The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 7 February 2005
by Terry Jones
Perhaps I step out of any objective commentary when I agree that nothing is more deserving of ridicule than the international policies of George W. Bush's administration. Fine. In this little book, Terry Jones, raconteur and member of the hilarious troupe of comedians known as Monty Python (or to their friends, The Pythons), takes issue with the UK's Blair administration and its quixotic adoption of Bush's military objectives in Iraq. His primary complaint seems to be linguistic. After all, a War on Terror implies that "terror" is something less abstract than the abstract noun that it is. Oh, well. Anyway, Jones's critiques are literate, pointed and most of the time dryly funny. These are the short pieces he wrote for British publications in the years just after the September 11th attacks. He seems to grow more angry with each passing phase of this belligerent period in Anglo-US foreign policy (and rightly so, if you ask me, but there goes any claim to objectivity again). There is much for Jones to complain of in the absurdity of the political environment, and his pique can and should come from every citizen's own common sense. Then again, will Jones end up preaching to the converted? Will this book fall into the subgenre of political writing we've seen lately, one populated by small cranky tracts that ultimately have little affect on discourse (such as it is)? Probably. But his wit and anger, his intelligence and sense of justice, must be read to be appreciated.