The Blasted Heath

I once saw the word "Journaputes" scrawled on a wall in Toulouse in SW France, alluding to the whore-like nature of journalists. Now, I have considerably more respect for prostitutes than I have for the race of hacks. Particularly odious are the ex-lefties turned fawning Blairites. Chief among these are, of course, the appalling David" I Was a Teenage Stalinist" Aaronovitch and the equally abysmal Nick Cohen.
The veteran anarchist Albert Meltzer mentioned one of this breed in his book "I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels" when he refers to one time anarchist Wynford Hicks, then at the start of his career as a journalist. "As I half expected would happen, one of my least favourite people, Wynford Hicks (whose father-in-law subsequently wrote the rubbishy book saying I was a secret member of the IRA who had hidden in the Common Wealth party to emulate the feats of the Spanish anarchists in sabotaging their own war effort), an acolyte of professional secularist Nicolas Walter, then going through the usual stage of radical alternative journalist as a preliminary to becoming a mainstream one, the minute he got the chance, did not fail to smear and sneer, implying I was ratting. Had he been taken seriously and the allegations glibly made in his circle been true, it could have been a death sentence. He retracted saying he was joking. "
Wynford Hicks taught Paul Anderson sub-editing at the London College of Printing. Anderson, after a similar trawl through the libertarian movement, has himself ended up in the same position as Aaronovitch and Cohen. Like Cohen , he called for support for Oona King in the constituency in which I live.
Recently, he ladled out copious praise for Chris Pallis, one of the founders of Solidarity. Anderson had been a member of that grouping in the 80s. Unlike me, he did not attend Pallis's funeral, considering his paeans of praise. That's probably because he knew he would have got short shrift from many of those attending. Chris Pallis, whose razor-sharp mind cut through bullshit like a laser, would have been disgusted by Anderson's politics. And he has the nerve to have as a sub-title "Democratic Socialism with a libertarian punch"for his blog Gauche. And what sort of punch might that be? The dab administered by a week-old kitten to a skein of wool, perhaps. Plenty of apologies for Labour there, precious little libertarian politics.
I used to think Anderson was Aaronovitch with a smile. But when it comes down to it, Anderson can be as dismissively nasty to his opponents as the Jabba the Hutt of journalism. Insults like "cretino-leftists" are casually thrown about. But what is most appalling about this "libertarian"is the way he sells his "There is No Alternative to Labour- Give Up."
Oh, and if you ever read this, Mr. Anderson, I have as little time for the smug toad Galloway or the different variety of leftist as you claim to have. But I haven't turned into something as equally obnoxious as them.
Paul Anderson's "libertarian" blog Gauche can be read here http://libsoc.blogspot.com/