Simon Hoggart

Simon Hoggart (born 26 May 1946 - 5 January, 2014) was a British journalist and broadcaster.

Quotes

 * Curiously, it is hard not to be a little optimistic about the future for Zimbabwe (as nobody at all calls it yet, except in political speeches). The fear is not that there will be mass slaughter of the whites, followed by their flight to South Africa and the collapse of the economy, but that the need to retain white confidence may mean that the blacks are badly disappointed.
 * "Ironing the lawn in Salisbury, Rhodesia" The Guardian (9 February 1980)


 * Mr Arbuthnot did not respond, but sat with a thin, weak smile, like winter sunshine upon a coffin lid.
 * "Shadow Cabinet as Schoolroom", The Guardian (17 June 1997), p. 2. This parliamentary sketch is reprinted in Playing to the Gallery (Guardian Books, 2002)


 * I'm often amazed at the way politicians – who spend hours poring over opinion poll results in a desperate attempt to discover what the public thinks – are certain they know precisely what God's views are on everything.
 * "Don't try and drag God in by the back door" The Guardian (27 June 1998), p. 38


 * Peter Mandelson is the only man I know who can skulk in broad daylight.
 * "Something of the Day About Fagin", The Guardian (10 July 1998), p. 2


 * He is the first man for 20 years to make the Presidency a part-time job, a means of filling up a few of the otherwise blank days of retirement.
 * Describing Ronald Reagan in "Laid Back in the White House" The Observer (21 June 1981), p. 15. See "Sports coverage? It's not cricket" The Guardian (11 September 2004) where Hoggart renders the quote as "Reagan is the only man to take the presidency as a part-time job, a means of filling up the otherwise empty hours of retirement."


 * The theory then is that while the economy continues to flounder under - the Conservatives (the current crop of Ministers reminds me of Edward Scissorhands trying to make balloon animals), they can get in a leader more to their liking.
 * Discussing reputed Labour Party leadership plots against Neil Kinnock in his column The Observer (18 August 1991), p. 18. Hoggart later rendered the highlighted comment as "Seeing John Major govern the country is like watching Edward Scissorhands try to make balloon animals" in "Sports coverage? It's not cricket" The Guardian (11 September 2004)