George Orwell

• IN his Review article about “post truth politics” and the live-streaming of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four Gerald Isaaman seems to have got himself a bit confused, (Why George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has been relevant since the day it was written, June 16).

He says that the streaming was carried out: “two days before last Thursday’s general election vote – and no doubt helped sway the overwhelming response that defeated PM Theresa May”. The Conservatives beat the Labour Party by some 56 seats.

Maybe, like the leader of the Labour Party, who is quoted as saying that this was “an amazing response from the public. I think it’s pretty clear who won this election”, Mr Isaaman is also seeing things through “Big Brother” eyes and has taken up writing for the Ministry of Truth rather than writing the truth.

In 1997, the Conservative Party won 31 per cent of the vote. In 2001, that figure rose by a single point to 32 per cent. In 2005, it stayed at the same figure. In 2010, David Cameron pushed the percentage up to 36. Five years later he got 37 per cent.

On June 8 Theresa May gained 42 per cent of the vote, the same proportion that Margaret Thatcher won in 1987. Whatever your politics – those are the facts.

Of course, Mr Isaaman may have meant that the PM was defeated in her attempt to get an increased majority. In which case he should have said so. Otherwise he is uttering ‘Newspeak’; a language – as he should be aware – created by Orwell to reflect the ideological requirements of the “English Socialist Party”.

GRAHAM ADDICOTT
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