Lies and humiliation
Extras (BBC 1), Parkison: The Final Conversation (ITV), Sense and Sensibility (BBC 1), David Cameron's Incredible Journey (BBC 2), The Hidden Story of Jesus (Channel 4)
There were no great revelations in David Cameron’s Incredible Journey (BBC2, 20 December) except for a depressing reminder that politics really is now all about presentation and PR. Cameron gave Cockerell no personal access, presumably because he couldn’t have controlled it. Pols used to have the naive idea that if the public could see them as they really were, then they’d like and admire them as much as they like and admire themselves. Cameron knows that’s not the point — he has a persona and it has to be guarded. To rub the point home, everything Cameron had done in his two years as Tory leader was assessed by Tory Tim Bell, an ad man, Lib Dem Lord Razzell, a campaign manager, and the master of the dark arts himself, Alastair Campbell. The question was not ‘will this man make a good prime minister?’ but ‘will the British public buy this product when they visit the supermarket on polling day?’ Gripping but deeply depressing.
I wondered how Channel 4 would tackle the subject of Jesus on Christmas Day. They have a reputation for iconoclasm: Captain Bligh — a great sailor. The Few — what a bunch of cowards! Elizabeth I — probably was a bloke in drag. But in The Hidden Story of Jesus they didn’t knock Christ, but pointed out how almost all the elements in the Christian myth — bread and wine, feeding of the 5,000, virgin birth, etc. — could be found in other, earlier, religions. It was as if there was an Alastair Campbell figure supervising the gospels as an early press release: ‘Look, the punters expect walking on water. Yeah, and we’d better have the slaughter of the innocents, everyone else does...’
More articles from: Simon Hoggart | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Meditation on meaning
Andrew LambirthRothko
Tate Modern, until 1 February 2009
Garden shorts
Ursula BuchanUrsula Buchan on the new chief presenter of BBC 2’s Gardeners' World
A power to enthral
Henrietta BredinHenrietta Bredin on how book illustrations can bring the narrative to life
The turf
Robin OakleyTeam tactics
Campaigning genius
James DelingpoleJamie’s Ministry of Food (Channel 4, Tuesday); Ian Hislop Goes off the Rails (BBC4, Thursday)
Shared Opinion
Hugo RifkindIt didn’t occur to Cameron that White Van Man might be trying to pat him on the back
Shared Opinion
Hugo Rifkind
The view from 2018: how it all went wrong for Prime Minister Osborne
The Pope was wrong
Andrew RobertsAndrew Roberts on two new books on Pius XII
Nudge, nudge: meet the Cameroons’ new guru
James ForsythThe economist Richard Thaler — a favourite of the Cameron and Obama camps — talks to James Forsyth about the power of ‘nudging’: small transformative acts of persuasion
Breathless approach
Simon HoggartBritain's Lost World (BBC1); How the West Was Lost (BBC4); Last of the Dambusters (Five); Dickens's Secret Lover (Channel 4)
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus or sky hd.
Sky TV, Broadband & Talk from £16 a Month
Sky TV & free broadband packages available from £16 a month. Choose from a standard free sky box, sky plus...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Highbrow
January 3rd, 2008 11:43pmI have always thought Parkinson absurd, a grown man, who was allegedly once a serious journalist,asking sycophantic questions, doubtless enabled by an army of earnest researchers, of actresses and rock singers, whom he pretended to take seriously. His one service to the cause of sanity in public life was that, by pretending to take these hapless bimbos at their own face value, he induced them into displays of hubris which exposed their own absurd self-absorbtion to a grateful public. Helen Mirren was a prime example. If only one had only seen her in "The Queen" and not subsequently on Parkinson. One is reminded of Woody Allan saying that if he had his life over again he would do everything the same but would not have seen the film of "The Magus".Was Parkinson not just a canny businessman who jumped on the celebrity culture bandwagon, saw he was onto a good thing, lowered his standards and made a pile out of being lowbrow? In Blair's Britain, this is the way to a knighthood or the peerage.