There’s a brilliant piece by Michael Murphy in The Critic magazine. This piece on the LBC radio personality and talk show host James O’Brien focuses on Mr O’Brien’s new book about himself and really properly eviscerates O’Brien and deservedly so.

Here’s a couple of excerpts from Mr Murphy’s magnificent piece.

Mr Murphy said of O’Brien:

“ O’Brien is, in fact, an immediately recognisable beast. He is the ruddy-cheeked avatar of a breed of journalist for whom the job — to invert a line from Andrew Marr — has become the professionalisation of incuriosity. He has built a lucrative career from mistaking journalism for exhibitionist incredulity at anything deviating from the liberal consensus. “

Mr Murphy added on the subject of Mr O’Brien’s autobiography:

“He is, put simply, a terrible bore; a mid-brow Jeremy Kyle with a knack for deploying abrasive sophistry to fillet his callers. How to be Right consists almost entirely of the transcripts of these exchanges, displayed on the page like taxidermied quarry. His guests are often addressed as “mate”, sometimes called names at odds with those in the book, and variously described as “profoundly mistaken,” “angry and fearful,” “tragicomic,” “a bit of a plank,” “gullible and at worst dangerous.” In more charitable moments: they are “not bad people”.”

Mr Murphy continued:

“O’Brien is clearly rhetorically gifted. But one is left with the impression that his style of journalism has taken a toll on his critical faculties. Take the laughable assertion: “Contrary to what many people claim, you can talk about it [immigration] in this country without being called a racist. I should know, I’ve been doing it for over a decade and nobody’s ever called me one with a straight face.” I’m happy to be corrected here, but I have never heard O’Brien criticise immigration. Not once. Not out of the side of his mouth, with or without a straight face. “

I don’t want to take much more from Mr Murphy’s piece as I want all my readers to visit The Critic to read this fabulous skewering of O’Brien in all its gory glory.

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-book-of-job/