And now a word from the Daily Mail’s parliamentary sketch writer, Quentin Letts: “Tiny gesture but our household is going to boycott @Walkers_Crisps until they dump BBC multi-millionaire Lefty Gary Lineker.” A tiny gesture, indeed. A tiny, utterly pathetic and ever-so-slightly vindictive gesture, too. Well, it’s a free country so Mr Letts can do what he likes. After all, every time I go into a supermarket or newsagent, I find something to cover the pile of Daily Mails, so I am not without sin.
What the Mail in general and Mr Letts in particular don’t like is that people are allowed to express opinions that are not first scrutinised by editor Paul Dacre and, of course, match those of the Mail. Freedom of speech only goes so far, it seems. But why should it matter that Gary Lineker tweets his own personal views? Answer: it doesn’t.
Andrew Neil, in my opinion the finest political journalist of his generation, combinws his excellent work at the BBC with the chairmanship of Press Holdings, the owners of various right wing publications. Does this, in any way, affect his impartiality when reporting and interviewing? I suppose this is always a subjective point of view but as a card-carrying soggy left of centre Labour voter, I do not, ever, detect bias. The same with Nick Robinson on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme. He was once chairman of the young Tories but does it affect the way he does his job? No way.
I might not always agree with everything Neil tweets, but again, so what? Why the hell should he not express his own personal views away from his excellent TV shows? And the same goes for Gary Lineker.
The Mail is owned by a tax dodging millionaire and is registered abroad in order to avoid tax. It’s editor, Paul Dacre, is paid circa £2 million a year and I put it to you that his newspaper is utterly poisonous, having a vile, corrosive affect on the national discourse. What’s worse is that Dacre’s views are presented as fact. He employs some of the most odious columnists in the business, including Richard Littlejohn and the woman who used to be on the Apprentice, the latter of whom is, I would suggest, a very poor writer.
I am not boycotting the Mail, I just don’t buy things I don’t like, which include gherkins, sweet potatoes and Carling lager. And I don’t buy the Mail because it is the journalistic equivalent of manure. I wouldn’t take it if it was free.
Gary Lineker, by contrast, I could watch until the cows come home. One of the best footballers of his generation, Lineker has turned himself into one of our finest broadcasters. I know he attracts some criticism – he is successful, after all, and it goes against the grain for many Brits to react to success with anything other than abuse and petty jealousy – but he knows what he is talking about and is supremely good at it. And if he happens to tweet about the plight of refugees, the mess the country is getting into with Brexit or anything else he believes to be important, then good for him. It’s not as if he is inflicting his views on unsuspecting football fans in between matches on Match of the Day.
Today, I urge you to buy a packet of Walkers crisps in order to stand in solidarity with Gary Lineker. And I urge you to desist from funding hate by buying the Mail. It would be a tiny gesture but every little helps.
Oh and finally, thus. What is wrong with Gary Lineker being a “multi-millionaire Lefty”, if that indeed is what he is? Is it wrong for someone to seek to be the best he can be, to aspire to be at the top of his profession, to then be a high earner AND remain a man with a conscience and empathy for others? I want my children to be the best they can be, to enjoy success both professionally and personally, to maximise their earnings following long and expensive years at university and to retain the social conscience I hope I have invested in them. Would the Mail like Lineker far more if he was a multi-millionaire far right sexist, racist, xenophobic bigot? We know the answer to that: Lineker would be just like the Mail. Thank God he isn’t.
