The publisher of my last book was Weidenfeld and Nicolson, which is owned by Orion Publishing. Today it was reported that Orion has paid an advance of 150,000 pounds to drug addict musician Pete Doherty for his memoirs. They might just as well have cut out the middle man and delivered him a sack full of white powder. Who on earth believes Pete Doherty is physically or mentally capable of writing a sentence let alone a book? The only sentence he is capable of writing is a death sentence - his own. Perhaps Orion executives might contemplate what message this sends out to impressionable teenagers as well as its own authors.
16 comments:
Pete Doherty both writes, and plays, his brilliant songs whilst being smacked-up. What says his book won't be equally illuminating regardless of the state in which he writes it?
Also, on a completely different matter, how do I get a pass for the Labour conference, and when is the deadline for doing so? I've been on the party website to look but the only thing I can see is the application form for Exhibtors and contractor passes. Are you and/or the Politico's stand attending?
Clearly when people take drugs, they lose the right to speak.
spl, you always manage to come out with complete bollocks don't you. Why do you bother commenting? I mean, look at your own picture - you look like a complete liberal weener. Get some clearasil and use it.
The longer Pete Doherty goes without being suitably punished, the more ridiculous the situation becomes. It is clear to absolutely anyone that he is taking drugs.
Like Mick Jagger before him, people (potentially younger generations) will look at Pete Doherty and the treatment he receives from the police (ie. 'on your way son' with a smack on the wrist) and believe that taking drugs is both acceptable and lawful.
This is completely the wrong attitude to portray - and something must be done. I suggest locking up Pete Doherty and Kate Moss for a couple of years - but I suppose that is too sensible a suggestion, so won't happen, especially since our police 'service' are too busy dealing with 'priority' homophobic, racist or islamaphobic cases.
I think the way the media give Docherty attention, of whatever sort, is shameful and only glamourises his problems
spl says: "Clearly when people take drugs, they lose the right to speak."
This would be correct. Boring the brains out of everyone else should be a custodial offence.
Obviously the blogger gremlins have stolen my comment. What business is it of anyones as to what Pete Doherty decides to do to his own body? He can obviously pay for it out of his own funds,why should the rest of us care?
As for literary talent under the influence, Dickens, Baudelaire, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas de Quincey, Shelley, Byron and Coleridge alll had laudanum addictions. The latter three are arguably the finest writers England has ever produced outside of Shakespeare and Milton. If anything, we should be encouraging drug taking amongst aspiring writers.
Phone Cam Foolery,
That relly is no way to talk about Oliver Letwin!
I believe Pete read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford. Maybe it'll be good.
Although being just a few months away from a pension, I am blessed with a delightful daughter who is rapidly approaching 16. She is a dedicated fan of punk rock which to me is a cacophony of murderous noise played by gangs of foul mouthed yobs. To her ears it is pure music! She is a clever girl, studies hard and is an achiever so I "carefully" allow her music without comment and with little encouragement. She was reading reports about Doherty recently and remarked that his music wasn't bad, but if he needs to be pumped up with drugs to play it, then he's useless. She was also appalled by his talentless performance at last year's "Live Aid" charity event when Elton John was trying (badly)to convince the audience that Doherty was a rising star!
Presumably the message it sends out is that controlled drug use is possible. Doherty can take drugs, hold down a job and collect £150,000 in a publishing advance. Not bad. Not many non-drug users could manage that.
If Doherty was committing crimes to fund his drug use then you could have a complaint but the fact he is self-financing means it is no business of yours or anyone else what he does.
Book or no book, this guy will be dead before he's thirty. He can't stop the drug-taking and based on the past experience of his predecessors it'll get him in the end, whether there's more cash to fund his "lifestyle choices" or not. Preferably it'll be sooner rather than later, and then we'll all be spared having to read more stuff about him in the press/ on TV. But what a sad legacy - to die famous (among the majority of the population at least) solely for being an unrepentant druggie and ex-boyfriend of Kate Moss, rather than for his musical endeavours!
"Clearly when people take drugs, they lose the right to speak."
Booze and fags anyone?
The market gives Doherty 150,000 and Iain Dale takes a "shouldn't be allowed" tack.
Iain...you really have turned from Thatcherite to Cameroon.
short of adultaration, or mixing heroin with other drugs, users are unlikely to die of its effects. Actual overdoses are incredibly rare due to the body's tolerance, which is markedly increased in addicts. The adultaration problem is easily solved through proper licensing, and mixing can be avoided with education. The war on drugs can't be won using current tactics. Supply continues to increase, and prices continue to fall. The key is to lower demand through education and help those who wish to give up, and failing that, a regulated and licensed system of decriminalisation.
OTOH, Mick Jagger and his band have OD'd on every substance known to man and although they look awful, they're still pretty peppy and still raking in boatloads of money.
Erm actually Pete Doherty got a place at Oxbridge to study English before he became an international rocker.
Last time I heard, Oxbridge has a better reputation then UEA....
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