Sunday, April 15, 2007

What Should Politicians Read on the Loo?


Today's Black Dog column in the Mail on Sunday contains a wonderful anecdote from someone close to David Miliband. He says: "

David is the kind of person who reads books on the loo.


So that set me thinking. Which books do you think David Miliband, or indeed any other politician, reads on the loo? And don't get too carried away or I will have to put comment moderation back on!

18 comments:

  1. David is the kind of person who reads books on the loo.

    That’s almost as good as “tucks his shirt into his underpants.”

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  2. What's wrong with reading books on the loo? How else are you going to pass the time?

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  3. David Cameron - "Much Ado About Nothing".

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  4. Did they say whether he kept his pants on or off?

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  5. Maybe "Betrayal of Science and Reason" by Paul and Anne Ehrlich.

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  6. I always imagine that a book Blair reads is "How to Loose Friends and Alienate People"

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  7. I expect he reads anything to do with 'fantasy worlds' while on the loo I expect, like pretty much every other member of the Labour Party.

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  8. Can anyone provide me with the list of the Janet & John books so I can guess what he reads?

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  9. The House at Pooh corner Or War and Pees?

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  10. What a bloody insight into New Labour - for them it's unusual to read in the loo. Dear God. I suppose the rest of them stare into a mirror on the loo door?

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  11. It depends on whether you see constipation as a window on character.

    Rolf Norfolk

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  12. Reading on the loo is a common habit picked up by people who were raised with newspapers in the little boy's room rather than Izal.

    Don't do it it shows lack of breeding.

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  13. Does this habit mean that Milly Band is anally retentive??

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  14. One autumn/winter, I read The Brothers Karamazov and the Old Testament on the loo. Not continuously of course.

    It's surprising how memorable some passages remain - early morning reading does that, I suppose.

    There are some books you want to read, but you couldn't do it any other way. Except in bed while convalescing from an operation etc.

    Blair reads Belloc's Cautionary Tales for Children' - but has failed so far to take in the moral of any of them.

    Gordo reads the protocolls of the Third Internationale and 'Das Kapital'.

    Peter Hain reads 'Which Car'.

    David Cameron reads the Guardian.

    Des Browne reads 'Reader's Wives'.

    Geoff Hoon reads 'Janet and John'.

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  15. Um, dare I ask how long he's in there? Is that where he's been all this time Guido's been looking for him? It would trouble me if I saw someone head into the loo with, say, Gore Vidal's United States or the Durant's History of Western Civilization, even that really skinny volume, #7 isn't it?

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  16. Any recommendations for books to stock the smallest room in the house?

    E.g. I think you'll find Panzner's "Financial Armageddon" loosens the bowels nicely.

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  17. Probably the Opposition's manifesto, for laughs. Printed upon soft paper, of course.

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  18. He could of course use his father's softback edition of Parliamentry Socialism in lieu of Andrex.

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