The hypocrisies of the liberal establishment
As it seems that comments are now well and truly running ahead of whatever we post on here, I may as well just put up specific posts where you can leave on-topic comments.
So today Nick Cohen, Anthony Browne, and political correctness.
Some notes:
My ellipses. When did you meet him, Nick? You see, he wrote Inquiry into rip-off dentists launched on Sunday March 10, 2002.
My ellipsis. Nick met Anthony Browne two years after the Observer's 'Rip-Off Dentists' campaign. The Observer is a liberal paper and it obviously had "criticise[d] health workers" in those days. And the campaign probably had impressed the Audit Commission when Browne mentioned it (otherwise it would just be two-year-old news), so when Nick first heard of it (he obviously doesn't read the paper he writes for) it had got somewhere. Does Nick Cohen have early onset Alzheimer's or something? Or is he just really really stupid?
Oh, here's some more Anthony Browne. Warning: Hate Mail. Second warning: article does not contain argument. Merely lots of assertions in a rather creepy 2 sentence to a paragraph format.
My emphasis. The word 'decades' is interesting, given the title of the piece: "If Mr Cameron has the courage to bring morality back into politics, he will truly be Thatcher's heir". So who is eroding "personal responsibility"? Well it can't have been Thatcher, can it? Maybe the rot started with John Major. Even so, he only got into Number 10 in 1990. Er, let's see 8 take away zero, that's 8. Zero take away 9, that's um ... eleventy billion decades! No it's not: it's not even two. Is Anthony Browne just really really stupid?
There is some good news from Nick, however:
My emphasis. O happy man! Conservatives aren't known for hypocrisy.
Are they?
Update Thursday 6:30 am. Matthew Turner finds the consistency of Nick Cohen 'spooky'. NB the date of his attack was 24 February 2003 - after he met (and claims to have been impressed by) Browne. I was going to add an update to say that Nick clearly meant he met Browne in 2000 not 2002. Now I'm not sure about that.
So today Nick Cohen, Anthony Browne, and political correctness.
Some notes:
I first met Anthony Browne, Boris Johnson's new policy director, in the newsroom of The Observer in 2002. ...
I realised my mistake when he started to rave about dentists. ...
Journalists on liberal papers didn't criticise health workers in those days and I assumed his plan to take on the dental profession would get nowhere. Wrong again. Every one of Browne's criticisms turned out to be accurate and an impressed editor organised a campaign against rip-off dentists.
My ellipses. When did you meet him, Nick? You see, he wrote Inquiry into rip-off dentists launched on Sunday March 10, 2002.
A government spending watchdog has launched a special inquiry into Britain's dentists, prompted by The Observer's 'Rip-Off Dentists' campaign.
...
The Observer campaign, which ran in spring 2000, revealed that dentists in Britain do around £200 million of unnecessary work each year to earn more money.
My ellipsis. Nick met Anthony Browne two years after the Observer's 'Rip-Off Dentists' campaign. The Observer is a liberal paper and it obviously had "criticise[d] health workers" in those days. And the campaign probably had impressed the Audit Commission when Browne mentioned it (otherwise it would just be two-year-old news), so when Nick first heard of it (he obviously doesn't read the paper he writes for) it had got somewhere. Does Nick Cohen have early onset Alzheimer's or something? Or is he just really really stupid?
Oh, here's some more Anthony Browne. Warning: Hate Mail. Second warning: article does not contain argument. Merely lots of assertions in a rather creepy 2 sentence to a paragraph format.
After decades of erosion of personal responsibility in the public and political sphere, David Cameron may just have signalled that it is about to make a comeback.
My emphasis. The word 'decades' is interesting, given the title of the piece: "If Mr Cameron has the courage to bring morality back into politics, he will truly be Thatcher's heir". So who is eroding "personal responsibility"? Well it can't have been Thatcher, can it? Maybe the rot started with John Major. Even so, he only got into Number 10 in 1990. Er, let's see 8 take away zero, that's 8. Zero take away 9, that's um ... eleventy billion decades! No it's not: it's not even two. Is Anthony Browne just really really stupid?
There is some good news from Nick, however:
And so it is, but I sense a fault in Browne because I have sensed it in myself. If you are not careful, you can allow yourself to become so blinded by the hypocrisies of the liberal establishment you can't see what is in front of your nose.
My emphasis. O happy man! Conservatives aren't known for hypocrisy.
Are they?
Update Thursday 6:30 am. Matthew Turner finds the consistency of Nick Cohen 'spooky'. NB the date of his attack was 24 February 2003 - after he met (and claims to have been impressed by) Browne. I was going to add an update to say that Nick clearly meant he met Browne in 2000 not 2002. Now I'm not sure about that.
posted by Chardonnay Chap at 7/23/2008 09:12:00 PM
9 Comments:
Oh God. It's that Anthony Browne who wrote that idiotic pamphlet The Retreat Of Reason, isn't it?
You know they always ask you where you where when Kennedy was assassinated, or when you heard "the king" had died? Well when was it that you realised that Nick had completely lost the plot?
For me there were intimations in the 'Send 'em back to be tortured in Algeria' article but the clincher was the "Jew baiter" comment at HP.
I think Justin's comments about how apostates like Nick lose their political and moral bearings was very astute. In Nick's case it is amplified by the fact that he has burnt his bridges with all his old confidents on the left, by launching vitriolic scattergun attacks on all and sundry.
He's now adrift and has latched onto Dean Godson, Pope Oliver and David T for guidance.
God help him.
Did I say that? (I may well have done, but when you're in your forties your memory goes the way of all flesh.)
Anthony Browne, oh my oh my!
Even Harry's Place wouldn't touch that one.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sorry, correct link
That was three years ago, the Morlocks might have degenerated still further since then.
You know they always ask you where you where when Kennedy was assassinated, or when you heard "the king" had died? Well when was it that you realised that Nick had completely lost the plot?
When he fell out with Peter Wilby at the Staggers several years ago, and said it was Wilby's fault. I saw the canary at the bottom of the cage there and then; I read AW so I can spare myself the bother of reading Cohen's decline in the raw.
[redpesto]
When did I think that Nick had lost the plot?
The article in late 2002 that said that the INC were the future for Iraq set off some alarm bells. Before that Nick had been original and thought-provoking. That article was obviously based on someone's talking points or the result of a free lunch.
Moussaka Man
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