The memoirs of Tony Blair will appear this September, price £25, also in ebook and an audio version which Tony will read himself (presumably for the benefit of his good friend George who’s generally not known for being a bookish man).
This is welcome news in that it does at least allow me to cross off one of that month’s new titles from the ‘must consider’ list. I’ve no idea how many people out there are desperate to hear the inner thoughts of someone who’s done so much to make the world a more dangerous place.
I am intrigued to learn, though, that Our Tone did not see fit to employ a ghost writer (perhaps mindful of another recent book, now movie, which envisages dire circumstances from such a decision). No, this multi-talented man has written it all in his own words.
We’ll have to see how that turns out but judging by the PR guff he’s attached to it from the outset things are not looking good. He says of the book this…
I have really enjoyed the writing of the book. I have tried to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as Prime Minister. Though necessarily retrospective, it is an attempt to inform and shape current and future thinking as much as an historical account of the past. Most of all I want readers to have as much pleasure reading it as I had writing it.
Let’s look at that prose for a moment, especially the opening sentence.
I have really enjoyed the writing of the book.
Tone. Each to his or her own, of course, but in journalism most of us would wince at an ugly bit of English like that. If you mean ‘I enjoyed writing the book’ then why not say it? Why throw in that whole ugly, lengthy business of ‘the writing of the book’? It sounds pompous and it adds nothing. And does ‘really’ add anything in the circumstances? Even for those people out there who don’t know you’ve apparently trousered £5 million for this deal? Any decent editor would surely wield a pen on this stuff in an instant (and while you may not have a ghost, you surely have an editor).
Now to the second…
I have tried to write a book which describes the human as much as the political dimensions of life as Prime Minister.
Take a note, Tone. At the very beginning of this paragraph you establish that its subject is the damned book and your writing. Eric Morecambe did the repetitive ‘Book What I Wrote’ joke very well, but you shouldn’t. Not least because, frankly, your chances of ever making any sane person laugh ever again are somewhat slim. There really is no point whatsoever in reminding us you’re still on about the bloody thing in the very next sentence with ‘I have tried to write a book…’
The English language has a very useful word called ‘it’. This can shorten things and make them more comprehensible. Try using it.
Leaving aside the sheer bloody ugliness of the prose — ‘the human as much as the political dimensions of life’ — the sense of this sentence seems largely redundant. Of course you’re describing your life as Prime Minister both in human and political terms. You were in 10 Downing Street, weren’t you. What else would you be writing about? Trainspotting? Cherie’s recipes for Angel Delight tiramisu?
Then we get… ‘Though necessarily retrospective’. Hello? Tone? It’s a flaming memoir. We know its retrospective. How could it be otherwise, unless in addition to all your other alleged talents you’re also master of the space time continuum (in which case go back and reverse a few things, please, because honestly, mate, you were a real disaster of a prime minister)? Oh, and we don’t need that word ‘necessarily’ either for the very same reason. Tautology’s a good word. Look it up.
Finally, that last sentence.
Most of all I want readers to have as much pleasure reading it as I had writing it.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that as plain English. It’s straightforward and comprehensible. Unfortunately it is also intrinsically delusional too. Not because of the words but the man who wrote them.
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You didn’t find it distrurbing/ significant that Blair allowed himself to be put on the cover with HALF A BRAIN missing?
Excellent point!