Monday 21 July 2008

Joy Division oven gloves

Charlie Brooker is explaining in the Guardian today how to ensure your blog gets lots of hits by using certain popular search terms. This might have been news to me a few weeks ago.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The interesting thing about Brooker is he went to a comprehensive school before managing to fail his Media Studies degree at London Poly. And he's the best writer on The Guardian by a country mile.

Despite this, how come the alleged meritocrats at the country's left of centre establishment newspaper continue to solely employ clueless privately educated Oxbridge Jessies?

Kerry said...

Do they? Only Guardian writer I've really spoken to is Sarfraz Manzoor, who grew up in Marsh Farm (for non-Lutonians, definitely not posh), and went to Luton Sixth Form College - several years after me. But I guess he's freelance, not a staffer.

CB might have gone to a comp but he grew up somewhere called Brightwell-cum-Sotwell (local MP Ed Vaizey, next door neighbour David Cameron) and his real name is Charlton. Not very 'street' is it? Unless he was named after the footballer? But he is a great writer.

Anonymous said...

As you point out Sarfraz is an occasional contributor. He's not a staff writer or even a regular columnist.

I'd defy you to name a senior editor, a section editor, leader writer or any regular columnist from the news section that didn't either attend a private school or have an Oxbridge education.

Indeed can anyone name any regular broadsheet columnist or key BBC political correspondent that didn't attend an Oxbridge College?

It would seem this country's political commentariat is drawn from an even narrower pool than our politicians, where we find only about two-thirds of the cabinet are products of private education and/or elite universities.

Kerry said...

Gary Younge? But I accept that's clutching at straws. You're probably right.

Speaking of Sarfraz, he's got an interesting new piece on Comment is Free. I'm going to post it separately.

Kerry said...

Someone who knows someone at the Guardian has told me they've been racking their brains too! But their managing editor left school at 16:

Christopher Martin Elliott
Managing editor

Education - Left school at 16

Career
2000 : Managing editor, the Guardian
1998-2000:Executive editor
1995: Guardian, newsdesk
1983-1995: Sunday Telegraph, home affairs correspondent; Sunday Correspondent, chief reporter; The Times, assistant news editor
1970-1983: local newspapers

But you're going to say he comes from a different era, aren't you? And you may well be right.

Kerry said...

Yes, but do you sell oven gloves?