Is this David Cameron's Watergate? Probably not. But the Murdoch brand is becoming surprisingly toxic just as it is on the verge of monopolising the mediascape in the UK. The news that the News of the World hacked into the phones of victims of terrible crimes, such as child murder, and terrorist bombings, is so unwholesome and upsetting that it is amazing the grubby little people responsible have not hung themselves in shame. But no, this is the brash, empty selfish world of London journalism, filled with massive egos suffering from personality disorders one normally finds in insane empires. Something needs to be done. Little will be.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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Rupert Murdoch has been at war with the BBC for at least thirty years and now the BBC is returning him a heavy dose of his own medicine. We don't have Sky TV and my idea of Hell is to have the Britsih media run by a bunch of wide boys (and girls) from Essex and East London.
Best wishes from Simon