Return of the LongPen

The mutually beneficial embrace entwining Conrad Black and the LongPen continues this Wednesday at Waterstone’s Piccadilly in London, where Crossharbour will repeat his recent performance at Toronto’s World’s Biggest Bookstore. Black will spend 20 minutes or so discussing the Nixon book with Andrew Roberts, the conservative British historian and long-time Black ally. Roberts will play a similar though likely more polished role to that of Seamus O’Regan at the Toronto signing. Still, one hopes and prays that he will avoid the by now stale query “Where on earth did you find the time?” After that, things will likely get a little dicier. A report in The Independent last week indicated that Black will “spend a further 20 minutes speaking to hacks at the event.” In this context, “hacks” refers to a rather more aggressive breed of journalist than those who compliantly rolled over for Black in Toronto. Even the press release from Waterstone’s makes a pointed reference to Black’s travails: “Lord Black, once one of the world’s most powerful press barons, is facing a prison term as he is due to be sentenced on December 10th.” The floodgates should open to a series of what by Canadian standards would count as rude and embarrassing questions. I can hardly wait.