More Popular Than Gordon Brown Shock
Who isn’t? I hear you ask. Anyway, it’s in the Financial Times, so it must be true:
Gordon Brown enjoyed a respectful audience, but two days later Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, elicited passionate support.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1ef4e9e4-6fde-11dd-986f-0000779fd18c.html
My appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival was sold out again this year – 570 rather expensive tickets – rather to the bemusement of the organisers, who every year scratch their heads wondering who is this rude interrupter of their genteel event, and why so many people want to see him.
I enjoyed taking the opportunity to point out that some of their headline speakers are war criminals:
The one-time diplomat, who was sacked after speaking out about human rights abuses, used his appearance at the Edinburgh Book Festival to accuse Gordon Brown and John Prescott of war crimes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4526007.ece
Incidentally, I don’t get a penny from the thousands of pounds generated in ticket sales, but I greatly enjoy the event. It was a delight having Ruth Wishart as the chairman; I have long had huge respect for her journalism.
I am frequently asked why I don’t speak at the Hay-on-Wye Festival, when authors whose books sell a great deal less than mine are feted. The answer is quite simple: the New Labour loving smurfs at the Guardian, and particularly editor Alan Rusbridger, brother-in-law to Tessa Jowell and David Mills, have vetoed me from the Guardian Hay-on-Wye Festival, to give its full title.
It appears that my publisher may not be prepared to publish key points in The Catholic Orangemen of Togo. The problem is fear of the cost of defending a threatened legal action by Tim Spicer, who has made many millions from taxpayers for running mercenary operations in Iraq and can afford the rich man’s suppression of free speech through libel law.
Any extracts the publisher will not publish will be posted on this website in approximately ten days. I do hope other bloggers will mirror or re-publish to help get the truth out there.
I hope to do a Q & A on Georgia in the next few days. But it gave great amusement to my family that the three international statesmen the Independent chose to comment were John McCain, Mikhail Gorbachev and Craig Murray. You have to see the actual paper, with out photos in a row, to get the full comic effect. Strange thing is, I sound much more sensible than the other two.
It is interesting to read through the comments after that article, particularly the number of Americans with extraordinarily ill-informed views on Iraq. Really scarey. Almost as bad as this:
“I am a Zionist,” stated Senator Biden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAZmO80dLfE
Oh, the Paucity of Hope!