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{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Insider
|sort=Insider
|author=Piers Morgan
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|buy=No
|borrow=Maybe
|pages=496
|publisher=Ebury Press
|date=September 2005
|isbn=0091908493
|sort=Insider, The
|cover=0091908493
|aznuk=0091908493
|aznus=0091908493
}}
I didn't buy this book and if it had been up to me it wouldn't have come into the house. I don't read tabloid newspapers and Piers Morgan has been editor of two of them. I don't like gossip (unless it's particularly juicy) and I'm not keen on giving money to people who make a good living out of selling it. Still, the book was there and I thought I might as well have a look just to see how dreadful it was.
My husband found this book laugh-out-loud funny when he read it. I can't say that I found it that humorous although it did frequently appeal to my sense of the ridiculous. Morgan appears to be indiscreet, but I sense that the revelations have been carefully balanced and there's little that couldn't have been gleaned from assiduous reading of tabloid newspapers over the years. What I did find enlightening was the detail about how tabloid journalism works. Honour doesn't seem to come very high on the list of priorities.
There is one person in the book who frightened me and that's [[The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdochby Michael Wolff|Rupert Murdoch]], simply because of the power which he has in this country despite being neither a UK national nor any form of elected representative. He has extensive media interests and can effectively control much of the information which is fed to readers. I don't think it's any stretch of the imagination to say that he is capable of choosing which party is elected to govern and ensuring that it comes about.
One point about the book did annoy me and that's the Cast of Characters. This is supplied in addition to the usual index and is an alphabetical list of characters by first name. To maintain the relaxed diary format people are frequently referred to by their first name and unless you can work out who it is you have to refer to the Cast of Characters. Even then it can be confusing: "Bill" can be Anslow, Bateson, Clinton, Deedes or Shankly. Frankly, I think it's lazy writing and more of an attempt could have been made to make the main text clearer.
I'd recommend the book if you want some fast-food reading - it's quick and tasty to get through but you probably won't feel great after it. Go for it if you want to know that people in the public eye are often worse than those who are not, but leave it alone if you're looking for anything deeper.
{{amazontext|amazon=0091908493}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=36331030091908493}}
{{commenthead}}
|name=Kay
|verb=said
|comment= Sounds good to me, will keep a look out for this one as a read for when I am am bored at work.
}}
[[Category:Politics and Society|Insider]]
