Mike Carlton

Evelyn Waugh's brilliantly irreverent satire of Fleet Street, now in a beautiful hardback edition with a new Introduction by Alexander WaughLord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of The Daily Beast , has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Acting on a dinner party tip from Mrs Algernon Stitch, he feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising little war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. But for, pale, ineffectual William Boot, editor of the Daily Beast 's 'nature notes' column, being mistaken for a competent journalist may prove to be a fatal error...If you enjoyed Scoop , you might like Waugh's Decline and Fall , also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'Waugh at the mid-season point of his perfect pitch'Christopher Hitchens