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Taking sides
Taking Sides
Hardcover
First published November 1, 1979
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
Bernard Levin
42 books6 followersHenry Bernard Levin, CBE (London School of Economics, 1952) was described by the London daily The Times as "the most famous journalist of his day". As political correspondent of The Spectator under the pseudonym "Taper", he became "the father of the modern parliamentary sketch," as The Guardian's Simon Hoggart put it. He went on to work as the drama critic for The Daily Express and later The Daily Mail, and appeared regularly on the satirical BBC programme, That Was The Week That Was. He joined The Times as a columnist in 1970, almost immediately provoking controversy and lawsuits, and left when the paper was taken over by Rupert Murdoch.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 10, 2025
Bizarrely, Goodreads insists on changing the title of this book, Taking Sides, to Grehge—a word that has no meaning as far as I can tell. A quick search shows that Amazon has changed the brand name of many products to Grehge. What is going on? Bernard Levin would no doubt write a column about it.
”There is nothing wrong with Mr Lennon that could not be cured by standing him upside down and shaking him gently until whatever is inside his head falls out.”
This is a mere aside in an article that was not primarily about John Lennon. Taking Sides is something that Bernard Levin was paid handsomely for doing and he did not usually shy away from it. He left The Daily Mail in 1970 because he refused to be censored by the proprietor. His writing was erudite, acerbic and witty. This selection of his articles comes mainly from The Times, for which he wrote two comment columns a week for most of 1971 to 1997, when he retired due to failing health. Most are comment pieces, some are reviews.
The pieces vary greatly in style, subject matter and seriousness - and quality. In some he rails against the abuse of power, in others he complains despairingly about incompetence in public servants. Here he lampoons a buffoon; there he excoriates a scoundrel and the woke of his day with forensic reasoning. Some of his subjects are matters of national—even international—importance (the death penalty, atrocities in Burundi); some are of only parochial interest (his failure to appreciate Ascot or the FA Cup Final); some are merely whimsical (fear of spiders, a window box).
Levin can also write with personal warmth—for example, about his barber, Montgomery of Alamein and the founder of the Early Music Consort. His pleas to an IRA gang, who threatened to burn a stolen Vermeer, are even moving and respectful. Levin’s love of the arts and especially of music are to the fore, emerging almost as his supreme value in life. The one area where he steadfastly, almost superciliously refuses to take sides is in moral issues and what he regards as people’s private lives. His live and let live attitude to pornography sounds very dated now.
Almost always Bernard Levin holds our attention. Where he does not, it is mostly where he stretches lampoonery beyond the point of humour and even beyond the point (the space in the newspaper had to be filled, after all), and it comes across as lazy writing. My only other complaint is about Levin’s nonchalant use, without explanation, of foreign words and phrases as if anyone worthy of his company should understand them. Nevertheless, Taking Sides is a book that you will generally want to keep reading—one article at a time is not enough.
”There is nothing wrong with Mr Lennon that could not be cured by standing him upside down and shaking him gently until whatever is inside his head falls out.”
This is a mere aside in an article that was not primarily about John Lennon. Taking Sides is something that Bernard Levin was paid handsomely for doing and he did not usually shy away from it. He left The Daily Mail in 1970 because he refused to be censored by the proprietor. His writing was erudite, acerbic and witty. This selection of his articles comes mainly from The Times, for which he wrote two comment columns a week for most of 1971 to 1997, when he retired due to failing health. Most are comment pieces, some are reviews.
The pieces vary greatly in style, subject matter and seriousness - and quality. In some he rails against the abuse of power, in others he complains despairingly about incompetence in public servants. Here he lampoons a buffoon; there he excoriates a scoundrel and the woke of his day with forensic reasoning. Some of his subjects are matters of national—even international—importance (the death penalty, atrocities in Burundi); some are of only parochial interest (his failure to appreciate Ascot or the FA Cup Final); some are merely whimsical (fear of spiders, a window box).
Levin can also write with personal warmth—for example, about his barber, Montgomery of Alamein and the founder of the Early Music Consort. His pleas to an IRA gang, who threatened to burn a stolen Vermeer, are even moving and respectful. Levin’s love of the arts and especially of music are to the fore, emerging almost as his supreme value in life. The one area where he steadfastly, almost superciliously refuses to take sides is in moral issues and what he regards as people’s private lives. His live and let live attitude to pornography sounds very dated now.
Almost always Bernard Levin holds our attention. Where he does not, it is mostly where he stretches lampoonery beyond the point of humour and even beyond the point (the space in the newspaper had to be filled, after all), and it comes across as lazy writing. My only other complaint is about Levin’s nonchalant use, without explanation, of foreign words and phrases as if anyone worthy of his company should understand them. Nevertheless, Taking Sides is a book that you will generally want to keep reading—one article at a time is not enough.
June 25, 2025
This is a collection of Levin's columns from the 1970s, mostly from The Times (for whom he was chief opinion columnist). Some of the subjects have dated but there are many themes still current, while other pieces deal not with world events but random things in Levin's life.
His output was prodigious, and he had the skill of a master columnist of being able to write engagingly on a vast range of subjects and non-subjects. For modern readers Levin's complex sentences may come as a surprise, but hopefully a pleasant one. His views will not always resonate but are none the worse for that. Whether one agrees with him or not, his arguments are presented in such sparkling form that the book makes for a most agreeable companion.
His output was prodigious, and he had the skill of a master columnist of being able to write engagingly on a vast range of subjects and non-subjects. For modern readers Levin's complex sentences may come as a surprise, but hopefully a pleasant one. His views will not always resonate but are none the worse for that. Whether one agrees with him or not, his arguments are presented in such sparkling form that the book makes for a most agreeable companion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews