Straight attack

Nick Cohen writes well and hits hard in his articles published in The Observer. Like anyone on the Left, he has been hugely disappointed by Tony Blair’s seven years of government rule and he means to tell us exactly why.

Blair gets a good bashing, of course. He has led Great Britain in more wars than any other Prime Minister (Kosovo, Irak, Sierra Leone...). However, in Pretty Straight Guys, most Cabinet Ministers receive an enormous amount of criticism. Indeed, whether it has to do with ways through which they were elected or, more often, with what they did once they had been elected, Nick Cohen leaves no man standing.

Sometimes though, one feels as though Cohen is just anxious to seem as angry as possible. Some of his arguments simply do not stand, or go a little too far. Sure, he illustrates perfectly how the move was made from hating those "bastard commies", to hugely disliking those "nasty people in the South East". But most of the time, descriptions fall flat on their face for lack of proof and sometimes childish aggression.

Still, I must recommend this book for the highly enjoyable read which it allows. Hey, summer is just around the corner and we’re all going to want a good laugh! I guarantee that, in small doses, Nick Cohen is just what you need.

Polo