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Media Monkey: James Murdoch, Steve Coogan, and the Daily Mail Media Monkey: James Murdoch, Steve Coogan, and the Daily Mail
(about 2 months later)
✒Quizzed on stage recently, James Murdoch wryly compared his experiences in the UK (above all the BSkyB ownership row and the phone-hacking scandal) to two books published by an arm of his dad's company, Hilary Mantel's Tudor novels centred on Thomas Cromwell. Anyone should read them, he said, who "wants to think about the intersection of politics and commerce and everything, because it was ever thus … It was very helpful to me going through that". When the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall arrives on screen, there will be ample opportunity to spot the parallels – with the ageing, ailing monarch, the courtiers who seem indispensable then fall out of favour, the cast-out wives, the enemy empire, etc – that gripped him. In the interview, he only cites one specific character as especially resonant, saying "the second book is particularly great on the prosecution of Anne Boleyn". It's a pity Anne's hair wasn't red, but who he has in mind is fairly clear.✒Quizzed on stage recently, James Murdoch wryly compared his experiences in the UK (above all the BSkyB ownership row and the phone-hacking scandal) to two books published by an arm of his dad's company, Hilary Mantel's Tudor novels centred on Thomas Cromwell. Anyone should read them, he said, who "wants to think about the intersection of politics and commerce and everything, because it was ever thus … It was very helpful to me going through that". When the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall arrives on screen, there will be ample opportunity to spot the parallels – with the ageing, ailing monarch, the courtiers who seem indispensable then fall out of favour, the cast-out wives, the enemy empire, etc – that gripped him. In the interview, he only cites one specific character as especially resonant, saying "the second book is particularly great on the prosecution of Anne Boleyn". It's a pity Anne's hair wasn't red, but who he has in mind is fairly clear.
✒Rob Wilson MP is winning many friends among newspapers for his tenacious pursuit of common enemies – notably the BBC and anything involving Lord Justice Leveson. The Tory MP may not have dazzled since winning Reading East in 2005 – he is still serving time as PPS to Jeremy Hunt – but he has certainly won over Fleet Street with his Rottweiller questioning of the corporation and the Leveson inquiry. Wilson is remarkably well-informed about some of the innermost and confidential sanctums of Leveson. So much so that inevitable questions are being asked about monkeys and organ grinders …✒Rob Wilson MP is winning many friends among newspapers for his tenacious pursuit of common enemies – notably the BBC and anything involving Lord Justice Leveson. The Tory MP may not have dazzled since winning Reading East in 2005 – he is still serving time as PPS to Jeremy Hunt – but he has certainly won over Fleet Street with his Rottweiller questioning of the corporation and the Leveson inquiry. Wilson is remarkably well-informed about some of the innermost and confidential sanctums of Leveson. So much so that inevitable questions are being asked about monkeys and organ grinders …
✒Coincidence? Last Wednesday's premiere of Alpha Papa, starring that arch-foe of press misdemeanours Steve Coogan, merited news coverage (a front-page photo, in one case) and a first-night review, judged the Guardian and Independent – the papers most in sympathy with his stance on phone hacking. And the others? No doubt still dazzled by the royal baby, they all managed to give it a miss.✒Coincidence? Last Wednesday's premiere of Alpha Papa, starring that arch-foe of press misdemeanours Steve Coogan, merited news coverage (a front-page photo, in one case) and a first-night review, judged the Guardian and Independent – the papers most in sympathy with his stance on phone hacking. And the others? No doubt still dazzled by the royal baby, they all managed to give it a miss.
✒Monkey is often asked "how old can you be and still be called a 'girl' by the Daily Mail?" It's a tricky area, but a recent piece featuring Kate Winslet and Guardian alumna Allegra Stratton ("the star, the Newsnight girl and their (not so) chic pregnancy look in the heat") did indicate that the figure is 33 or higher; and also usefully established that in Mail-world pregnancy need not end girl status. However, arriving at a satisfactory account of the mental landscape behind such thinking may be a job for an anthropologist.✒Monkey is often asked "how old can you be and still be called a 'girl' by the Daily Mail?" It's a tricky area, but a recent piece featuring Kate Winslet and Guardian alumna Allegra Stratton ("the star, the Newsnight girl and their (not so) chic pregnancy look in the heat") did indicate that the figure is 33 or higher; and also usefully established that in Mail-world pregnancy need not end girl status. However, arriving at a satisfactory account of the mental landscape behind such thinking may be a job for an anthropologist.
✒It was when Tom Watson MP took to writing about himself in the third person (in his co-written book) that Monkey first became worried about the doughty campaigner. Then, more recently, came his third resignation, eccentrically voicing regret that party duties had made him miss Glastonbury. And now Watson, asked for a summer reading choice by the New Statesman, has plumped (as "a self-help guide for a gentler, more tender politics") for Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, an author beloved of 60s and 70s hippies. Concern continues to grow, but as long as he's still wearing those 1950s-style, most un-hippy Harsh Spectacles of Truth there must be every hope of a full recovery.✒It was when Tom Watson MP took to writing about himself in the third person (in his co-written book) that Monkey first became worried about the doughty campaigner. Then, more recently, came his third resignation, eccentrically voicing regret that party duties had made him miss Glastonbury. And now Watson, asked for a summer reading choice by the New Statesman, has plumped (as "a self-help guide for a gentler, more tender politics") for Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, an author beloved of 60s and 70s hippies. Concern continues to grow, but as long as he's still wearing those 1950s-style, most un-hippy Harsh Spectacles of Truth there must be every hope of a full recovery.
✒ Monkey's quote of the week: "I asked how many centimetres [the Duchess of Cambridge's cervix was dilated], but they said it's not the kind of information they give out." (Kay Burley, Sky News)✒ Monkey's quote of the week: "I asked how many centimetres [the Duchess of Cambridge's cervix was dilated], but they said it's not the kind of information they give out." (Kay Burley, Sky News)
✒Runner-up: "I don't talk to the Guardian." (Burley to MediaGuardian's Lisa O'Carroll)✒Runner-up: "I don't talk to the Guardian." (Burley to MediaGuardian's Lisa O'Carroll)
✒ Horatio Nelson special award for discretion taken to preposterous lengths: goes to the Daily Telegraph's Tim Stanley, who made the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal the basis for columnar waffle about "politicians who have risked a career for a casual sexual liaison". Ron Davies, Mark Oaten and Francois Mitterrand were the scant examples cited, with the most obvious mayoral-politics parallel – Boris Johnson – somehow overlooked. But then Boris does have a regular, lucrative slot on the same op-ed page.✒ Horatio Nelson special award for discretion taken to preposterous lengths: goes to the Daily Telegraph's Tim Stanley, who made the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal the basis for columnar waffle about "politicians who have risked a career for a casual sexual liaison". Ron Davies, Mark Oaten and Francois Mitterrand were the scant examples cited, with the most obvious mayoral-politics parallel – Boris Johnson – somehow overlooked. But then Boris does have a regular, lucrative slot on the same op-ed page.
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