Vladimir McTavish: Beware the radical enemy within - the Edinburgh Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs from 9 - 24 August this year

This week, one of the President’s staunchest supporters weighed in to have a go at the “far-left” Edinburgh Book Festival. Yes, really. The Book Festival, that hotbed of radicalism whose core audience is young parents and pensioners from Trinity and Morningside.

Let’s face it, it’s very seldom one travels on a number 23 bus without overhearing a conversation on Communist dialectic.

Yet this week, Republican congressman Brian Mast was at pains to cite $39,652 (£31,000) of funding given by the Biden government to the Edinburgh Book Festival for its 2023 season, which promoted such “radical” ideas as gender identity and racial equality.

Goodness where will this radical madness end? Doubtless Mast was shocked to find out that black people were allowed to sit in the front seats on the 23.

For the past few years, the Book Festival has been hosted by George Heriot’s School, whose alumni include such rampant lefties as former Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie, Wee Free Thatcherite Lord McKay of Clashfern and Scotland rugby legend Andy Irvine. So hardly a hotbed of Marxist indoctrination.

Of course, the dinner ladies are a different matter. They will doubtless all agree with Lenin’s view that “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”.

I was having a look through some of the “far left” events in last year’s programme. They included an appearance from the well-known ultra-Stalinist propaganda merchant, James Naughtie, best known as the voice of the Today programme on Radio Four for over two decades.

Admittedly, he once used the c-word to describe a Conservative cabinet minister. But he did so completely by accident. Back in the day when Jeremy Hunt was the minister in charge of the arts, he was interviewed on the breakfast news show by Naughtie.

Instead of saying “in the studio is Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary”, the presenter stumbled over his words and what came out was “in the studio is Jeremy C***.”

That minor faux-pas aside, he has been a pillar of the broadcasting establishment for decades. He’s even presented BBC television coverage of The Proms, so hardly likely to be on some Special Branch list of undesirables.

Ian Rankin also appeared at that Book Festival. While a writer of some rattling good plots about an alcoholic detective, his work hardly challenges the status quo. Although I suppose Police Scotland may take issue with the idea that an elderly p***head is better at solving murders than the actual polis.

At the end of the day, I suppose that all literature would be seen as radical by the likes of Mast, Trump and Elon Musk. These are people who don’t actually read books. I am pretty sure that Trump has never even read his own autobiography “I Am The Winner”. He certainly didn’t write it.

Anyway, in August, if you’re chatting to your neighbours and they say they’ve got tickets for the Book Festival, do the patriotic thing and shop them to MI5.

Western democracy is at threat from these far-left radicals.