Talk:Ian Hislop/Archive 1

Category:British journalists
Reinstated "Category:British journalists" -- to replace this with "Category:Welsh journalists" seems a little odd as though born in Wales he is not thought of as Welsh and has not AFAIK worked in the Welsh media. His name would be an omission among those at Category:British journalists. Unless I'm missing something? Flapdragon 23:31, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Picture
Is that the best picture of him? He seems to be in the middle of his trademark sneer, and one frame of it like that makes him look a bit idiotic.

I like him. But I think the image really sums him up.81.159.141.78 19:33, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe that is Ian in the middle of his Jimmy Somerville impression. --Aenimiac 20:35, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Ooooooooh BABY!--Crestville 23:24, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think the photograph is appropriate. Shouldn't photographs be neutral? Or is Wikipedia determined to uphold its biased reputation? Chithecynic 21:24, 05 October 2006 (GMT)


 * It's pretty hard to get pictures. We can't always afford to be picky.--Crestville 13:12, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

But his eyes are closed!(Black Dalek 19:20, 24 April 2007 (UTC))


 * Looks like the photograph has been removed.--EchetusXe (talk) 21:49, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Political views
I wondered if there was any confirmation of Hislops politics. I can see that, as a satirist, it might be impossible to confirm. I know that he frequently writes columns (or has done) for the Telegraph, a Tory broadsheet, but that doesn't necessarily confirm that he is himself Tory.


 * Like his hero, the old toad Richard Ingrams, he's a Conservative Christian bore. Dolmance 13:55, 22 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If you're going to call him a Conservative you'd better back it up. Attacking Labour doesn't make one a Tory, especially not when the Labour party is as far to the right as it is at present.


 * During the election coverage he confirmed that he had voted Liberal Democrat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.3.7.93 (talk) 16:37, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Atheist
Shouldn't he be categorised as an atheist? He may have doubts, but he has still stated his position. 86.17.211.191 22:41, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The article cites him as a "C of E don't know". This should categorise him as an agnostic, if anything. -- Rodhullandemu  (talk - contribs) 23:45, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Article also states 'Atheist with doubts'. If he is anything then (unless things have changed since then) he is an atheist, probably with strong Protestant heritage but its stated in the article there so no need to categorise unless he comes out as being a whatever more strongly.--EchetusXe (talk) 21:46, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
 * That's actually a misquote, so I'm changing it. You can read it here at google books, the actual quote is "I've tried atheism and I can't stick at it: I keep having doubts.  That probably sums up my position."  I'll change the article to reflect the actual quote.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.6.12 (talk) 12:30, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

"Potentially slanderous"
Shouldn't this be "libellous", given that HIGNFY is broadcast (and recorded) and therefore not simply fleeting words? 86.158.190.249 (talk) 00:04, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Arguably, but that's a fine point. "Defamatory" covers both. -- Rodhull andemu  21:58, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Political views
To avoid an edit-war breaking out... Hislop is a humorist, and we should not assume that whatever he says is indicative of his actual views; still more should we not draw conclusions from that. As a satirist, it's his job to lampoon politicians, and that he does so is no reason to assume that he makes his own views public. The best we can do is to cite reliably what he has said and leave the reader to draw any conclusions they think appropriate. At present we have a cited (and quite possibly jokey) reference, and two uncited allegations. I'm not going to debate this further, but will leave it to other editors. -- Rodhull andemu  14:20, 17 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Question Time is a serious program, he didn't go on the panel to make jokes. He was serious in his praise of Cable and seemed to surprise himself by saying so. When others pointed out that he seemed to supporting the Lib Dems, he said jokingly "I'm standing for them".


 * On HIGNFY Cameron was being discussed on some sort of issue and Hislop said seriously he actually thought Cameron was right with some policy and that he thought Cameron was doing a good job, Merton was surprised with the seriousness and said "Really?" and Hislop said he thought Cameron was doing a good job as leader. Then a joke came (but not one that criticized Cameron) and the show continued. It was veiled support, he didn't say "I'm voting Tory" or "David Cameron is a fantastic person". He might have even changed his mind since then, but I think it balances well the recent comment on Vince Cable.


 * Anyone who has knows anything about Hislop knows he has been a stern critic of Blair (Bush too) whilst still maintaining a humorous atmosphere.


 * I know some has come in with a Lib Dem agenda and made it look like Hislop was a big fan of them, so I tried to balance it out and give some perspective to the article rather than delete the whole thing like some anonymous editors have been doing. I think Political Views of the man are important to mention in his article, especially with Religious Views already up, but they have to be nuetral and I think it is at the minute.--EchetusXe (talk) 16:04, 17 October 2008 (UTC)


 * He's stated in a serious interview that he has voted for all the major parties (including SDP-Liberal Alliance before they became the LibDems), but only once for Labour. As I recall he wasn't as harsh a critic of Labour in the '90s as he has been in more recent years; I'd be surprised if that "only once" wasn't in 1997. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.3.45.16 (talk) 23:22, 23 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeh, thnx for contributing. I imagined Hislop as being politically broad, sort of nuetral, "whatever works, whoever is most competent at the time" rather than having any ideological leanings. I attempted to work that into the article.--EchetusXe (talk) 23:39, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * He's always seemed moderately left-wing to me, fitting in with Private Eye's general perspective - he appeared to be delighted at Labour's 1997 win on the HIGNFYs following it. I'm curious as to when he voted Conservative, but I guess he's probably a floating centre-left voter who might like Cameron for his media manner and broad appeal.--MartinUK (talk) 21:19, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * He has always been quite hostile towards the Left and was to Ken Livingstone on last night's show in particular. He also expressed the usual neoconservative disdain for Hugo Chavez, implying that Chavez is some kind of political thug or dictator; history has shown that Chavez is the exact opposite and that it is his CIA-backed enemies who have a contempt for democracy (see 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt). I always assumed Hislop was a faux-subversive "conservative anarchist", much like his predecessor Richard Ingrams. --84.66.65.20 (talk) 15:14, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

There's some nonsense on this talk page, the most ridiculous of which is the suggestion above that Hislop shows "neo-conservative disdain" for Hugo Chavez. Hislop has shown a fairly negative attitude towards Chavez (on the few occasions he's mentioned him at all, I actually get the impression he knows very little about him), but the idea that Hislop is a neo-conservative is beyond laughable, and could only come from someone who has precious little idea what the stated views of Hislop and his magazine actually are - he and Private Eye have spent the last 7-8 years lambasting Blair for lying to get Britain into a war and characterising the Bush White House as dangerous warmongering cowboys. These are hardly positions a neo-conservative would take (Francis Wheen is the Private Eye hack with what might be called neo-conservative views, although clearly he has little influence over Hislop with regard to how the magazine has portrayed these issues). The fact that Hislop dosen't appear to like Chavez and Fidel Castro dosen't tell us anything, he despises Thatcher and Tebbit so shall we assume that's evidence he might be a Trotskyist? Hislop is 'hostile' to anything he percieves, perhaps wrongly or lazily in some instances, to be hypocritical, venal or corrupt, and that includes large sections of both left and right, though it should be pointed out that most of the figures he has reserved his harshest criticism for over the years have been conservatives. And contaray to some of the claims above, he has also gone on record many times as saying his journalistic hero - in fact he as said he regards him as an idol - is not Richard Ingrams but Paul Foot. A man who has contempt and hostility for the entire political left hero worships Paul Foot? Really?

Instead of making assumptions based on vague impressions, maybe people should stick to the facts. His magazine since he has been editor has generally taken a fairly traditionalist conservative stance on some social and cultural issues but has been heavily critical of Thatcherism, being anti-privitisation, pro-NHS, anti-deregulation and in favour of higher taxes for the rich. In short, the magazine's economic views are largely centre-left. Hislop himself dosen't appear to have specific politics as such and dosent fit into any particular left-right idealogical bracket. He's been characterised by others as a 'High Tory traditionalist' and a 'Tory socialist' (whatever that means) but says he dosen't agree. He has stated he disliked Thatcher and her politics. He has also said he supports no particular political party or movement but has voted for all three major parties in his life-time, and said he approved of Labour's victory in 1997 at the time (although he disliked Blairism and the man himself). He also predictably disliked Scargill, but broadly supported the miners cause and opposed the Tories' policies on the coal industry. Most of that I imagine is fairly easily sourcable. In other words, Hislop dosen't really have 'politics' as such in the normal sense, he dosen't have an idealogy beyond a support for what people call 'social justice' and a distrust of what he regards as extremes. Given many of his views however, characterising him as Tory probably makes even less sense that characterising him as a leftist. 92.9.215.186 (talk) 01:59, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Switching seats and dress styles with Paul Merton
Could someone put a reference in the article as to which episode this happened in? I'm a regular HIGNFY viewer and don't rememeber it happening. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.217.0.3 (talk) 13:16, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

As I am also an avid watcher of HIGNFY, I can NEVER recall seeing Ian Hislop swop seats with anyone. I suspect this confusion is caused by the fact that Paul Merton has sat by Hislop on 2 occasions. The first time was when Merton withdrew for a single series in Autumn 1996, and was replaced by a guest for each programme. However, on the first programme of that series, Merton appeared as a guest on Hislop's side. The second occasion was just after the May 2010 General Election, when they satirised the coalition by Merton temporarily swopping seats with Hislop's guest, commedian John Richardson. I can't comment on dress styles, as I don't take much notice of what either of them wear (unless Merton is attired in a strange or interesting T-shirt!!!

Taff Hewitt (talk) 00:42, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Sutcliffe damages award
A relatively minor point:

In the article it is written that "Hislop told reporters waiting outside the High Court: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." The award was, however, dropped to £60,000 on appeal.[5]"

In another of the (many) cases in which he was defendant, Attorney-General v Hislop and Another [1991] 2 W.L.R. 219, Lord Parker of the Court of Appeal stated that "[t]he figure of £60,000 was not, as has sometimes been suggested, a figure indicated, much less decided by this court. It was a matter dealt with entirely by the parties."

It would appear therefore that it would be more accurate to state that the case was settled for a lower figure rather than the award having been dropped on appeal.

If no-one objects in the next few days I'll change it. Fysidiko (talk) 20:18, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Death of his mother
In answer to the query raised in the text, Hislop's mother died when he was in his late 20s. I don't know how to amend text, but feel free to put this in. I know it to be the case. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.174.14.255 (talk) 11:50, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Grandparents
There are two paragraphs about Hislop's grandparents in the section on family life. I'm not sure of the need for the detail given here, so I would propose deleting much of it. Does anyone else have a view on this? The Roman Candle (talk) 17:48, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
 * A week later, no comments, so I'll delete, but please reinstate if you think it would help. The Roman Candle (talk) 15:54, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Mother born in???
There appears to be a contradiction in the "Family and Early Life" section on the whereabouts of his mother's birthplace?

"and a Channel Islander mother born in Zambia,", but later on " his mother, who was born in Jersey"

Ditto! Wyresider (talk) 21:44, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

CS1 error
Problem dating issue of Oxford Today as Michaelmas 2009 Geofpick (talk) 22:47, 3 December 2014 (UTC)