I must confess I’m one of those shallow people who’s drawn to a newspaper by the personalities.
For decades I’ve had an insane crush of Julie Burchill. At one stage I’d convert to a publication that ran her magnificent polemics. Even style magazines. It was that bad.
There are must be thousands out there like me, or publishers would never have thrown so much money at her over the years. I think certain men must be drawn to these magnificent Amazons, like moths to a flame.
Columnists like Julie Bindell, David Mitchell and Quentin Letts are all crowd pullers. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stop myself from rubbernecking at the car crash columns by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Penny Dreadful of the New Statesperson.
But there few columnists that persuade you to actually pay for a publication.
I think what I’m trying to say, is yes, I did buy The Sun again the other day. It’s Rod Liddle that made me do it.
He’s got everything I like in a columnist. He’s insane, left wing and a bit scary (he despises people from my part of south London). Despite these terrible handicaps, he has moments of brilliance.
Liddle got to the heart of the matter about Brighton Council’s mad scheme to define baby’s genders.
At four years old there are only two categories of children: Willy make a mess in the toilet? Or won’t she?
Brighton Council, as with so many creative left wing aggrievance collectives, is terrified of the simple absolutes of nature.
Such as the fact that children have two types of chromosome: XX and XY.
They must be chromophobic.
Shouldn’t this chromophobia disqualify them from working with children?
If only Brighton Council, and other left wing myopics, could be encouraged to embrace a diversity of opinions. Maybe not the Katie Hopkins column in Mail Online though. I’m not sure that’s very constructive.
(Image: Cory Doctorow)
