Rod Liddle hit back at his critics in the blogosphere on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning.
In the wake of controversies over alleged racism, sexism and climate change denial, the news that the Spectator columnist could be the next editor of the Independent has had a mixed reception.
His diplomatic yet enthusiastic comments on the editorship will no doubt fuel speculation that he is the heir apparent:
Any journalist would want to be editor of the Independent. It’s a brilliant newspaper and the chance to edit a paper which was mischievous, which supported social justice, which gave voice to a wide variety of diverse opinions and did investigative journalism and breaking news stories — I think that would be a wonderful thing to do. The Independent has got an editor at the moment, and he’s a very good bloke, Roger Alton.
Stressing that he doesn’t know what will happen, Liddle admitted that “I’ve talked to a couple of people”. He said that the Independent should remain left-leaning, which “fits in with what my politics have always been”.
Many would not agree. Liddle downplayed the strength of reaction against some of his comments, saying that it has come almost entirely from the Guardian (including the Facebook group protesting against the prospect of him editing the Indie, which, he said, mainly consists of Guardian readers. The group has 4,500 members).
On the allegations of racism, he said:
I loathe racism, I always have done. It’s not nice to be called a racist. There are plenty of reasons to have a go at me without having to invent stuff.
But beyond this apparently upfront, blunt acceptance of criticism, Liddle was not pinned down. His interviewer, Radio 5’s Kate Silverton, quoted the notorious blog where he said:
The overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community. Of course, in return, we have rap music [and] goat curry.
Asked what point he was making here, Liddle oddly claimed it was not a racial one:
The point I was making was that there are certain crimes that can be described not by race, but by culture, age and gender.
He argued that we should be able to discuss multiculturalism without slinging the term “racist” around. This is valid, but it does not seem to apply here.
On the controversy over his comments on the Millwall Online fan site, he said that the Guardian news desk had intentionally taken his words out of context. He added that these forums were “sort of semi-private”, a comment likely to puzzle the blogosphere.
If Silverton’s tone was sometimes uncomfortably chummy (as pointed out by indignant Twitterers this morning), some balance was provided by the very angry weatherman who took Liddle to task for his comments about the Met Office.
He finished his attack by saying: “If the Independent falls into your hands, then you’ll need to up your game before I switch my allegiance.”
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