Will Self's New Year message
Saturday, December 29, 2007 
I've never read any of his novels but Will Self (left) is one of my favourite journalists. His writing, like his persona, has a sardonic, sometimes menacing, tone. In an age of conformity he's also a contrarian - a trait I particularly like.
Today, reviewing the smoking ban in the Independent, Self mentions Forest. It's not a glowing reference (rather the opposite), but I don't care. Recognition from one of Britain's top literary talents is good enough for me.
More interesting (for you) is Self's confession that "I find [the ban] a bit more of a drag than I thought I would". This, remember, is a man whose lack of opposition to the ban was well publicised in his column in the London Evening Standard.
His final para is also worth repeating:
Still, what goes around comes around, and for all those triumphalist former health secretaries out there, basking in their success, it's worth biting down on this: public smoking was banned in 17 US states in the 1870s, but when the peoples' habits changed again, so did the legislation.
Full article HERE.
Reader Comments (5)
Self is a hell of a conceited git who writes with all the panache of a toad on largactil.
A lot of his article is shit too and he shows little knowledge of the opposition to the smoking ban that is happening and will continue to do so. In fact, the world of Will Self is just that: Self opinionated.
I was a fan of Will's until I read this piece. Like Blad I think that he failed to educate himself before hitting the keyboard.
There was a time when I was just happy to see anyone opposing the ban, but Self's words here ring hollow. I don't think he is helping.
He is definitely not helping, Colin.
My comments are a bit belated, but I've only just come across this article...
Well, what an eye-opener!
A smile and chuckle often accompanied the odd occasion that I have seen Will Self droning forth on all and sundry through his well crafted guttural caricature of a cynical, derisory, contemptuous, shallow, don't give a damn about anybody else, made-up character.
But guess what? This is no caricature - this is the real thing!
This article reveals his deep disregard for anything or anyone not involved with himself. He has no concept of civil liberty or individual freedom (other than perhaps his own) and couldn't care less about hard working people, strapped for cash, whose main release from the rigours of the day are (were) the visit to the club/pub to play bingo, socialise or whatever and relax with a hard earned cigarette. Not for him the mixing with such lowly people - he can arrogantly return to his private warm humidor-lined retreat to partake in peace and tranquillity, away from the freezing doorways, driving rain and minimal or non-existent shelters.
This must be the most classic case of nominative determinism (the human compulsion to take up a profession described by his or her surname) that I have come across to date, being completely self-serving, self-centered, self-perpetuating, and self anything else you care to mention - and he seems arrogant to boot!
Neither does he seem to have a grasp of other smokers' strength of feelings. Or maybe, being in the business he is, he is just trying to suck up to the hands that feed him? Probably not much journalistic work for a rabid smoker supporter? Does this make him a coward as well?
Shame on you Simon for providing such a sympathetic link to such a tawdry self-opinionated article - or perhaps you did it just to highlight his shortcomings?