Peter Rhodes on a smoke-free generation, a land-grabbing Church and the passing of a treasured colleague
The veteran writer Charles Moore rejoices in images of Tewkesbury Abbey high and dry above the floodwaters because “they remind us how well people chose their sites in the Middle Ages”.
Not exactly. The “people” chose their building plots only after the Church had grabbed the best. The Church had the finest building land, the lushest meadows, the fattest sheep, the best ale and 10 per cent of everything the peasants earned.
I wonder how many of today's poor parish priests are reading this and thinking: “Ah, those were the days.”
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In his King's Speech to Parliament, Charles III commits the nation to creating a “smoke-free generation” by steadily raising the legal age for smoking. Maybe some stern warnings on fag packets are in order, such as: “What happens to a little girl who starts smoking?” The answer, of course, is that she becomes Queen Camilla.
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Coca-Cola is one of three companies accused of making misleading claims about their plastic bottles being “100 per cent recycled”.
I am reminded of Ricky Gervais's 2009 comedy, The Invention of Lying. It is set in a world where no-one knows how to lie and even advertising slogans are achingly truthful. Thus the billboard slogan for Coca-Cola is: “It's basically just brown sugar-water” while the rival brand Pepsi is for “when they don't have Coke”.
Sometimes life imitates art. I notice that the red-wine section at Waitrose includes bottles of something called “Good Ordinary Claret”. A good, ordinary sales pitch.
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When the awards are handed out in journalism, it's usually the writers who collect the gongs. The journalists in the background, the ones who suggest great feature ideas, who write a brilliant headline and choose the perfect photo with a bright caption are usually overlooked.
David Hotchkiss was one of the best sub-editors and colleagues I ever knew. He brought a fund of knowledge and a magical touch to the feature pages and wove words and pictures into a package that grabbed your attention.
He was disabled by childhood polio, but I never heard a word of self-pity and I can't recall a day when he wasn't laughing. He died a few days ago. The world is a sadder place without him.
David Hotchkiss 1954-2023.
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