Newspaper Article

Two cheers for an Old Welsh Git

Sweeney, John

1999

Overview

OLD WELSH GITTERY has always been a pleasure to read, ever since Kingsley Amis knocked out Lucky Jim. To this rich oeuvre comes John Humphrys, the brilliantly snarling Welsh dragon of the Today programme. He breathes fire at the victim culture, the rise and rise of advertising and the end of shame. Humphrys on the admass: `The difference is that advertisers seldom sell things any longer; they sell lifestyle images. There was a time when adverts were used to highlight the quality of a product now if you buy the spade you are promised, by association, a whole new lifestyle.' Humphrys on the end of remorse: `Derek Draper, you will recall, was a young Labour lobbyist who was at the centre of an expose by The Observer in 1998 it was a classic case of shaming, in that he exposed himself as an arrogant, boastful, big-mouthed, cynical and shameless individual on the make, whose main interest, as he put it, was in `stuffing pounds 250 an hour into my bank account\". It was the sort of exposure which, in a society that still had a sense of shame, would make you want to crawl under the nearest stone but shameful notoriety did not mean oblivion. It meant an opportunity for celebrity.'

• Publisher: Guardian News & Media Limited
• Subject: Redhead, Brian