Who Wrote Pilkington?
Mr. Hoggart allowed himself one fling at the `intellectual journalists' (his phrase) who have criticised the Report and its tone. 'They shy away from one word: responsibility. They be- come uncomfortable at any suggestion that they should have some moral responsibility: that is the great sin: they run a mile from it.' 1 don't find this an altogether recognisable picture, but rr.aybe the explanation lies in another of his re- marks. 'Earnestness is not a vice.' Indeed it is rot. But-earnestness paraded comes damned cloie
tc it. And it is usually unnecessary into the bar- gain. Rather more interesting was Mr. Hoggart's account of how the report had been written : a first draft, prepared by the secretary of the Committee, on which the Committee members commented; a second draft, similarly treated; and then a third draft. He himself, he said, had written only one-and-a-half pages of it. Well. But there were three opportunities for him to make written amendments and suggestions. Moreover, the drafts were written from a minuted and taped recording of the Committee's discussions. Mr. Hoggart is a fluent and copious speaker. He took up one, hour and twenty-five minutes of the tutors' time. The secretary of the Committee, I should imagine, must have be- cc me used to his recorded voice.
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