Private Eye - All The Tropes Private Eye For the dudes in fedoras, see Hardboiled Detective . A British fortnightly satirical magazine, running since 1961. It does a lot of investigative journalism and has been sued for libel a considerable number of times (it usually loses, and would have been bankrupted by the damages if not for donations from supporters and subscribers). Its editor, Ian Hislop (a team captain on Have I Got News for You ), even held the record for 'Most Sued Man in England' for a time. For many years it was verging on a point of pride how long it had been since they won a case. The first time Ian Hislop won a libel suit, the following issue was filled in celebratory manner with yet more libelous material, just because they knew they'd get away with it. (For those reading from outside the UK, it's important to point out that under British law it is possible for something to be both perfectly true and libelous, as it is up to the defendant to prove the truth of what he/she has said. In the USA, the person bringing the suit has to prove that what was said is false.

The flip side of this is that getting an injunction to prevent something being published in the first place is rather harder in Britain - otherwise known as Publish and be damned. Or at least, it was, before the current fad for "super injunctions", where the target is not even allowed to say they have had an injunction put upon them, let alone talk about the original subject...) It has a number of regular cartoon strips and ongoing parodies, such as: "The Broonites", which features the Brown camp of the now former Labour government and who all speak in exaggerated Scottish accents- even the English ones. This is done in the style of The Broons, a cartoon strip from The Sunday Post . Contains an apparently deliberate example for comic effect of Just Plane Wrong . In the 1205 strip, Gordon Brown is put on a plane to Afghanistan to solve the government's popularity problems. The plane- an English Electric Lightning, long gone from RAF service. This is possibly a bizarre example of the cartoonist having Shown Their Work .

You see, the original cartoonist on The Broons- (Dudley D Watkins) spent the whole of World War Two drawing anything military in the same style as his earlier adventure comics: That is, straight out of World War One. "The New Coalition Academy" - Reporting on government affairs in the style of a posh school's newsletter. Previous versions for earlier governments include: "Prime Ministerial Decrees"- Gordon Brown as a Stalin-style leader. "St. Albion's Parish News" - Tony Blair as a rural vicar (became a TV series as A Sermon from St Albion's) "The Secret Diary of John Major (aged 47¾)" - written in Adrian Mole style "Dear Bill" - Margaret Thatcher 's husband Dennis writes to Bill Deedes, editor of the Daily Telegraph "Heathco. Newsletter" - Edward Heath as MD of a failing business "Mrs. Wilson's Diary" - Harold Wilson 's wife writes in the style of BBC radio show Mrs. Dale's Diary "Dave Snooty and his New Pals"- David Cameron in the style of The Beano strip Lord Snooty.

Boris Johnson features quite a bit (crossing over from the earlier Beano parody Boris The Menace ). "The Adventures of Mr Millibean"- Replacing The Broon-ites, Ed Miliband and the Labour Shadow Cabinet in the style of the Mr. Bean cartoon spinoff. "Celeb", made into a brief TV series, it involves a fading pop-star Gary Bloke and his wife, daughters ( Rosedrop Bunnypetal and Pixie Frou-frou ) and son Troy. "Supermodels" - Parodies the current events in the fashion industry, all the models in this comic are drawn as a thin line for the body. "It's Grim Up North London" - features a group of friends of the new age liberal type. "Apparently" "Pseuds Corner", a column which highlights particularly pompous and pretentious quotes from that week's media. "Colemanballs", which records ridiculous or just plain stupid quotes from the broadcast - and usually sports - media. Named after the now-retired and notoriously gaffe-prone sports commentator David Coleman.

A typical Colemanball, spoken by Alan Minter: "Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing - but none of them serious." Extends to other fields when the material is abundant, such as "Warballs" regarding the War On Terror . "The Book of (Insert Israeli leader name here)", which presents contemporary Middle Eastern events in the style of the King James Bible, and usually ends in "and so it was back to the square which is called one". "Yobs" or "Yobbettes" when the story features females. A Strip which features (un)working class people behaving yobbishly. Young British Artists: a satire on the works and attitudes of modern British artists. Typically featuring Damien Hirst , Tracey Emin and Carl Freedman . Craig Brown's Diary: Spoof diary of politician or celebrity, usually based on the assumption that their private life is exactly like their public life (So Prince Charles spends all his time worrying about architecture, Barack Obama can only talk in inspirational speeches, and so on). Made into a Radio 4 series as The Lost Diaries. Gnome: a spoof editorial by the fictional proprieter Lord Gnome or his lackey E. Strobes.

(Lord Gnome appeared in the 1993 TV special The Bore of the Year Awards, played by the Eye's real-life founder Peter Cook .) Also, "The Curse of Gnome", where they point out that people who've won libel cases against them generally come to a bad end. Glenda Slagg: Spoof tabloid woman's columnist, whose articles are full of condemnation/praise for whoever the gossip magazines are talking about, usually switching from one to the other within a single column. Catchphrases "Aintchasickofim" and "Dontchaloveim". Polly Filler: Spoof broadsheet woman's columnist, whose articles are about how difficult it is being an upper-middle class young mother, because you have to spend all day telling the au pair to do things. Also uses her column to plug the collected edition of her columns, the novel based on her columns and, most recently, the film based on the novel based on her columns. The Alternative Voice(Dave Spart): Straw Liberal . And it's typical of the right-wing, Thatcher-loving junta that, er... A Taxi-Driver Writes: Straw Conservative . String 'em up, it's the only language they understand.

The Eye's Controversial New Columnist: A baby, who gives the important baby's eye view of current events (usually that the people involved are acting like, well, babies). There are also features on the hypocrisy of the Fleet Street press ("Street of Shame") and a great section called "Rotten Boroughs" on local council misbehaviour, along with annual awards—such as for Tory bigots. Also, by way of a Running Gag , their generic parody name for a law firm is "Sue, Grabbitt and Runne". Fond of the Unusual Euphemism and obscure nickname, sometimes for legal reasons, to the point that it can become unreadable to those not in the know . Most of these are derived from very obscure old political scandals. Some examples: Baillie Vass = former Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home (after The Scotsman mixed up the captions for a photo of him with a photo of the titular castle) It's all right not to have heard of him- he was only in office a year. "Exotic cheroot" = cannabis "Tired and emotional" = drunk "Ugandan discussions" = having sex "The reply given in the case of Arkell vs.

Pressdram" = "Fuck off" (for details, see Sophisticated As Hell .) "Carter-Fuck" = Carter-Ruck and Partners, legal firm with whom Private Eye have crossed swords many times. "Crapita" = Capita, a large out-sourcing company known for cocking up Government contracts for things like building schools and running IT systems "Brenda" = HM The Queen "Brian" = Prince Charles "Inspector Knacker" = the Police, especially the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. Scotland Yard, as in "Knacker of the Yard -- geddit?) " [Takes out onion] " = insincere public crying "The Glendas" = the sort of columnists Glenda Slagg is a parody of. Usually female, although Tony Parsons of the Mirror has been designated a "Glen". The Grauniad = The Guardian (a newspaper known for its spelling mistakes and other typographical errors) The success of this nickname can be seen by the fact that grauniad.co.uk redirects to the Guardian's website. The Torygraph = The Daily Telegraph (right-leaning newspaper) Also The Steffigraph during Wimbledon.

The Indescribablyboring = The Independent (another newspaper) Er.. That's it. ( That's enough nicknames. Ed ) Tropes used in Private Eye include: Arch Enemy : At varying times this role has been filled by Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch, Piers Morgan and Mohammed Al Fayed among others. Arc Number / Memetic Number : 94. This derives from a common gag where a long run-on list or article will end in "cont. page 94", the joke being that the Eye is obviously nowhere near thick enough to actually have a page 94. While this joke is still used straight, the number has become iconic and representative of the Eye itself, so is now found in other context—any parody of a topical media that involves numbers will use it (e.g. The Number 23 is parodied as The Number 94). Driver of a Black Cab : The "A Cab Driver Writes" segment, which portray any recent celebrity or politician who's said something intolerant as such a cabbie. Occasional variations appear, e.g. Islamic extremists being portrayed as "A Camel Driver Writes". Ed Miliband has become " Mr.

Milibean " Piers Morgan is "Piers Moron", sometimes phrased as "Piers 'Morgan' Moron" as though Moron is his real name and Morgan the nickname. Rupert Murdoch is "The Dirty Digger" (Digger = Australian) and Richard Desmond is "Dirty Des", both referencing their more unsavoury connections. Note From Ed : Usually to say the columnist is fired. Only Known by Their Nickname : Sometimes people or institutions are only ever referred to by their nickname, which can create a Continuity Lock Out for new readers. More commonly though the real name is used at the beginning before shifting to the nickname for the rest of the segment. People's Republic of Tyranny : The "Prime Ministerial Decrees" spoof of Gordon Brown had him constantly spouting Communist jargon adapted to the here and now, such as referring to David Cameron 's politics as "neo-Bullingdonite-Etonist deviationist backsliding". Also sometimes appears in the Dave Spart segments. Really Seven Hundred Years Old / Time Abyss : Jokes of this type were constantly made about ancient journalists Bill Deedes and Alistair Cooke prior to their deaths (and Deedes jokes still occasionally show up).

Romance Novel : The "Dame Sylvie Krin" segments are parodies of this, with subjects such as Prince Charles and Camilla or Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng. Single-Issue Wonk : Several newspapers are presented as being unhealthily obsessed with one or two issues, such as Diana's death (the Daily Express), house prices and things giving you cancer (the Daily Mail) and Liz Hurley and 'fruity girls' in general (the Daily Telegraph). A now vanished Running Gag involved a discussion being sidetracked at the first mention of The Sizzler, an exorbitantly expensive breakfast available on long train journeys, with the article wandering off into singing The Sizzler`s praises. The "From the Messageboards" column is set in a fictional internet forum made up almost entirely of trolls of this type. Strawman Political : Many. Dave Spart, and occasionally his Distaff Counterpart Deirdre Spart and gay version Cedric Spart: stereotypical far left wing politics. Sir Hubert Gussett: ultraconservative rural Tory politics. The older character of "Sir Bufton Tufton", who predates the Eye, is also sometimes mentioned.

Strongly Worded Letter : A frequent feature is a spoof Split Screen of the letters pages of the Guardian and Telegraph, with two writers each having written a Strongly Worded Letter about a topical news story, but being outraged for opposite reasons. The Eye itself sometimes receives them, typically from fans who threaten to cancel their subscription due to Dude, Not Funny or They Changed It, Now It Sucks . Trans Atlantic Equivalent : The second half of the Eye is similar to America's The Onion in content. Unusual Euphemism : Has added several to the language, mostly deriving from weedy excuses or alibis given by politicians embroiled in scandals: "Discussing Uganda" / "Ugandan discussions" = having sex "Tired and emotional" = drunk "Exotic cheroot" = cannabis The Vicar : Tony Blair was presented as one in the 'Vicar of St Albion's' parody, inspired by a comparison that had been made by many in the media who had compared his style when making speeches to that of a trendy Anglican vicar giving a sermon.

The Weird Al Effect : Some phrases the Eye has kept going are now more associated with it than their original progenitors, such as "as any fule kno", which comes from Molesworth . What Could Have Been : Parodied with the "First Drafts" cartoon series, which features famous authors either in the process of inventing their distinctive style or trying to write before having discovered it (such as Philip Roth starting a book with "I'm Jewish; I don't see much mileage in that, so, moving on...") What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? : The Sizzler (see above). Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe : In the "Book of (Insert Current Israeli Leader Here)" segments and sometimes some of the Retraux newspaper segments which compare current events to historical ones. However, the truly unparalleled touch of genius about Private Eye is widely thought to be its famous (cont. p.94). BBC News - Coming soon - a satire boom? Printable version Coming soon - a satire boom? New Labour didn't escape mockery, yet the most biting satire of the past 10 years was aimed not at politicians, but at the uneducated working class, says John O'Farrell.

So, does the Clegg-Cameron coalition spell a reawakening of political comedy? It seems to be one of the unwritten laws of the British constitution that a Tory government will endure more satirical scorn than a Labour one. The dying days of the 1960s Tory government prompted a satire boom that spawned Beyond the Fringe, That Was The Week That Was and Private Eye. The arrival of Margaret Thatcher was the cue for the rise of political cabaret, Not the Nine O'clock News and Spitting Image. And now we have a Tory public schoolboy heading the government, with the Liberal leader delighted to secure the key official appointment of Dave's fag (for international readers, this is a British public school term you may want to investigate). Will the combination of upper class leadership and economic hardships trigger another golden age of satire to rank alongside the centuries of irreverence currently being chronicled at the Tate Britain's Rude Britannia exhibition? Satire in the 70s - Mike Yarwood tried his hand at Denis Healy If the satirical flour bombs do start to fly, the current crop of Conservatives might be entitled to ask where was the Spitting Image of the Noughties?

Why was there no defining caricature of Blair or Brown in the way that we remember the grey John Major or Peter Cook's Harold Macmillan? During New Labour's extended honeymoon the absence of biting political satire was perhaps understandable. After the bitter divisions of the 1980s and the sleaze of the mid-1990s, politics post '97 seemed to be painted in gentler, pastel colours. Harry Enfield starred in an ITV adaptation of Private Eye's caricature of Tony Blair - the Vicar of St Albion - but it had nothing like the impact or resonance of his famous creations Wayne and Waynetta Slob or Loadsamoney. But even after the political watershed of the Iraq war, "Teflon Tony" and his cabinet managed to avoid a direct hit from the nation's best satirists. The automatic assumption might be that comedy writers tend to be left-wing and thus pull their punches when it comes to Labour's turn in power. But despite the fact that I, a one time Labour activist, have written jokes about and for the last two Labour prime ministers, I think it goes a little deeper than this.

Underclass laughs Yes, most satirists that I have known are on the left. But they do not go soft with Labour governments because they like them. In fact I think it's the opposite; it is that they are so incandescent with rage at the sense of personal betrayal and disappointment that they lose the ability to be funny. The best satirists, such as the writers behind The Thick of It, looked beyond personality and caricature to illuminate the new corridors of power, wherever they may be And so the same acerbic wit that applies a deft scalpel to Conservative politicians angrily lashes out at Labour ministers with a blunt cudgel, and audiences turn away un-amused. In fact the satirical bulls-eyes of the 21st Century have landed on characters right at the other end of the social scale - the uneducated, working class and ignorant; Little Britain's Vicky Pollard, Catherine Tate's Lauren or Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G. While the Labour government was worthily talking about tackling poverty and education, we decided to laugh at the poor and uneducated. Maybe it's that by the turn of the century there was nothing any longer shocking about criticising the British Establishment.

Jonathan Coe, whose novel What A Carve Up! is the definitive literary satire of the Thatcher years, thinks audiences want to hear something new. "Perhaps contempt for politicians is so settled and ingrained that it almost seems pointless for writers to attack them," he says. The landscape has been further complicated by the politicians themselves "joining the satiratti", getting onto the panel shows and into comedy sketches. I speak admittedly without a shred of evidence, but it seems that Charles Kennedy would not have won the leadership of the Liberal Democrats and Boris Johnson would not have won the Conservative nomination for London Mayor had it not been for their repeat appearances on Have I Got News For You. It was these politicians' ability to be entertaining and appealing to a wider audience that won them the votes of ordinary party members who had barely even heard of the other candidates. Days of grey It has all added to the uneasy sense that the satirists and politicians are part of one well-paid celebrity club. And as power has ebbed away from Westminster, the media has grown in influence and reach.

Satirists seized on the working classes, and politicians got in on the act That is the reason that the apparatchiks in the BBC's The Thick of It are desperate to influence how ministers and policies are presented - because the Fourth Estate has eclipsed the other three. The best satirists have realised this and so look beyond personality and caricature to illuminate the new corridors of power, wherever they may be. Political satire under New Labour was alive and well, because of, not despite its disinterest in party leaders. But perhaps the personalities of the politicians themselves is another factor. Bill Dare, who produced Spitting Image, Dead Ringers and Radio 4's The Now Show, wonders if the New Labour personalities themselves made them less susceptible to caricature. "Thatcher and Major could be captured in a one-word idea - 'man' and 'grey'," says Dare. "[They are] both ideas that came with a strong visual image.

Blair seemed much more complex." Spitting Images' 'Two Davids' and Clegg and Cameron Now it seems to me the chaps from the Bullingdon Club have a clearly identifiable comic attribute, and their plans to trash Britain after a drunken night of champagne swilling have already been chronicled on the news parody website I edit. My favourite NewsBiscuit take on the coalition so far was "Nick Clegg to play with tiny steering wheel during Prime Minister's Question Time" but it won't be until television satire turns its attention to the new government that we will see whether the British public have the appetite for a new satire boom. The idea of a dual leadership at Downing Street certainly brings hope of a comic double act to rival that of Spitting Image's "two Davids" (for those too young to remember, the forerunners to the Liberal Democrats had two leaders... both called David. And as the effects of last week's budget start to be felt, and the austerity measures really start to bite, we are really going to need something to laugh about.

John O'Farrell is creator of the satirical website Newsbiscuit and author of An Utterly Exasperated History of Britain Below is a selection of your comments. The fact that there were so many nondescript ministers in the previous cabinet was a deciding factor. Rory Bremner openly admitted that the lack of real characters made it a real challenge for him to do recognisable impersonations. Prescott, Blair and Brown might have worked, but, take the leadership contest as an example, Milliband, Milliband, Balls, Burnham, McDonnell. Who would honestly recognise an impression of any of them? Fi, Gloucestershire, UK The surge in satire at the end of the 60s (Beyond the Fringe, That Was The Week That Was and Private Eye) was more due to the genius that was Peter Cook than the fact we had a Tory government. Ben Skinner, Leeds Apart from the long-standing, heavily political and mainstream satirical output of Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune. Armando Iannucci. Have I Got News For You. Dead Ringers. Plus all-time circulation highs for Private Eye as the New Labour project imploded; figures not far behind those of The Guardian.

Not to mention the steadily increasing and popular growth of satirical and political hatchet blogging on the internet - Guido Fawkes, Devil's Kitchen, The Daily Mash to name just a few. Culturally, we've had a bumper decade of sophisticated satire that's become increasingly multimedia in nature - hitting the stupid and feckless at all levels of both society and government through a variety of outlets. If you think the satirical bellwether of the Noughties is Vicky Pollard and Lauren Cooper, then look again ... it's the brutally Campbell-esque Malcolm Tucker. And uniquely, The Thick of It also made a Hollywood cross-over. Jules Wright, Hallaton, Leics The point John makes about the trend to laughing at the poor and ignorant is a good one. But he doesn't mention the two Johns (Bird and Fortune) on the Bremner Bird and Fortune shows; they managed savage satire at the expense of the really powerful people in our society, not politicians, but the unelected bankers, generals, top officials and others.

Sue Sparks, London, UK It is one of the most irritating facts of British life that political so-called satirists are all leftwing and all seem to be born with the same little chip in their brain. This results in unbearable sanctimonious smugness and an absolute predictability which is as depressing as it is unoriginal. Spitting Image was so successful because it hit everyone (think Roy Hattersley as well as the more obvious targets such as Thatcher and Tebbitt) whereas today's crop are simply brainwashed anti-Americans (unless it's Obama of course). David Husband, Cardiff I'm a regular follower of Newsbiscuit, but too often for my liking it has preferred the calmer shallows of gentle social comment to the Mexican Gulf that Spitting Image typified. Until the general election, that is, when one political "front page" followed another, often displaying great savagery. The merciless topical genie was out of the bottle and has continued its work with the World Cup. Maybe New Labour was already too much of a parody of politics for satirists to be able to add anything new, with one or two notable exceptions. Maybe no one realised how dreadful Brown was until Bigotgate.

Maybe odd-couple Dave and Nick will indeed herald a new age of satire. Maybe the BBC needs to take the lead: there are enough good writers out there to choose from. Dave Miller, Haywards Heath Vicky Pollard, Catherine Tate's Lauren or Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G - I wouldn't term any of these satire (I hesitate to even use the term comedy). Not all comedy and sketch shows are satire. If you look at what I would consider true satire programs, for example Mock the Week, Have I got News for you, The Now Show, it is easily noticeable that no politician, whichever tribe they belong too, is safe. The issue is that these shows just aren't as well received by the public, and thus don't have as much presence as they once did. So it's not that satire is changing, more that satire itself is becoming less popular and the fault of that lies with us, the general public and our general apathy about the news and especially politics and especially anything which makes us think, or challenges our poorly misplaced, media-misguided views of the world. Alex, Cambridge Nice try, John. But it IS because most satirists are left-wing.

They slunk away to the sidelines, being too embarrassed to give New Labour its deserved pummelling and crawl back out now there's a Tory government. Carl T Holden, Wrexham, UK Bookmark with: Private Eye (Magazine) - TV Tropes Private Eye You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share The very first edition, layout and cartooning by Willie Rushton . "The best comedy is when you attack the strong, not the weak." —Ian Hislop, editor. A British fortnightly magazine of current affairs and satirical humour, running since 1961. Founders included its first editor Richard Ingrams, and comedians Peter Cook and Willie Rushton , who had all been contemporaries at Shrewsbury School and later at Oxbridge . It does a lot of investigative journalism and has been sued for libel a considerable number of times (it usually loses, and would have been bankrupted by the damages if not for donations from supporters and subscribers). Its editor, Ian Hislop (a team captain on Have I Got News for You ), even held the record for 'Most Sued Man in England' for a time.

For many years it was verging on a point of pride how long it had been since they won a case. The first time Ian Hislop won a libel suit, the following issue was filled in celebratory manner with yet more libelous material, just because they knew they'd get away with it. note For those reading from outside the UK, it's important to point out that under English law it is possible for something to be both perfectly true and libelous, as it is up to the defendant to prove the truth of what he/she has said, and even then truth is not considered an absolute defense against libel. In the United States, the person bringing the suit has to prove that what was said is false, at least when the defendant is a newspaper or other media outlet (the standard for when the defendant is an individual varies from state to state , but the law of defamation as applied to the media is largely controlled by the Free Press Clause of the First Amendment to the federal Constitution and is thus consistent across states).

Also, American law does consider the truth to be an absolute defense; moreover, in the United States, statements of opinion are also protected, and the definition of "opinion" is quite broad—even factually false statements can be "opinion" in the right context. The flip side of this is that getting an injunction to prevent something being published in the first place is rather harder in Britain - otherwise known as Publish and be damned. Or at least, it was, before the current fad for "super injunctions", where the target is not even allowed to say they have had an injunction put upon them, let alone talk about the original subject... Regular Cartoons and Ongoing Parodies "The Broonites", (defunct) which featured the Brown camp of the now former Labour government and who all spoke in exaggerated Scottish accents- even the English ones. This was done in the style of The Broons , a cartoon strip from The Sunday Post . Contains an apparently deliberate example for comic effect of Just Plane Wrong . In the 1205 strip, Gordon Brown is put on a plane to Afghanistan to solve the government's popularity problems. The plane- an English Electric Lightning, long gone from RAF service.

This is possibly a bizarre example of the cartoonist having Shown Their Work . You see, the original cartoonist on The Broons- (Dudley D Watkins) spent the whole of World War Two drawing anything military in the same style as his earlier adventure comics: That is, straight out of World War One. The Robber Baron cycle, a fictional series of operas detailing the life and crimes of Silvio, the Robber Baron, based on Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. Radio Times: Classic Opera Buffooni, which opens with the Robber Baron Silvio cavorting in the Palazzo Fornicazione with a chorus of scantily clad nymphs who sing the chorus 'Money, Money, Money — We've come here for the Money'. Prime Ministerial parodies: Reporting on governmental affairs in the style of something else. These generally take the form of either a personal diary/correspondence (particularly by the PM's spouse) or an internal missive at a fictional institution designed to parody the PM's style or policies. "The New Coalition Academy" - in the style of a posh school's newsletter for David Cameron 's Tory-Lib Dem coalition.

Cameron is the headmaster, while Nick Clegg is his deputy. Inspired by the Academies that were part of the Coalition's education policy . Following the 2015 General Election and Nick Clegg's departure from the Government, became the "Cameron Free School", with the Lib Dem bird poorly cut out of the previous logo (which combined it with the Conservative tree). This basic style was continued when Theresa May replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister in 2016, but renamed "St. Theresa's Independent State Grammar School for Girls (and Boys)", due to her policies of reintroducing grammar schools, with a logo of a badge taped together featuring a pair of leopard-print kitten heels. "Prime Ministerial Decrees"- Gordon Brown as a Stalin-style leader. Inspired by a comment by one of Brown's underlings that he had "Stalinist" tendencies in his leadership. It was also an excuse for the magazine to comment on the lack of an election as Prime Minster, either by his party or the United Kingdom. "St.

Albion's Parish News" - Tony Blair as a rural vicar of the sanctimonious yet "trendy" type (became a TV series as A Sermon from St Albion's). Inspired by Blair's slickness and known religiosity. "The Secret Diary of John Major (aged 47¾)" - written in Adrian Mole style. "Dear Bill" - Margaret Thatcher 's husband Denis writes to Bill Deedes, editor of the Daily Telegraph. Capitalised on Sir Denis' perceived alcoholism and actual friendship with Deedes. "Heathco. Newsletter" - Edward Heath as MD of a failing business (a grocery, apparently, which was used to poke fun at then-Science and Education Secretary and grocer's daughter Maggie Thatcher). Its symbol was a yacht, because Heath was famously fond of sailing. "Mrs. Wilson's Diary" - Harold Wilson 's wife writes in the style of BBC radio show Mrs. Dale's Diary. Inspired by the working-class image Wilson liked to put on, despite the very middle-class reality of his background. "Dave Snooty and his New Pals"- David Cameron in the style of The Beano strip Lord Snooty.

Boris Johnson features quite a bit (crossing over from the earlier Beano parody Boris The Menace ). "The Adventures of Mr Millibean"- Replacing The Broon-ites, Ed Miliband and the Labour Shadow Cabinet in the style of the Mr. Bean cartoon spinoff. Itself replaced by Andy Capp -in-Ring, about Andy Burnham's bid for Labour leadership, then by a text piece which was simply "Jeremy Corbyn Writes" (after a brief experiment with a strip portraying Corbyn as Obi-Wan Kenobi ). "From the Message Boards". Parody of online political venues and comments threads, populated by assorted rabid fascists , Single Issue Wonks , bloodthirsty vigilantes and unclassifiable nutters . Notable commenters are "Bogbrush" and "Sword of Truth." Alleged to have been inspired by The BBC 's "Have Your Say" discussion boards. Often suffers from being saner than the real thing . Spiggy Topes and the Turds.

A fictional band from The British Invasion , who are a very transparent parody of the The Beatles "Celeb", made into a brief TV series, it involves a fading pop-star Gary Bloke and his wife, daughters ( Rosedrop Bunnypetal and Pixie Frou-frou ) and son Troy. "Supermodels" - Parodies the current events in the fashion industry, all the models in this comic are drawn as a thin line for the body. "It's Grim Up North London" - features a group of artsy-pretentious friends of the new age liberal type. Replaced a long-running strip The Gays that was drawing complaints over perceived homophobia. Readers of IGUNL suspect this strip is still "The Gays" with a slant on affluent arty Islington pretentiousness. "Apparently" "Scene And Heard", a regular cartoon journalism feature which depicts and quotes random members of the public attending some political or cultural event. Initially attracted some bemusement from readers who couldn't understand the idea of a non-gag cartoon. "Pseuds Corner", a column which highlights particularly pompous and pretentious quotes from that week's media.

"Commentatorballs", which records ridiculous, accidentally suggestive, or just plain stupid quotes from the broadcast (and usually sports) media, usually caused by the low brain-to-mouth delay of spontaneous sports commentary. Originally named "Colemanballs" after the notoriously gaffe-prone sports commentator David Coleman, renamed after his death. A typical Colemanball, spoken by Alan Minter: "Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing - but none of them serious." Extends to other fields when the material is abundant, such as "Warballs" regarding the War On Terror , and "50 Shades of Balls" for overuse of 50ShadesOfGrey references. "The Book of (Insert Israeli leader name here)", which presents contemporary Middle Eastern events in the style of the King James Bible, and usually ends in "and so it was back to the square which is called one". "Yobs" or "Yobbettes" when the story features females. A Strip which features (un)working class people behaving yobbishly . Young British Artists: a satire on the works and attitudes of modern British artists. Typically featuring Damien Hirst , Tracey Emin and Carl Freedman .

Craig Brown's Diary: Spoof diary of politician or celebrity, usually based on the assumption that their private life is exactly like their public life (So Prince Charles spends all his time worrying about architecture, Barack Obama can only talk in inspirational speeches, and so on). Made into a Radio 4 series as The Lost Diaries. E.J Thribb: A 17 1/2 year old crap poet. His poems are always "In Memoriam", always begin with "So, farewell then..." and are often bizarre and amusing. Sometimes his name is adapted into an Incredibly Lame Pun : after Ariel Sharon had a stroke, he signed off "E.J Thribbutz". Gnome: a spoof editorial by the fictional proprieter Lord Gnome or his lackey E. Strobes. (Lord Gnome appeared in the 1993 TV special The Bore of the Year Awards, played by the Eye's real-life contributor and majority shareholder Peter Cook .) Also, "The Curse of Gnome", where they point out that people who've won libel cases against them generally come to a bad end.

Glenda Slagg: Spoof tabloid woman's columnist, whose articles are full of condemnation/praise for whoever the gossip magazines are talking about, usually switching from one to the other within a single column. Catchphrases "Aintchasickofim" and "Dontchaloveim". Mary Ann Bighead: A particularly vicious send-up of Mary Ann Sieghart, a female lifestyle/politics/culture columnist who the magazine perceives to be arrogant. Frequent references to the spectacular achievements of her children, who are normally named "Brainella" or some other such variant, and the stupidity of politicians, her childrens' teachers and the reader. Polly Filler: Spoof broadsheet woman's columnist, whose articles are about how difficult it is being an upper-middle class young mother, because you have to spend all day telling the au pair to do things. Also uses her column to plug the collected edition of her columns, the novel based on her columns and, most recently, the film based on the novel based on her columns. "The Useless Simon", her husband, who she presents as lazy and loutish but who is actually implied to be a better (or at least, as good a) person than she is.

Steel " - the pseudonym of...Seumas Milne). A Taxi-Driver Writes: Straw Conservative . String 'em up, it's the only language they understand. Often found right across from Dave Spart, agreeing with him for entirely different reasons. The Eye's Controversial New Columnist: An angry baby, who gives the important baby's eye view of current events (usually that the people involved are acting like, well, babies). Dame Sylvie Krin: a saccharine-impregnated royal correspondent and author of fawning biographies and bad fiction about the royal family and other celebrities. Her "stories" usually feature a Purple Prose -esque, fawning and overly romantic description of celebrities going about their business exactly as they do in real life: A story about Prince Charles: "Is mater abdicating?", thought Charles, displaying his renowned sensitivity. A story about Rupert Murdoch: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU LITTLE WOMBAT'S DONG?," said Rupert sagely. Her name is also an Incredibly Lame Pun , on the shampoo brand Silvikrin.

Phil Space (and Distaff Counterpart Philippa Space): A generic Punny Name for any columnist, especially those writing an unimportant or redundant story. Occasionally readers across the world will find real examples of journalists called something similar and send them in. Fond of the Unusual Euphemism and obscure nickname, sometimes for legal reasons, to the point that it can become unreadable to those not in the know . Most of these are derived from very obscure old political scandals. Obscure Eye Terms Pretty much every British newspaper has a well-known nickname that was given to them by the Eye. A lot of politicians and celebrities have also been given nicknames, usually derisive. Nicknames Baillie Vass = former Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home (after the Aberdeen Evening Expressnote Not The Scotsman , as commonly reported mixed up the captions for a photo of him with a photo of the titular castle) It's all right not to have heard of him- he was only in office a year.

They revived the joke when Douglas-Home's nephew Charles became Editor of The Times in 1982, calling him "Charles Vass", and probably expected to continue with that joke for many years (after all, most of his predecessors had lasted at least a decade); however, Charles died young in 1985. In fact, this nickname has gotten prevalent enough that The Other Wiki automatically redirects you to Douglas-Home's page if you type in Baillie Vass in the search bar. Tony Blair was "The Dear Leader" (the title used by Kim Jong-il of North Korea) due to accusations of a messiah complex. Although in his later years he was referred to as "the Vicar" due to a perceived similarity to trendy clergymen. He passed on the "Dear Leader" title to Gordon Brown. The Daily Express is the "Daily Sexpress", due to its obsession with how EVIL! AND DISGUSTING! AND SICK! AND FOUL! this SICK FILTH is ( Full story and PICS page 94 . The Daily Mail is occasionally referred to as the Daily Dacre (after its editor), the Daily Fail, or the Daily Hitler.

The Evening Standard is called "The Evening Boris" for its support of the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The Daily Telegraph is sometimes referred to as "The Daily Hellograph", due to its perceived shift downmarket into celebrity fluff (Hello being a notoriously vapid British celebrity-gossip mag.) CDC is referred to as "seedy C" Wendi Deng is referred to as Wendi Dung. Robert Maxwell was nicknamed "Cap'n Bob". This fell out of use when the magazine discovered the even better nickname (originally coined by Harold Wilson , no less) of "the bouncing Czech." Nowadays, he is almost never referred to without some mention of his criminal activity during his lifetime. This is because he sued Private Eye in libel for exposing it, won, and took £220,000 off them. His death and the subsequent revelations mean that the magazine is Vindicated by History and free to call the criminal Robert Maxwell, a thief and a criminal, a thieving criminal . Mary Ann Sieghart is often called Mary Ann Bighead, due to a perceived use of her columns to boast about her lifestyle. Max Hastings is always referred to as Hitler Hastings due to his obsession with the war.

Either that or "The World's Worst Columnist." Former Telegraph editor William Rees-Mogg is often called "Mystic Mogg" because of his tendency to make awfully bad predictions about the outcomes of elections. (Mitt Romney was to be President in 2008, Gordon Brown was to win the UK election in 2010, and Rick Santorum was his prediction for the US 2012 election.) Ancient former Telegraph editor Bill Deedes is referred to as Bill Deedesh, mocking both his (very) advanced age and his fondness for the amber flow. A Running Gag on their part is that, whenever the magazine draws a historical parallel to modern events, the ancient newspaper (for instance, the Bethlehem Times) will be edited by Deedesh. Piers Morgan is "Piers Moron", sometimes phrased as "Piers 'Morgan' Moron" as though Moron is his real name and Morgan the nickname. Rupert Murdoch is "The Dirty Digger" (Digger = Australian) and Richard Desmond is "Dirty Des", both referencing their more unsavoury connections.

Notoriously terrible PFInote Private Finance Initiative, a scheme launched by Labour under Tony Blair by which some government functions such as building schools were outsourced to private companies company Capita are inevitably referred to as "Crapita". Richard Branson is referred to as Beardie. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, (DEFRA) is referred to as "Department for the Elimination of Farming and Rural Affairs". Its acronym is sometimes modified to DEFRO. Margaret Beckett is referred to as Rosa Klebb for her disastrous tenure at the above and her complete lack of interest in the environment, food, or rural affairs. The late Sir James Goldsmith, a frequent and vindictive litigant, was usually "Sir Jammy Fishpaste" and other similar names, such as "St. Jammy Fishfingers". The magazine considers some aspect of his activities to be objectionable. Similarly, his appearances sometimes end with him having to go and phone "John in Kenya", a reference to John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (AKA Lord Lucan), who the Eye semi-seriously accused him of helping escape there after he killed his children's nanny.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson was always named as "Wislon". The Financial Services Authority is invariably referred to as "The Fundamentally Supine Authority" in reference to its reluctance to act and its seemingly close relationship with the industry it is supposed to regulate, often contrasting its performance with the swift and draconian methods of its United States counterparts. The Maily Telegraph" is a composite of The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail. Similarly, "The Stun" is a generic red top tabloid newspaper, like "The Sun" and "The Daily Star". HM The Queen is referred to as Brenda. Prince Charles is Brian. The Department for Transport (DfT) is usually referred as "DafT". The Department of Trade and Industry was often the "Department of Timidity and Inaction". Brighton is referred to as Skid Row -on-sea. Transportation company FirstGroupnote They operate a lot of fairly barebones intercity bus services around the world—including Greyhound—as well as operating some train and tram services in Britain under contract is referred to as "Worst Group".

There are also features on the hypocrisy of the Fleet Street press ("Street of Shame") and a great section called "Rotten Boroughs" on local council misbehaviour, along with annual awards — such as for Tory bigots. Despite editorial's distrust of the internet (believing the main message you should get from their website is "Buy the magazine" - Street of Shame having reported on the collapsing fortunes of far too many newspapers whose websites mean you don't need to buy the paper), there is a podcast , Page 94 , which reveals behind-the-scenes stuff about how the journalists research their stories and where the jokewriters get their ideas. This work provides examples of: The Eye itself sometimes receives them, typically from fans who threaten to cancel their subscription due to Dude, Not Funny! or They Changed It, Now It Sucks . Transatlantic Equivalent : The second half of the Eye is similar to America's The Onion in content. Trend Covers : The recent "Bookalikes" column is about this.

Unusual Euphemism : Has added several to the language, mostly deriving from weedy excuses or alibis given by politicians embroiled in scandals: "Discussing Uganda" / "Ugandan discussions" = having sex "Tired and emotional" = drunk "Exotic cheroot" = cannabis The Vicar : Tony Blair was presented as one in the 'Vicar of St Albion's' parody, inspired by a comparison that had been made by many in the media who had compared his style when making speeches to that of a trendy Anglican vicar giving a sermon. ( Hilarious in Hindsight , now that Blair is a Catholic.) Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe : In the "Book of (Insert Current Israeli Leader Here)" segments and sometimes some of the Retraux newspaper segments which compare current events to historical ones. (That's enough Tropes. Ed) However, the truly unparalleled touch of genius about Private Eye is widely thought to be its famous (cont. p.94).

:: Indexes :: Blair as Statesman Outshines Politician - The New York Times The New York Times World |Blair as Statesman Outshines Politician Search Continue reading the main story His speech to the Trades Union Congress's convention last week had been touted in the British press as one of the most potentially confrontational moments of the prime ministership of Tony Blair. Shunted aside by the New Labor reforms that swept him into office in 1997, John Edmonds, general secretary of the 700,000-member GMB union, predicted that he would get a ''rough ride.'' Onlookers wondered whether Mr. Blair would display his famously dismissive and tetchy behavior that had characterized past clashes with detractors. But when he took the stage in Brighton, the news of terrorist attacks in America was buzzing through the union audience. Mr. Blair grimly announced that he would not be delivering his speech and would return immediately to London. He left the hall, and his critics fell silent. Since then he has not stopped speaking out, and a political trait of Mr.

Blair's has resurfaced: the role of high-profile international statesman brings out in him an assuredness and resolution that often seem wanting in his handling of home-grown crises. Continue reading the main story Much as he did during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, Mr. Blair, who arrives in New York on Thursday, has become the most forceful advocate of bold action by the West, the most vocal cheerleader in Europe for standing firmly with the United States. Advertisement Continue reading the main story ''Tony Blair is a very different politician at war than at peace,'' the columnist Peter Riddell said in The Times of London this week. ''The indecisiveness, the caution and the aversion to risk-taking he often displays when handling domestic issues are cast aside. Instead, he has appeared decisive, determined and willing to take risks almost to the point of recklessness.'' Unlike other European leaders he has not hesitated to use President Bush's ''at war'' phrase, and he has left no doubt that he would be willing to commit British troops to the cause. Today he embarked on a whirlwind campaign to help shore up the American-led coalition. First stop tonight was Berlin for dinner with Chancellor Gerhard Schroder.

Then on to breakfast with President Jacques Chirac in Paris before flying to New York and Washington on Thursday afternoon and evening. Late Thursday night, after talks with Mr. Bush, he returns to Brussels for a European Union summit meeting on Friday. In New York, he will attend a special memorial service at St. Thomas's Church on Fifth Avenue for the 300 Britons who are estimated to have died in last week's attacks. When Mr. Bush was elected, Mr. Blair was eager to dispel the notion that his close association with President Clinton would stand in the way of his forging a strong bond with his Republican successor. Their meetings so far have been marked by an informality of the kind that the president prefers, and White House aides report that Mr. Bush finds Mr. Blair more accessible than some other European leaders. Even as he seeks a wider role in European Union affairs, particularly military policy, Mr. Blair is dedicated to maintaining Britain's status as the most loyal and dependable ally to the United States, the keeper of the so-called bridge between Europe and America. At the time of Kosovo, he used his access to President Clinton to try -- unsuccessfully -- to persuade him to drop his reluctance to commit ground troops.

His mission this time is to emphasize to the president European concerns that retaliation be properly planned so as not to cause innocent deaths. Mr. Blair is clearly more comfortable fighting foreign wars than ones against opponents at home. Foreign policy is the one high-profile subject that he can run unchallenged by his powerful and ambitious finance minister, Gordon Brown. The preachy tone that has earned Mr. Blair the title of Vicar of St. Albion from the satirical magazine Private Eye is better suited to inspirational calls on the world to ''smash the machinery of terrorism'' than it is to policy announcements about improving public services, the principal political issue in Britain today. Advertisement Continue reading the main story A year ago, a suddenly tone-deaf Mr. Blair was unable to come up with the right words and actions to hold off a spontaneous fuel price protest that virtually brought the country to a standstill. He was accused of dithering and of being arrogant and out of touch. For the first and only time since he was first elected in 1997, his popularity ratings fell beneath those of his rival, William Hague, who was then the Conservative leader. Though Mr.

Blair won a landslide victory in the June election, voter participation was off. Sensing public apathy and disengagement, he returned to Downing Street with none of the triumphalism that accompanied his arrival there four years earlier. Faced with growing protests, he has made improving Britain's over-centralized and under-resourced public services like health care and transportation priorities for his second term. But he has infuriated unions by saying he will hire commercial companies to help. The once-loyal Labor Party cadres are displaying a post-electoral restiveness. Some are questioning what they see as Mr. Blair's reverence for free markets and the business class, and his automatic disposition to side with America. Newspapers on the day of the attacks in America carried an assault on Mr. Blair from a Laborite in Parliament, Tam Dalyell, 69, the longest serving member of Commons. He said resisting the ''dangerous folly'' of the Bush missile shield plan was ''more important than keeping this prime minister in 10 Downing Street.'' More than 200 members of Parliament have signed a motion opposing the plan.

Even if he is successful overseas, foreign policy accomplishments do not necessarily translate into domestic popularity, and those tensions are likely to be waiting for Mr. Blair when he refocuses on problems at home. The NATO course of action that Mr. Blair championed so vigorously two years ago ended up victorious. But he was criticized for paying too much attention to the war and too little to domestic battles over health, schools and transportation. BBC News | World | Tony Blair: Kosovo crusader Tony Blair: Kosovo crusader Tony Blair has taken the moral high ground By Diplomatic Correspondent Barnaby Mason The UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is playing a passionate and prominent part in the Kosovo crisis. He takes the hardest of hard lines against President Milosevic, makes the most specific promises to reverse the ethnic cleansing, and justifies Nato bombing as action in a just cause. In domestic politics, Mr Blair is a risk taker whose risks have so far come off. He led the Labour Party to election victory after 18 years, with a huge majority. And in the British parliamentary system, he has untrammelled power at home that no other major western leader enjoys. He does not have to worry much about the opposition.

Clinton and Blair use similar rhetoric US President Bill Clinton, on the other hand, always has to take the opinions of Congress into account. President Chirac of France has to consider his Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, a political rival. And the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schr�der, has to deal with a split within his junior coalition partner, the Green Party. But this is only part of the story. Tony Blair is a practising Christian. Indeed, a regular column in a British satirical magazine Private Eye depicts him as an Anglican priest, the Vicar of St Albion's. In speeches that seem to come from the heart, Mr Blair has taken the moral high ground and sounded a call to arms against barbarism - personified in the demonisation of Slobodan Milosevic. He has proclaimed a crusade, albeit to save a Muslim dispossessed people. Unparalleled passion Other western politicians have sometimes spoken this way. Bill Clinton said Kosovo was a test of whether civilised nations awoke to the warning signs of evil before it was too late. The new generation of German leaders - former left-wing radicals and green pacifists - have evoked parallels with the racism of the Nazis.

But no-one has spoken with the passionate intensity of Mr Blair. Echoes of Margaret Thatcher With the intensity goes a certainty that recalls Margaret Thatcher. Mr Blair makes specific commitments which most politicians would think rash. He promises that Nato will remove all Serb forces from Kosovo and lead all the refugees back home. Our determination is absolute, he says. Compare that with the vague undertaking of the American Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, that Nato operations will continue until the crisis ends on just and durable terms. Mr Blair's hostages to fortune may come back to haunt him; at any rate, people will remember them. Argument over ground troops It is the UK prime minister who is making the running in the debate over whether Nato should send ground troops into Kosovo. He is careful not to get too far ahead of Mr Clinton. In fact, it may suit Mr Clinton to have others take a more militant line at a tricky time for his presidency. He is busy watching American opinion polls, trying to decide which way to jump to secure a place in the history books which is not irrevocably tied to Monica Lewinsky. This is not to suggest that Tony Blair, too, is not a politician to his fingertips.

He combines conviction with a detailed attention to public opinion and the use of focus groups, which owe a lot to Mr Clinton's example. One criticism of both is that they are trying to run a war as if it were an election campaign - typified by the reluctance to call it a war at all. Winning the media war In Britain, Mr Blair's public idealism is backed up by an intensely professional information or propaganda machine - the choice of label depends on your point of view. It is run by the man who is much more than his spokesman, Alastair Campbell. After the damage to Nato's credibility caused by the mistaken bombing of refugee vehicles in Kosovo, Mr Campbell devoted some of his energy and talent trying to remedy the defects of the Nato media operation in Brussels. The scrutiny of 24-hour television news has made the concentration on presentation, the rise of the spin doctors, inevitable. Victory in the media war is seen as vital Tony Blair is using the media machine to put across a moral message. Unmarked by the long history of evasion which has tainted Bill Clinton, he now seems to be trying to build a consensus in favour of a ground operation in Kosovo which is increasingly seen as the only way to turn rhetoric into reality.

It has to be said that the stakes are higher for Mr Clinton and the task more difficult. Public opinion in America is more sensitive to military casualties than in Britain. The United States would carry the heaviest burden and the greatest responsibility. However forceful Mr Blair is, the ultimate decision will be made in the White House. st albion parish news : definition of st albion parish news and synonyms of st albion parish news (English) 5 References Structure and general tone The general structure was a message from the vicar, i.e. Prime Minister, plus a few smaller, varying columns. These usually included the Parish Postbag, often containing a letter from a parish member (i.e. minister) complaining about something or other but cut short "for reasons of space" by the editor (in the past this was Alastair Campbell ). In the case of Tony Blair, the 'incumbent vicar', the message was nearly always a defence of his recent actions which then turned into a self-loving eulogy. Bible passages were frequently modified, or invented, to reflect kindly and reverently on the vicar. There would sometimes be a hymn with up-beat slogan words, marked "Words and Music T.

Blair" to emphasise the message. Despite frequent promises of not blaming others it was very common for the ensuing sentence or paragraph to do just that, all under a pretence of friendliness and half-heartedness. Running jokes from the Blair era The tone of the sketch was set by the magazine's satirical take on the Blair government and its personalities. The vicar's message always began with 'hullo', any appearance by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott featured attempts at formal, well-written language plagued by mistakes and misunderstandings of words (e.g. "there have been many alligators made about me"), and threats to sue were frequently made by the vicar's wife ( Cherie Blair is a leading barrister ). Some weeks there was an item "To Remember In Your Prayers", seeking understanding for former colleagues who had resigned or been sacked, for example Mo Mowlam , Clare Short and Charles Clarke . They are depicted as obviously deluded and mentally ill, hence the need for prayers. TV adaptation In 1998 Sermon from St. Albion's, an ITV television series based on the column was shown. It starred Harry Enfield as the Rev. Blair.

[1] Influence During the run-up to the 2001 General Election, Tony Blair started his campaign at St Olave's and St Xavier's School, during which he was photographed making a speech in front of a stained-glass window, with the choir surrounding him. It was noted that this made Blair look like the "vicar of St Albions". [2] References

Question: Which politician was portrayed in the satirical magazine, Private Eye, as The Vicar of St Albion?
Answer: TONY BLAIR