Hugh Muir's diary
 The end seems nigh for one of the great literary feuds • A literary colossus no doubt, but Sir VS Naipaul, the Nobel prize-winning author, is either thick-skinned or no longer reads anything about himself. Hanif Kureishi's new novel, The Last Word, is said to be loosely based on the life and times of Sir Vidia, with its highs and lows and multiple controversies. Yet who should be at the book's launch in a ritzy London private home but Sir Vidia himself! He was in good company: Nigella Lawson was in attendance, as was an old enemy (and there are many), Salman Rushdie. When Rushdie faced a death sentence, Sir Vidia was a little backwards in coming forwards. "I don't know his books," he said, "but I've been aware of his statements. I found them usually leftwing and trivial and antiquated." The fatwa he called "an extreme form of literary criticism". Rushdie, meanwhile, advocated stripping Sir Vidia of his Nobel prize for the latter's stance on slaughter in Gujurat, accusing him of behaving like "a fellow-traveller of Fascism and disgracing the Nobel prize". Yet here were the titans engaged in earnest, seemingly agreeable conversation. Time does heal, it seems. And ignorance is bliss. • We wait for Sir John Chilcot's report into the preamble to the war in Iraq. And wait. But those close to the pre-war action remain unapologetic about how Tony Blair did his business as PM. Was "sofa government" the order of the day, one leading figure was asked during a no-names, no-pack-drill question and answer session the other day? Of course, he replied. "Cabinet government is pretty much of a fiction." And in any case, "the cabinet leaked like a sieve". The solution was to have fewer and shorter cabinet meetings and work "offline", ie on the Downing Street policy sofa. Blair is lauded still for shrinking his cabinet meetings to less than an hour. More time for war and peace and dossiers; stuff that really mattered. • Dwelling for a moment on the concerns of academia, a new guessing game enthrals Oxford: where is the visiting News International professor? Three years after phone-hacking allegations entered mainstream culture and the News of the World closed its doors, the annual lectures by the visiting NI professor of broadcast journalism seem to have gone awol. There was once a distinguished cast of lecturers – Stewart Purvis, Armando Iannucci, Stephen Garrett, Matthew Engel. Who's next and when? Who knows. Surely, Rupert Murdoch can suggest a speaker for these once regular fixtures? Maybe Tony Blair. Maybe not. • More guessing games in Scotland, where the election of fugitive NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as rector of Glasgow University raises an interesting dilemma, given the cold reality that he remains stuck in Russia. Can he represent students' interests at university council meetings without turning up? One suggestion is that he might consult Gordon Brown, who has for some time championed the concerns of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in Westminster by dint of fleeting appearances and virtual representation. Put Snowden on Skype now and then; Fed Ex the gown and cap. He'll be fine. • Finally, a nod to Stanley Baldwin. What was it the three-times PM said about the malign deeds of a wayward press: "power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot through the ages"? With that in mind, recall the hysteria at year's end about the supposed invasion of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants – the rabid dog that didn't bark. Now consider the clarification and correction in the Mail following the article "Sold Out! Flights and buses full as Romanians head for the UK". An "article on December 31 reported information provided by local travel agents that there was limited availability on flights and buses to London from Romania and Bulgaria in January this year, despite one airline doubling the number of flights. We have since been made aware that some reasonably priced flights and seats on buses were available from Bucharest and Sofia at that time. We are also happy to clarify that some of the additional flights were put in place before January 1." Reflection. Heartfelt contrition. You know they'll never do it again. diary@theguardian.com Twitter: @hugh_muir theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario