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 | Popped Clog: Bernard Levin Posted by Peter Cresswell on 8/23/2004, 5:03am | |
| Bernard Levin is dead. He was my very favourite columnist -- for my five years in London he was the single best reason to buy The Times. Never once in the nearly five-hundred or so columns of his that I eagerly consumed did he fail to include a nugget of crucial wisdom or a delightful gem of vitriol, or to display a delightfully elegant wit. He invented the phrase "Nanny State," and he excoriated all examples of it. His choice of enemies was impeccable: dictators; Tory politicians; Labour politicians; bank managers; lawyers; bad plays; and anti-Semites -- he was banned from both South Africa and the Soviet Union. He loathed and despised political correctness, and campaigned against it. Famously vituperative, and resoundingly alive, he was a fascinating piece of work. Like his hero H.L. Mencken, his prose could draw blood. Of one vacuous trollop then in British politics he wrote: When I met Tessa Jowell a few years ago, I asked her Freud's question: "What do you think women want?" Instantly, she replied: "Safety. Women want safety." I thought - typical of the kind of female who goes into politics. A nanny.Farewell Bernard. | ||
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