Words matter. These are the best Simon Hoggart Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I think Tony Blair has to come down on one side or the other. You can’t be a half-hearted supporter of the possible attack on Iraq. You’re either with George Bush or you’re against him.
All over the U.S. there are people whose lives are being destroyed for lack of proper health care provision, and there is no sight more odious than the rich, powerful and arrogant trying to keep it that way.
If you read the ‘Daily Mail,’ you would imagine that the British middle classes lead lives of unremitting misery.
I’ve been intrigued by ‘Le Monde’ ever since work took me to Paris once, and I noted that on a day when there was some huge worldwide story, the paper led its front page on some cabinet changes in Turkey. It implied a magnificent disdain for the quotidian folderol of mere news.
Corney & Barrow are proud to have the royal warrant, meaning that they provide the Palace with some of the greatest – and necessarily most expensive – wines from around the world. I am pleased to say that they also hold my own warrant, for providing exceptional wines at – surprisingly – modest prices.
Watching the Commons tribute to Margaret Thatcher was like being suffocated inside a gigantic sticky toffee pudding, but one with nasty bogeys planted inside. There was much of the ‘Margaret Thatcher who was lucky enough to know me,’ especially from her own side of the House.
We all have our opinions. But I suspect that writers are actually less worth heeding, because they regard themselves as so uniquely important, so culturally sensitive.
Switzerland still has a huge share of the watch market, all advertised at the airport on illuminated hoardings. Gosh, they are ugly.
To be fair to the Inquisition, they only used confessions extracted after the torture had ended, which let them claim that admissions had been freely given; the fact that the torture would have started again if they hadn’t confessed was a minor detail.
When you actually see Barack Obama, it’s startling how slight he is and how young he looks.
Some government expenditure actually makes a profit. Our theatre leads the world. Loads of tourists must be attracted by the fact that you could spend a week in London doing nothing but visit superb museums and galleries, free.
I’ve served on five different juries, and many of them were bonkers in their own way.
There are few tribes more loathsome than the American Right, and their vicious use of the shortcomings in the NHS to attack Barack Obama’s attempts at health reform are a useful reminder.
I know of no wars started by anyone to impose lack of religion on someone else. We have lethal Sunni v Shia, Catholic against Protestant, but no agnostic suicide bombers attack crowded atheist pubs.
Jim Sheridan, the MP who wants to ban sketchwriters from the Commons for being rude about politicians, is a blithering idiot. Sorry, scrub that – clearly a very thoughtful person with whom I might conceivably disagree on some marginal issues. A blithering savant, perhaps.
Americans are fascinated by their own love of shopping. This does not make them unique. It’s just that they have more to buy than most other people on the planet. And it’s also an affirmation of faith in their country.
Every time humanists try to get a slot on ‘Thought For the Day’ on Radio 4, they are told it’s reserved for ‘the faith community,’ whatever that is. Yet ‘TfT’ is almost always pabulum about how God wants us all to love each other and care for the unfortunate. I’m sure humanists would say much the same, without God.
Denis Healey refused to contribute an article to the ‘Guardian’ about his intentions, and was punished by the electorate – and then all Labour MPs – for his presumption in assuming they already knew everything about him. He became famously the best prime minister we never had. Perhaps.
The formal Washington dinner party has all the spontaneity of a Japanese imperial funeral.
Remember how Margaret Thatcher came to believe that abroad was more important than at home? Didn’t do her much good.
In Washington, success is just a training course for failure.
During my own gap year, I learned an invaluable lesson – that I was a lousy teacher. Even though the children I ‘taught,’ in upcountry Uganda, were desperate for qualifications, they largely ignored me. Until, that is, I realised that they wanted to hear about other young persons around the world.
I think the great thing about grandparents is seeing another home, realising that people you love can have different priorities, different diversions, different opinions and lead quite different lives from the ones you see every day, and that is immensely valuable.
Living in New York is like being at some terrible late-night party. You’re tired, you’ve had a headache since you arrived, but you can’t leave because then you’d miss the party.
What puzzles me is the way that some of the smaller, unknown chateaux imagine that because Chinese millionaires pay ludicrous sums for the great names, they can overcharge for their own inferior fluids. There is no trickledown effect in wine prices.
