nourishing obscurity

… at two of the few non-leftist papers.

Whenever approaching a topic like this, where there are going to be barbs aplenty, the ghost of Cherie keeps hovering in the mind, saying, “Now you’ll never get anywhere, James, being nasty to people. If you swish to win friends and influence people, try being nice.”

And she’s right, absolutely right, as my mother was.

However, when Chuckles sent Stephen Pollard’s piece on Stephen Fry, it was always going to be delicious. As regulars here are sick of hearing, the people who were most welcoming when I began blogging were Stephen Pollard, Oliver Kamm, Norman Geras, Tim Worstall, Devil’s Kitchen, Chris Dillow and Mr Eugenides.

Stephen Pollard was where I was regularly commenting at the time and I thought I’d give it a go. At one stage, I nicked his entire piece about El Bulli and changed it round in my triple Saga, attributing of course. His piece on New Year’s Eve parties and why he hates them – compulsory conga lines for one – was a classic.

So his was one journo piece to enjoy for a change without having to go straight to comments after the tagline. However, it hit me like a smakeroo blurby right between the eyes that the comments really make an article these days – we might be down on these socio-political times but that is one advance I’d not like to see lost.

And on Fry, the boys and girls were going strong. Now this post is not designed to have a go at Fry per se, it’s just to showcase commenters, as it says on the tin above [yes I know that's an appalling cliche these days]. So here are some on Sir Stephen:

# I agree with you, and I do reach for the click-click whenever he appears nowadays, however, I am afraid that he will remain on the television for quite some time, as he manages to tick almost every box that a commissioner might have – a homosexualist, handicapped by virtue of bi-polar, frightful leftie, over weight, and, dare I say, he even has Jewish ancestors…

With such a CV he doesn’t even have to be witty…

# National Treasures??!! HA HA HA. Yes, we have lots of them thrust at us by the media, and what ridiculous, invariably sexually confused specimens they are. Fry is just another example of it.

# On the internet too – I recently needed a picture of a tin of sardines from google images and a cartoon of Fry managed to come up in the top ten search results…

It’s all because the poor fellow suffers very badly from depression and will have a breakdown if not constantly told how clever he is. Maybe we should just see it as our public duty to keep him happy?

# … and now he can get married too.

LOL.

# They used to call Jimmy Savile a ‘National Treasure’. ‘Nuff said.

# I like Peter Hitchens’ remark that Stephen Fry appeals to metropolitan liberals because he combines the manners and appearance of an English gentleman with the opinions of a Trotskyist lunatic..or words to that effect.

# The default position of the BBC these days is to applaud any reference to sodomy as wit, and use any avenue to criticise Christianity and Catholicism in particular. Hence we have the ubiquitous and odious Fry, who will undertake both without any prompting.

# Mock not Sir Stephen Fry. He is on a par of eminence and esteem with Mr Elton John, Ms Tracey Emin, the late Ms Jade Goody, the sage Mr Bob Geldof, and the not yet late, but hopefully soon to be, Sir Peter Hain, to name but a few shining stars in the constellation of fame.

Oh yes, the Albion Alliance [a minor irritant organization around the time of the last General Election] and Peter Hain have more than a passing acquaintance. Something about right-wing extremists I think it was.

LOL.

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