Punch drunk
Sir: Our office is full of popping cham- pagne corks, thanks to Stephen Glover and his review of the new Punch (Media stud- ies, 7 June). This was punditry at its best: uncomprehending, cantankerous and wildly inconsistent. I had assumed that the maga- zine would prove beyond Glover's narrow range of middlebrow, middle-class preju- dices, but to have your media critic describe our readers as 'obsessed by sex' and with low IQs — this was just the kind of ratifica- tion we've been hoping for here.
We particularly enjoyed Glover's asser- tion that the only journalism he could find in the magazine was Alexander Chancel- lor's excellent column. How would Glover classify the articles on New Labour's authoritarian Sedgefield roots; the exclu- sive interview with John Prescott's parents; on Stallone's libel battle with the News of the World; John McVicar's brilliant and brave piece on the Adams brothers; the reports from Zaire and Paris, etc.? How bold of the former editor of the Indepen- dent on Sunday to admit that he has diffi- culty in even recognising journalism.
I cherished Glover's comic attempt to ingratiate himself with our proprietor, invoking a vision of 'a young boy scamper- ing about on the banks of the Nile' (note to Glover for future sycophancy usage: Mohamed Al Fayed grew up on the shores of the Mediterranean in Alexandria, far from the river Nile).
I expect Glover thought he was being devilishly clever in purporting to defend Mr Al Fayed from us, the journalists at Punch. However, I can assure him that our propri- etor is, in fact, well pleased with the new magazine.
Thanks, finally, to Glover for describing Punch as a 'dung heap'. This is a wonder- fully befitting compliment from a former journalist turned media housefly. Welcome aboard, buzzing little creature, you're invit- ed to feed off us any time.
Paul Spike
Editor, Punch, Trevor House, 100 Brompton Road, London SW3
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