Abstract
Former People columnist and Daily Mirror foreign correspondent Smith wonders why journalists of a certain age are hooked on nostalgia. What he describes as a "battle hardened band of brothers" are still united by a spirit of comradeship and are still spinning yarns of life in the trenches in some half forgotten war. "To outsiders," he continues, "this eagerness to embrace and commemorate a bygone era must be puzzling. Do accountants get together and re-live memorable audits? Do solicitors gather en masse to recall magistrates' courtroom capers of the past? Perhaps. But it is unlikely that their reminiscences, or those of those now plying the trade from nondescript offices dotted around the city, are laced with the laughter and lunacy of tales from Fleet Street."
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