Mic Wright

Bad Press Awards

Recognising the Worst of the Worst of British Journalism

The Rusty Razor
for Ropey Writing

One of Private Eye’s perennial parody columnists is named Phil Space in honour of those members of the opinion-giving profession who cram the blank pages allotted to them with pointless material just to hit their word count.

It is such a longstanding gag because Phil’s real-life counterparts still bedevil the British media. And this month’s Bad Press Award goes to one of the worst offenders – Boris Johnson.

For a former Prime Minister, whose personal brand is still tied to a moth-eaten notion that he is some great raconteur and literary star, Johnson has a remarkable tendency to pump out banal observations.

In recent months – when his Daily Mail column hasn’t been dedicated to recycling the same opinions about Donald Trump and Ukraine – he has used it to witter on about WhatsApp, his personal healthcare arrangements, and competing in the parents’ sack race at sports day.

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