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It’s such a tonic to see the porn publisher back in the headlines after Robert Jenrick intervened to approve his £1bn development
Richard Desmond’s autobiography is called The Real Deal: The Autobiography of Britain’s Most Controversial Media Mogul. You know it’s good because it received a five-star review in the Daily Express. Hard to pick a favourite passage, but I’d probably go with the bit where Desmond calls Rupert Murdoch “a worthy opponent”. Sad to think that Murdoch will one day go over the Reichenbach Falls at Desmond’s hand – but ultimately, that is what you get when you’re the Moriarty to Richard’s Clouseau. Imagine the show that Succession could have been, if they’d only had the ambition to be inspired by a proper magnate.
Still, it’s such a tonic to see Desmond back in the headlines. He’s resurfaced over this business of his £1bn Westferry Printworks property development that housing minister Robert Jenrick personally intervened to approve, only to later accept he acted unlawfully due to “apparent bias”. Up until Sunday, it had seemed as if Jenrick was getting away with this story that we’d all be talking about if only there weren’t all the other stories. And he probably still will. Continue reading...