Devil's Advocate

John Humphrys has been a journalist since he left school at the age of 15. He is now one of the most respected broadcasters of his generation and his interviews on Radio Four's Today programme are regarded by some as compulsive and compulsory listening. In his debut book, Devil's Advocate, he draws on 40 years of experience to look at the changes that have been happening in Britain and possible future scenarios. The first section of the book is devoted to what he calls "the shoulder-shrugging society" and he doesn't paint a very pretty picture. He argues that the British have lost the concept of shame--an excuse is always found if someone does something wrong; children are losing their innocence at an earlier age; people increasingly think of themselves as victims; they are terribly sentimental, confusing genuine caring with wearing a ribbon; and feeling good is the goal of modern life. So what is to blame for this appalling malaise? Humphrys believes it's "consumer populism"--everything being judged according to its commercial value. The situation is exacerbated by the media, which is also under commercial pressure, and becoming increasingly trivial in a bid to chase the ratings. He doesn't offer any quick-fix solutions to the problems, but encourages readers to dissent and keep questioning the accepted wisdom. This book is very strongly argued and there is plenty to agree and disagree with. It achieves exactly what Humphrys is famous for--stimulating debate. --Carina Trimingham

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THIS BOOK MADE ME ANGRY (in a good way) - Rated
Having never listened to the Today programme on the radio, or really watched many of his interviews on TV, I've never heard much of what John Humphrys has had to say. Given how highly he's regarded as a a journalist and interviewer I was intrigued to see what he would have to say.

The book is basically a rant... He tells us all that's wrong in the world, why it was all better in the old day and how to improve it. Despite his suggestions of improvement being fairly minimal (and in my view not a highlight of the book), overall this is a great read - he delivers his thoughts on where things are wrong with a perceptive eye, excellent wit and once you start reading this book it is difficult to put down.

I found myself nodding in agreement with much of the book (especially his views on the developing victim culture) and definitely recommend this as an excellent read.

Big on opinions, shorter on evidence - Rated
I enjoyed much of this book's description of the modern state of the UK. However, too often I found myself irritated by Humphrys' more subjective outbursts. He has a lot to say that is interesting and diverting (if not always wholly stimulating) but when he enters one of his tirades against the latest modern malevolence he becomes almost unreadable. In fact, the incoherent and randomly argued opening pages almost made me give up on it.

I'm glad I didn't. When he gets to his own turf - journalism and TV news in particular - he has a lot more of substance to say; and a lot more evidence for his views.

Humphrys states in his book that teenagers have treated sex as though they are the first ever to discover it since time began. He ought to remind himself that old codgers have bemoaned the state of things for almost as long.

A big disappointment - Rated
What a let down. John Humphrys may be a brilliant political broadcaster but his book is just one long, tiresome whinge about the country's ills. Much of his assertions lack any academic rigour and his remedy, which takes up a fraction of the book, is that we should simply be "dissidents".
Stick to broadcasting, John.

Political Correctness takes a hit - Rated
...As per his column in the Sunday Times, not afraid to speak his mind and wage a contrarian view against the rampant political correctness the seems so prevalent in society today. No more so in this book, particulary in a chapter called "Sentimentality" he calls in question the hysteria that surrounded Lady Diana's death as irrational and admits to still leaving him "puzzled"....Utterly compelling and lucidly written. A chance to get into the mind of one of the best journalists of the modern age.

Witty attack on corrupting commercialism - Rated
John Humphrys, the presenter of the Today programme and one of Britain's best interviewers, has written a most engaging book. He sees consumer populism as causing the follies of our age, devaluing the very idea of public-spirited citizens.

He launches a devastating attack on the commercialism in advertising, sport and the media, and on the privatisation of public services and public space. He lambasts the victim culture and its obverse, the feel good culture: these cause litigiousness, the cult of fame, the rise of 'victim TV', the fetishism of minorities, the simultaneous overprotection and abandonment of children and other evils. He opposes the sentimentality of overseas correspondents who say that 'something must be done', and so lead us into 'humanitarian wars' and human rights imperialism.

Consumer populism turns politics into a competition of images instead of a battle of ideas, an exchange of mind. It enforces a retreat from argument. Here he singles out the vital matter of whether Britain should join the euro, noting that the lobby supporting Britain's early entry into the euro refused to join in an open conference that he chaired this summer. And he observes generally that "Potential Labour voters may have been sending the government a message about the non-debate when so many of them abstained at the 1999 elections to the European Parliament."

Populism's message is that "self-indulgence is fine and self-restraint is, at best, mildly eccentric. It is good to be tolerant; it is bad to be judgemental." "Consumer populism tries to get us to defer to what it tells us we want and ought to think." This new authoritarianism is all human rights and no social duties. Opposing this, Humphrys calls on us all to think for ourselves, to think about the consequences of our actions, to think things through, above all to take responsibility for our own actions and for the ways in which society is changing.