Ian Bone and The Bristolian

Until last year Bristol had its own independently produced, subversive political newsletter called "The Bristolian", under the authorship of Ian Bone. Despite a healthy readership and critical success (it was the runner-up at the Paul Foot Awards for investigative journalism in 2005), it ceased publication following years of accusations of misrepresentation and slander. Illustrating how sharply opinion was split over The Bristolian, a visitor to the Bristol Indymedia opined at the time that it was a a "nasty evil filthy little rag" and that "the longterm effect of things like this is to put people off doing anything and to encourage everyone else to sneer and get cynical instead of getting off their arses and working with their neighbours." Bone himself, once a well known character in Bristol, retreated from the media spotlight.

This article, written by veteran BEP journalist Eugene Byrne and published in Venue #728, covers the decline of The Bristolian and the seeds of Bone's personal philosophy. I did the support work on it, and it's an interesting read, so I'm posting it here. Working with Byrne was a real education, not least because his approach to interview subjects is uncompromising and highly effective. Starting the telephone interview, he asked Ian Bone if he was ready for his first question. "Let me guess" condescended Bone, "you're going to ask me if I condone violence?".

"No, I'm going to start with the easy stuff first," he replied. "Then I'm going to find out if you really are the most obnoxious man on the planet".