You see, if you place this incomplete sentence in the Google search box - "allison pearson married anthony lane in" - nothing comes up. Usually, at some point, a year is mentioned for a marriage. I notice that in Allison's CV from her agent, PFD, the following statement is made: "She lives in Cambridge with the New Yorker writer Anthony Lane and their two small children."
Now, don't get me wrong. I couldn't care tuppence if Allison and Anthony are married or not. It matters not at all to me. I mean, even the Mail's editor-in-chief Paul Dacre attends gay civil partnership weddings these days. So, it's not as if this is a moral inquiry. This is about being accurate.
Allison speaks highly of marriage: for the purposes of her £350k+ column in the Mail, marriage is the garlic against societal moral deterioration. The other day she wrote highly of Ian Duncan Smith's mooted tax breaks for married couples - this is code for the Mail's Middle England fetish for right behaviour. A number of profiles of Allison and Anthony describe them as married. Yet are they? I'm just asking for a yes or no.
Nothing will happen in consequence of an answer. If they are married, then isn't that wonderful? If they are living by some other arrangement that's OK too - I'm sure Mail readers will understand in these times of lifestyle diversity. I know that Allison is especially cognisant of PR, so maybe she'd like to drop me a line and just clarify the situation. PR is sooooo important.
When we are given moral lectures by gurus of the qualipop zeitgeist, it's sooooo important to know the backstory to the guru. So that we know where he or she is coming from.
8 comments:
> So, it's not as if this is a moral inquiry. This is about being accurate.
Aren't you going a bit over the top all of a sudden? So much concern about meaningless events is highly suspicious. :-)
> Allison speaks highly of marriage: for the purposes of her £350k+ column in the Mail, marriage is the garlic against societal moral deterioration.
Well, it's her journalistic agenda, that's all. Doesn't the Pope speak about sex?
> I know that Allison is especially cognisant of PR, so maybe she'd like to drop me a line and just clarify the situation.
Dream on. :-)
Yes, the Pope speaks about sex and he's celibate. Try to keep up Lorenzo.
Sometimes I wonder if you can actually read, carissima. That's exactly what I was implying: if the Pope has an agenda to talk about sex without having any experience of it – at least theoretically, ahem ;-) –, why would an unmarried journalist refrain from speaking about the advantages of marriage?
The same for the actors: Christopher Lee played a very convincing Dracula, although he was not a vampire himself, thank God! :-)
My dear Lorenzo (vero or otherwise), the issue here is not whether a person is qualified or entitled to discuss their current fantasy, but whether their authority is supported by claimed practice (or non-practice). In the case of Pearson she says she is married and may be she is; I just can't quite find the date and venue of the ceremony. If she is married then the matter is settled. If she is not, then I have helped clarify the situation. When people are telling us what's good for us, we are entitled to know how they know.
Now, please Lorenzo, do try to remember what journalism is about. I sometimes wonder whether you're more into lifestyle hackery. Perhaps you opine on gardens, or something. Tell us about gazebos, what's the latest look, mio caro?
"I just can't quite find the date and venue of the ceremony"
Because you were not invited, granny. Who'd like to see you witch face at a wedding dinner?
Past your bedtime isn't it? Perhaps Jasper will tuck you in.
> My dear Lorenzo (vero or otherwise)
Shouldn't your crystal ball tell you the truth?
> do try to remember what journalism is about.
I know what it ought to be about in an ideal world. I also know what it's about in the real one: defending one opinion on monday, and then the outright opposite on tuesday, depending on the agenda you're given by your editor "du jour", with an obligation to be credible and convincing, or you're fired. At least, this is the way it goes in Italy for freelance journalists. Whether they have a personal authority to speak or not is a pointless question. The important thing is to pretend they do. It's all about rhetoric, you see.
And by the way, what else are you doing everyday? What the hell is your personal authority? No one knows actually where you come from, so who are you to demand from others what you're so secretive about, eh? :-)
> I sometimes wonder whether you're more into lifestyle hackery. Perhaps you opine on gardens, or something.
I wish I did, so much more poetic than my rather dry field!
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