A few of the press copies of Perverting The Course Of Justice have started dropping on desks.
Kelvin MacKenzie gives it a big-up in today's Sun, telling his eight million readers: 'You must buy (this book), which gives a fascinating insight by an anonymous police inspector (he would be sacked if they knew who he was) into the shocking problems coppers face in bringing justice to our streets. It tells how time-wasting, paperwork, bureaucracy and political correctness have got worse, not better, under Labour. Having admired his style, my advice for him is that, when he hangs up his boots, he should be a Sun columnist. He’s that good!!!!!!'
I'm not sure whether those six exclamation marks mean he's taking the mickey (Kelvin and I have a bit of history), or he's actually serious about Gadget's future writing career, but either way it's a nice review to get.
Some people don't much like Kelvin, or The Sun, but no-one can deny he is the most successful tabloid newspaper editor of his generation and, as such, he knows a good read when he sees it.
Now, if Nick Cohen can just give us the same kudos he gave Wasting Police Time and It's Your Time You're Wasting we'll have both ends of the political spectrum boxed off.
To have Cohen describe two of our titles as being among the three 'best of today's political books' was a great plus.
By the way, if you have time, read the comment thread below the article to see how some people just don't get that the people who suffer most from poor schools and weak policing are the poor ie the people The Observer is supposed to be all about.
While the contributors squabble about Maggie Thatcher, Norman Tebbit and how far left or far right Nick Cohen is, thousands of ordinary people, of both sexes and all races, get a terrible education or live in fear of their local scumbags. I think it's called democracy.
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Thursday, 25 September 2008
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4 comments:
All praise is good, and having bought and read the book myself, i think it is probably the best of the policing books so far. I cant wait for the sequel (hint hint).
However, how could anyone consider working for the Sun newspaper a career in writing.
hee hee...good question AD!...Monday??
It's easy to sneer at The Sun and its readers*. But then, I guess it's easy to sneer at most papers and most readers if that's your bag. I don't think any media organisation, from the BBC to The Guardian to The Mail to the Currant Bun, is without its detractors.
On the career question, I'd imagine most people with anything to say about the world around them would love to write a column for The Sun (I don't think Kelvin was serious, by the way, and it wouldn't be his decision if he was!).
Gadget is seriously risking his job, and his house and his family's security, to try to get across a message about policing. If he sells as well as Copperfield, he'll shift 50-60,000 copies; The Sun sells way more than that in Birmingham alone every day.
So Gadget could achieve his aim, of alerting people to what he sees as the creeping death of our society, much more efficiently through a newspaper column that he ever could through a book (albeit that books get passed around lots of people and have a shelf life beyond that of a newspaper).
So, yes, I think it would be a career (not least, it would pay five or more times what his current job does), and a good one at that.
Dave, we're working on a sequel as we speak.
*Not that there is, or ever was, a lumpen mass of people you could define as 'Sun readers', despite what millionaires like Billy Bragg and Ben Elton might have you believe. I'm not up to speed with the current stats, but I'm pretty sure they have more ABC1 readers than The Times and more left wing readers than The Guardian. Don't forget, most people buy papers out of habit, family tradition or to read about the football. I can't say whether The Sun's football coverage is any good, because I hate football, mind you.
I am one of the MOPs that ordered and read Inspector Gadget's book 'Perverting the Course of Justice' and I couldn't put it down. I found it very enlightening and it told me a lot I didn't know.
I have written a review of the book on my blog. It is the first book I've read about the police and written by a Policeman.
I am about to order the other two, the Copperfield one and the PC Bloggs one.
I told a friend about IG's Blog and he ordered the book too, but also ordered the other two. He said I should read them.
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