the gatekeepers of public discourse. That’s
the mission of my new venture.”
I have in fact bought three of the publications of Melanie Phillips Electric Media: Phillips's autobiography, what looks to be Frederic Raphael's tour de force, and Douglas Murray's Islamophilia: A Very Metropolitan Malady, the publication of which has tastefully been brought forward in view of the Woolwich murder.
Of the six authors already published, four, two thirds of the total, have Wikipedia entries, and I am rather surprised that the other two do not. I have yet to check, but I strongly suspect that all six have Who's Who entries. All four forthcoming authors have the former, and the three of them who are British doubtless also have the latter.
Phillips herself has a column in the second-largest circulation newspaper in Britain, and thus on its website, which is the most visited news site in the world. She appears regularly on The Moral Maze, which has considerable influence, and fairly often on Question Time, which has a huge audience for a political programme, easily the largest in the country.
Neither she nor any of those whom she is also publishing would have had the slightest trouble in finding a publisher if this venture did not exist. They are all doing it this way to make a point; to make it appear that they are "marginalized by the gatekeepers of public discourse". In more than one case, that is rather disappointing. In every case, though, these are "the gatekeepers of public discourse".
Someone should do this properly. The conservative case against neoliberal capitalism, the conservative case against global war, the left-wing case for balanced migration (already very much "marginalized by the gatekeepers of public discourse" in the treatment of David Goodhart), the left-wing case against climate change hysteria, the left-wing case for national sovereignty, the left-wing case for the Union, the case for the Union in Welsh-speaking and Gaelic-speaking areas, the left-wing and feminist case against the Sexual Revolution, the contemporary voices of ancient indigenous Christianity in the Holy Land and in the wider Middle East.
Add in One Nation Labour as an expression both of Judaism and of Yiddish culture, so that social democratic Britain is an object of specifically Jewish patriotism, and therefore stands as a specifically Jewish critique (in terms of domestic policy - the Palestinian question need intrude hardly, if at all) of an Israel which is now in the apparently permanent grip of Likud and of its Coalition partners, as well as standing as a specifically Jewish critique of the politics of American Jewry, not to say of Anglo-Jewry.
One Nation Labour as an expression of Islam, so that social democratic Britain is an object of a specifically Islamic patriotism, and therefore stands as a specifically Islamic critique of regimes across the Islamic world, as well as standing as a specifically Islamic critique of the politics of Muslim communities in the West, including Britain.
One Nation Labour as an expression both of Catholic Social Teaching and of Diaspora Irish Catholic culture, of Afro-Caribbean or African Pentecostalism and its culture, of white Evangelical Protestantism and its culture, in each case with similar implications to the foregoing.
Yes, I do know the people to write most of these, possibly all of them. But would they ever get past "the gatekeepers of public discourse"?
Of the six authors already published, four, two thirds of the total, have Wikipedia entries, and I am rather surprised that the other two do not. I have yet to check, but I strongly suspect that all six have Who's Who entries. All four forthcoming authors have the former, and the three of them who are British doubtless also have the latter.
Phillips herself has a column in the second-largest circulation newspaper in Britain, and thus on its website, which is the most visited news site in the world. She appears regularly on The Moral Maze, which has considerable influence, and fairly often on Question Time, which has a huge audience for a political programme, easily the largest in the country.
Neither she nor any of those whom she is also publishing would have had the slightest trouble in finding a publisher if this venture did not exist. They are all doing it this way to make a point; to make it appear that they are "marginalized by the gatekeepers of public discourse". In more than one case, that is rather disappointing. In every case, though, these are "the gatekeepers of public discourse".
Someone should do this properly. The conservative case against neoliberal capitalism, the conservative case against global war, the left-wing case for balanced migration (already very much "marginalized by the gatekeepers of public discourse" in the treatment of David Goodhart), the left-wing case against climate change hysteria, the left-wing case for national sovereignty, the left-wing case for the Union, the case for the Union in Welsh-speaking and Gaelic-speaking areas, the left-wing and feminist case against the Sexual Revolution, the contemporary voices of ancient indigenous Christianity in the Holy Land and in the wider Middle East.
Add in One Nation Labour as an expression both of Judaism and of Yiddish culture, so that social democratic Britain is an object of specifically Jewish patriotism, and therefore stands as a specifically Jewish critique (in terms of domestic policy - the Palestinian question need intrude hardly, if at all) of an Israel which is now in the apparently permanent grip of Likud and of its Coalition partners, as well as standing as a specifically Jewish critique of the politics of American Jewry, not to say of Anglo-Jewry.
One Nation Labour as an expression of Islam, so that social democratic Britain is an object of a specifically Islamic patriotism, and therefore stands as a specifically Islamic critique of regimes across the Islamic world, as well as standing as a specifically Islamic critique of the politics of Muslim communities in the West, including Britain.
One Nation Labour as an expression both of Catholic Social Teaching and of Diaspora Irish Catholic culture, of Afro-Caribbean or African Pentecostalism and its culture, of white Evangelical Protestantism and its culture, in each case with similar implications to the foregoing.
Yes, I do know the people to write most of these, possibly all of them. But would they ever get past "the gatekeepers of public discourse"?
"Someone should do this properly." Lets.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was relieved when I realised you weren't supporting her...
ReplyDelete