Quotations

‘Postman believed that the rise of TV — with its bias towards triviality and charismatic personalities — was beginning to undermine the kinds of reasoned and productive public discourse on which a civilised democracy depends. He was dismissed by some of his critics as a crank and a Luddite. The passing of time has revealed that he was a prophet.’ James Marriott quoted by Ed West

‘Many of us are suspicious of hierarchies of cultural value. To suggest that it is “better” to spend your day reading War and Peace than watching TikTok carries the dangerous ring of elitism. I was once reprimanded by a writer in a British magazine for my “belief that some writing is simply ‘better’”; a view, I was told, that is “inherently damaging, and marginalising”… A recent report issued by Britain’s most important cultural funding body, the Arts Council, warned against the use of “terms like excellence” which may promote “unhelpful hierarchies about what kinds of work are valued”.’ James Marriott 

“By moving NATO onto Russia’s front porch, we have scheduled a twenty-first century confrontation. … America will face a hellish dilemma: risk confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia determined to recreate its old sphere of influence, or renege on solemn commitments and see NATO collapse.” Pat Buchanan in 1999

'New wine, new friend. When it grows old, you shall drink it with pleasure.' Corpus Parisinum (a medieval Greek collection of aphorismd and extracts) number 342