I am occasionally asked why I call the Guardian the best newpaper in the English speaking world. It’s a writer’s paper and it always has been. They do great and fearless reporting BUT the editors give pundits and reporters alike a lot of freedom to be both funny *and* insightful. Here’s the greatSimon Hoggart writing about the new pope:

We used to sayde mortuis nil nisi bonum(don’t speak ill of
the dead), but that’s all changed with warts-and-all obituaries. Now we
are incredibly nice instead about people who’ve just been promoted. Take
the new pope. He seems to be an astonishing man of parts. Questions
have been raised about his relationship with the vile Argentinian junta,
but at the same time he is a plain-living revolutionary, having come
from outside the Vatican curia, bringing a breath of modest fresh air
from the new world. Yet nothing will change. He is against
contraception, abortion, divorce, gay marriage and female priests. It’s
as if Lenin arrived at the Finland station in St Petersburg, announcing,
“Comrades, I bring thrilling news! Things are going to carry on much as
before!”