POLICE MADE NO ARRESTS at Andrew Malcolm's 'rescheduled' talk at Borders Bookshop, 120 Charing Cross Road, London, on Thursday 30th January. Despite a winter freeze-up and a tube-train meltdown in central London, over fifty people turned up to hear the philosopher speak. His 90-minute talk began with Gilbert Ryle's famous "Category-mistake" analogy from The Concept of Mind, in which a puzzled foreigner in Oxford asks the question "Yes, but where is the university?" and ended with the conclusion that as a result of the latest round in the philosopher's long legal battle against it, the university has consigned itself to nowhere, has even lost its mind. Afterwards, he answered questions and signed copies of his two books Making Names and The Remedy.
HAVING had a scheduled talk at Borders in Oxford broken up by police last October, Andrew Malcolm, the scourge of OUP (Eyes passim), returned in triumph last week to the chain's Charing Cross Road store in London to pick up where he had left off.
Despite a joint statement from Borders UK MD Philip Downer and his American overlord Vin Altruda that they "sincerely regret and apologise for the cancellation of Andrew Malcolm's event in Oxford, which should have gone ahead," the rescheduled event was, mindful of the PR disaster caused by the Oxford cancellation, clearly offered through gritted teeth.
Several senior Borders staff stood sentry throughout the talk, tapping their watches when Malcolm went over an hour and smiling thin smiles at their guest when they could bear to look at him. Meanwhile, several hulking security goons milled around, failing to be inconspicuous. All this for a talk on a book about philosophy, when the likes of Mad Frankie Fraser would, doubtless, be feted indulgently. Why is everyone so scared of the frankly unmenacing Malcolm?
Click for preceding story, Oxford, 4th October 2002, the first book-bust in Europe since the Nazis: BORDERS SUMMON THOUGHT POLICE, plus reports: The Daily Telegraph 12/10 (in depth, with photos), Oxford Times 11/10, Oxford Mail 11/10, Brighton Argus 15/10, Oxford Student 10/10.
Click for other reports of 30th January 2003: The Independent, Brighton Argus, Oxford Times, Cherwell.