David Aaronovitch
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David Aaronovitch (born July 8, 1954) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and author. He is a regular columnist for The Times and The Guardian, and is the author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country (2000). He won the George Orwell Prize for political journalism in 1998 and again in 2001.
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[edit] Early life
Aaronovitch is the son of the late economist and communist Sam Aaronovitch, and brother of the actor Owen Aaronovitch and scriptwriter Ben Aaronovitch. He attended Gospel Oak Primary School until 1965, Holloway County Comprehensive 1965-68, and William Ellis School 1968-72.
He studied Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford from October 1972 until April 1974, when he was sent down (expelled) for failing the German part of his History exams. He completed his education at the University of Manchester, graduating in 1978 with an upper second BA (Hons) in History. While at Manchester, he was a member of the 1975 University Challenge team that lost in the first round after answering most questions with the name of a revolutionary ("Trotsky", "Lenin", "Karl Marx" or "Che Guevara").
He was initially a Eurocommunist and active in the Young Communist League (YCL), where he met Peter Mandelson, then also a member. He was also active in the National Union of Students (NUS) where he got to know the president at the time, Charles Clarke, who later became Home Secretary. Aaronovitch himself was president of the NUS from 1980 to 1982. He then identified with the broad left, but later moved rightward politically.
[edit] Career in journalism
He started his media career as a television researcher, then became a producer for ITV's Weekend World, and founding editor of the BBC's On the Record in 1988. He moved over to print journalism in 1995, working for The Independent and Independent on Sunday as chief leader writer, television critic, and columnist until the end of 2002.
At the New Statesman he wrote a pseudonymous column purporting to be the diary of Lynton Charles, MP. Charles and Lynton are Tony Blair's middle names. He began contributing to The Guardian and The Observer in 2003, where he was a columnist and feature writer. Since June 2005, he has written a regular column for The Times and regularly writes columns for the Jewish Chronicle. He also presents or contributes to radio and television programmes, including the BBC's Have I Got News For You and BBC News 24.
In his columns, he tends to support the current New Labour position, although he has opposed them on issues related to the House of Lords, civil liberties and voting reform. He strongly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
[edit] Quotes
- "I don't believe that Saddam is a major backer of al-Qaeda (though he gives support to other groups) and I think it quite likely that he has had no effective nuclear programme for years. He would if he could, but he can't. But I want him out, for the sake of the region (and therefore, eventually, for our sakes), but most particularly for the sake of the Iraqi people who cannot lift this yoke on their own. If they could, that would be best; if he would agree to go into exile, that would be just dandy. The argument that Saddam's removal will of necessity lead to 'chaos' or the democratic election of an unsuitable Islamist government is worthy of Henry Kissinger at his most cynical. It is pretty disgusting when heard in the mouths of 'left-wingers'. The Iraqi people, however, can't shift their tyrant on their own. Again, it would be preferable if an invasion could be undertaken, not by the Americans, but by, say, the Nelson Mandela International Peace Force, spearheaded by the Rowan Williams British Brigade. That's not on offer. It has to be the Yanks. I do not believe that George Bush is the manic oil-chimp of caricature. His administration really does have a view that it is necessary to remove Saddam pour décourager les autres. It will, they have convinced themselves, show resolve, deter state terrorism, discourage proliferation and permit the building of a rare non-tyranny in the Arab world. There is something to be said for all this."[1]
- "If nothing is eventually found, I - as a supporter of the war - will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the US ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere. They probably are. "[2]
- " In February 2003 Matthew (Parris) wrote that he would be against a war in Iraq even if there was WMD, even if it was authorised by the UN, even if a liberated Iraq was then stable, and concluded: “I’m against war because it will antagonise moderate Arab opinion.” And the Iraqi people? To be massacred, shredded, gassed, beheaded, suppressed, starved, immiserated, terrorised and tortured because all of that would be less bad than antagonising moderate Arab opinion. An Iraqi democrat stands in front of an armchair anti- interventionist, and is invisible. I do apologise. For Abu Ghraib and Donald Rumsfeld. For not understanding the insurgents. For the looting. For the dire planning. I apologise to the election workers assassinated, the police trainees blown up, the parents of children caught in crossfire and everyone else that the planners and executors of the invasion that I supported, and still support, may have let down by neglect or stupidity. I recognise their bravery and their determination to succeed despite everything. But a disaster compared with what? Compared with Saddam and sanctions or Saddam and cyanide. And that — the thing that Matthew presumably preferred — was not a disaster? Snort." [3]
[edit] Interests
- Aaronovitch has spoken of his passion for wargaming [4] which he shares with fellow columnist Michael Gove.
[edit] Works
- Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country (Fourth Estate, 2000) ISBN 1-84115-540-3
- Excuses For Terror, a 45-minute documentary film that "criticizes how the anti-Israel views of the far-left and far-right have permeated the mainstream media and political discourse." [5]
[edit] References
- ^ Why the Left is wrong on Saddam Column in The Observer (February 2, 2003)
- ^ Those weapons had better be there ... Column in The Guardian (April 29, 2003)
- ^ Here's my apology on the 'disaster' of the Iraq war. Now, where's yours? Column in The Times (December 13, 2005)
- ^ The best game there is for kids like me Column in The Times (December 27, 2006)
- ^ review at Honest Reporting
