Back to Gideon RachmanI’m afraid that newspaper columnists are incorrigible show-offs. As a species, we are constantly trying to draw attention to ourselves. So I have to hand it to my colleague, George Monbiot, of The Guardian. I thought I might attract a little attention by writing a scathing review of John Bolton’s book. It never occurred to me to actually try and arrest the guy. (Yes, I know that’s a split infinitive - I feel reckless today.)
But this is what George has done at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival. Admittedly, it was a fairly ineffectual attempt at a citizens’s arrest. But the underlying issue is interesting. Monbiot claims to be in possession of a fat dossier on Bolton - and argues that the former UN ambassador is a war criminal. But I’m with Foreign Policy magazine when it argues that the grounds for arresting Bolton under international law are flimsy, at best. I don’t think that being in a possession of an offensive moustache is enough to take you to the Hague.
I find both Bolton and Monbiot puzzling in different ways. Why - for example - does Bolton spend so much time in Britain, when he professes to despise the place? It can’t be the money - the speaker fees are much fatter on the other side of the Atlantic.
As for Monbiot - the question that interests me is, is he a stunt man and publicity-seeking shyster or a sincere person, who is genuinely trying to improve the world? I fear that the answer is the latter.
I worked with George a long time ago, when we were both producers at the BBC World Service. He seemed well-spoken, clever, posh - but also very diffident. Not once did he try and perform a citizen’s arrest. His inner radical only appeared briefly, towards the end of his stint at the BBC.
George wrote a letter to a newspaper, which the BBC hierarchy deemed to be a little too political for a BBC producer. Our then boss came in and told George that he had strayed, adding - “You’ve obviously not thought about this subject at all.” George replied quietly - “Actually, I have thought about it rather hard” - and procceded to give chapter-and-verse. It was the first evidence of a core of inner steel - inside the public-school jelly. OK, it wasn’t that steely. But, in retrospect, I can recognise the man who would later heroically attempt to arrest John Bolton.
As for George’s journalism - I suppose he is a sort of British version of Naomi Klein. My reaction when I read his articles in the Guardian is usually along the lines of - “I’m sure that’s wrong, but I can’t be bothered to do the research to prove it.” We did once clash accidentally, when he wrote a piece calling for western sanctions on Burma, on the same day that I wrote an article opposing sanctions. We were paired off in a radio debate.
It was nice to talk to him - and I thought I had the better of the argument. But then I would, wouldn’t I?
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention. I joined the FT as chief foreign affairs commentator in 2006, after a 15-year career at The Economist which included stints as a correspondent in Brussels, Bangkok and Washington. I write a weekly column on foreign affairs, which appears in the paper on Tuesdays. Occasionally my FT colleagues contribute posts to this blog.
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