A hostile reader, in an e-mail, has just called me a “Moselyite” [sic]. I
assume he is referring to Sir Oswald Mosley, the British fascist
leader of the 1930s. (Formerly a socialist and limousine liberal. A.J.P.
Taylor said of Mosley that he was equally well suited to be the party leader
for either Labour or the Conservatives.)
This is a first. But how old is this reader? How many people under the age
of 80, even in Britain, have even heard of Sir Oswald? Oh, well. I shall
file this one in the folder where I put e-mails that accuse me of
antisemitism. It is interesting, and oddly satisfying, to note that this
folder contains almost precisely as many items as the one where I keep
e-mails that call me a lickspittle Jew-loving lackey of the
world-manipulating Zionist conspiracy.