I can now die happy and contented that I have achieved one of my greatest ambitions in life. What's that, you ask? Well, to have made an appearance in the Tamzin Lightwater column in the Spectator this week. Yes, I'm a man of limited ambition, but there you are. Tamzin describes me as "you know, the man on the internet". I've been called worse, I suppose.Just over a year ago I wrote THIS post, which speculated on the identity of Tamzin Lightwater. It attracted just two comments. Let's try and do better now shall we?
Is she the one that is married to the Guardian political correspondent Bill Blanko...
ReplyDeleteRemind me, why would we be interested in the identity of someone we've never heard of ?
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of her either, but she's up to three comments now.
ReplyDeleteA fifty percent increase in a year is progress by anyone's standards.
Simon Hoggart maybe? - He's not a Tory but he writes for The Spectator and has the talent for that kind of writing. Just a guess.
ReplyDeleteGive us a clue. Is she a 'sketch' writer, or is this some sort of 'social diary' column ? Not that it makes much difference; either way it is probably another wonderful Craig Brown parody.
ReplyDeleteWho on earth reads an 'old farts' paper like the 'Spectator' anyway ?
From the Guardian website, April 9 2006
ReplyDelete"the Cameroon press officer who writes a new diary in the Spectator under the nom de plume, Tamzin Lightwater ... "
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/story/0,,1750286,00.html
A further commen.t
ReplyDeleteit's melissa kite
ReplyDeleteTotally off-topic, Iain, but worth a comment?
ReplyDeleteIn today's Daily Telegraph -
"Goldsmith 'should quit' honours inquiry after taking free holiday"
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3ccnga
Mazeltov
ReplyDeleteOh, Iain, we aren't really interested in this poppet..
ReplyDeleteFar more important is for you to ensure that if you missed 'Any Questions' last night [you may well have been listening in the car] you MUST MUST MUST 'Listen Again' to your little chipmunk Hazel Blears - the theme of the evening was leather in a surprisingly saucy departure for the show..
Roger Mellie, the man on the telly. Iain Dale, the man on the internet. It might catch on . . .
ReplyDeleteanonymous [11.20 AM] The Spectator is not an old farts' paper. I wish it was. Instead it is fast becoming a 'lifestle' mag aimed at people who earn big bonuses in the City. I am thinking of cancelling my sub.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that and I have also noticed the Spectator has turned into an extended NeoCon rant and therefore, otherwise, has become totally unreadable.
ReplyDeleteI dont think really it has ever recovered from the most sudden and tragic loss of Jeffrey Barnard whose regular excoriations of my Alma Mater I particularly enjoyed.
"It's not as if anyone reads this blog anyway."
ReplyDeleteNothing changes, eh? ;-)
I agree with lanfried that the Speccie is not what it was. As a sceptical liberal lefty I used to enjoy it for the quality of writing, the provocation and the frisson of agreeing with a surprising number of the views expressed. It does seem much more shrill and shallow now on the politics side and the 'lifestyle' stuff is even worse, more crass and vulgar, than in every other blaasted magazine mainly because it used to be more or less absent.
ReplyDeleteAs for Tamzin L column it has become one of those things that I don't even glance at. No insight, no subtlety, not funny. Dismal.
trumpeter - surprised you haven't been seduced by Richard Ingrams'..er.. enjoinders to come and enjoy the pleasure of 'The Oldie'.
ReplyDeleteAs he would put it, 'What do you mean, you didn't know it was funny..?'
Speccie is totally unreadable under that pompous prat d'Ancona.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes Melissa Kite is the name in the frame...
Having subscribed to the Speccie since the days of Alexander Chancellor I can state categorically that it has never been worse. But Fothurst, could you really describe Jeffrey Barnard's demise as 'sudden'? It was the most protacted suicide note ever written. As for Tamzin Lightwater, I do not believe it is written by a Central Office insider because it is so lacking in telling detail. My money would also be on Craig Brown (dread words). He's not as good as he used to be, either, which is not saying much.
ReplyDeleteI think Tamzin is written by a committee.
ReplyDeleteThe spectator is seriously dull . It pains me deeply to say it but the New Statesman is vastly better. That diary thing is a waste of space and ranks alongside "Posh but Poor " as items about which the sensitive critic can only ask "Why ?"
ReplyDelete..anyway thats nothing I have been in the Times , the Sun and the Strandard this week.
ReplyDeleteYou may feel free to bask in the numinous golden luminosity of my reflected glory.
The problem with the column is that most of us are not in on the in jokes, and what's more don't care.
ReplyDeleteI get a little emailed reminder every week that the new Speccie is out and I just click 'delete'.
ReplyDeleteMatthew d'Acona was the worst choice of editor. The man is a bore on wheels. His writing is just awful. His thoughts are drab. He doesn't have an eye for spotting talent.
But he's a leftie and the Barclay brothers are lefties. They made their fortune "re-developing" flats and houses to force residents out and cram more people in. They may have thought that employing the same philosophy with The Speccie would work.
Also, their website is such hell to navigate - and to what purpose, given that the content is unreadable anyway? - that I gave up months ago. I don't even look at the front page any more.
newmania: do tell. Were you arrested or sumpin'?
ReplyDeleteConsidering the pattern of your blogging "on t'internet" we can only assume that should this hilarious Tory maven be unfrocked as a girl she is genetically not fit to hold a pencil or rattle a keyboard. Another job that could be done better by a man like the bloke "on t'internet".
ReplyDeleteIt's not Petsy, by any chance? In any case, I can't make myself read it.
ReplyDeleteThe Speccie doesn't sparkle quite so much since Boris Johnson left, though Jeremy Clarke still shines.
But then, I think much of the press is awa' with the fairies as far as real issues are concerned. May I ask your readers to have a look at my blog?
Melissa Kite has been best pals with Sarah Schaeffer from their days on PA. Schaeffer is now married to d'Ancona, and Kite is godmother to one of their children.
ReplyDeleteOf course this doesn't prove that she is Tamzin Lightwater, but it all seems rather cosy, don't you think?
it's a committee, guido is right.
ReplyDeletespeccie staffer
x
Its very obvious who it is based on though!
ReplyDelete