Neil Clark details the neoconservative and the allied faux-Left takeover of Britain by means of the resignation of Harold Wilson, the election of Margaret Thatcher, the acquisition of The Times by Rupert Murdoch, the formation of the SDP, the defeat of the Miners' Strike, the resignation of Richard Ingrams as Editor of Private Eye, 'Big Bang', the removal of Alisdair Milne as Director-General of the BBC, the election of Tony Blair as Leader of the Labour Party, and the election of Nick Clegg as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
A tour de force.
The death of Auberon Waugh was a turning point although his departure from the "Eye" (on top of Ingrams' handover) was also significant and the magazine has never recovered. Given the resignation of Deayton from HIGNFY, satire collapsed in this country rapidly. One Deayton episode where even Stephen Fry looks embarrassed by Hislop's scripted contributions stands in the memory though. It's of interest to note, in the light of Hebdo, how seriously the French take their satire. In particular, the sacking of "sine" by the late "charb" for a brilliantly funny piece on Sarkozy's son is the sort of feud which once made PE what it was in this country.
ReplyDeleteI loved the list of ten - splendidly self-indulgent!