Opinion: The curse of Management
June 9, 2014 in Comment, General
Bill Stott from Punch: “Be positive! At least now we know that being able to fly has got nothing to do with having a pointy head!” Click image to enlarge
In a somewhat acrimonious departure, Richard Ingrams has resigned as editor of The Oldie. In this opinion piece, Bill Stott sees echoes from the latter days of Punch magazine and hopes that cartoonists will not see history repeat itself.
Whilst it might sound uncomfortably like a medical examination, there’s interesting stuff coming out of The Oldie right now. Quite a bit of bile. The departure of the multi-faceted, sometimes contradictory Richard Ingrams will be a huge loss, not only to The Oldie, but to gag cartooning in the UK.
Logically, bearing in mind the fact that his team apparently liked and respected him, the job should go to one of them and a cartoon-friendly status quo will spread a warm glow throughout Humourland. However, given James Pembroke’s apparent management style and his grasp of the purse strings, that may well not happen.
The Oldie’s predicament reminds me of the beginning of the end for Punch, a magazine strong on cartoons and humour but which never made a profit in its 500-year existence, unlike The Oldie which has loads of readers and does make a profit.
The similarity lies with “management”. Alan Coren, probably one of the best Punch editors, fell out with those who bought the mag and got sacked. He was locked out of his office, in fact.
After a few false starts, a new bought-in editor was presented to a restaurant full of cartoonists in thatLondon. He foolishly delayed them from getting at the free food and drink by climbing on to a rostrum to tell all hands about his vision for the new Punch. I seem to remember the sixth-form market being mentioned. Honest!
The new ed was apparently a very good manager. Quite soon after his appointment, which was made despite the existence of excellent candidates already on board, Punch ceased to be.
Could this happen to The Oldie?
Thanks Bill. We hope the answer to your last question is no! We will continue to follow developments at The Oldie, noting for starters that Mr Ingrams appears to have influential friends
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Rob Murray said on June 9, 2014
Thanks for this, Bill – insightful and thought-provoking as ever…
Andrew Birch said on June 9, 2014
I received a letter from James Pembroke today, as presumably did the other contributors, explaining what had happened, and hoping we’d continue working for the mag. He praised Richard highly, with lots of subtle digs at him…
Glenn Marshall said on June 9, 2014
Excellent Mr Stott. I liked the piece in The Guardian today too. In it Ingrams refutes Pembroke’s allegations that he resigned because he found the workload to heavy saying that all he really did was choose the cartoons.
Pete Dredge said on June 10, 2014
Bill’s accurate observation that Punch in its 500 year old history never made a profit is a revealing one. Just like a building of historical and cultural importance, there should have been a Grade 2 listing imposed on Punch and its upkeep and sustainability entrusted to a mega rich philanthropist. Erm…
Andy Davey said on June 10, 2014
Excellent article, Bill (and fantastic cartoon, by the way).
Bill Stott said on June 11, 2014
Interesting thought, Andy. Who knows what will happen. I often think that this sort of spat which rapidly grows into a serious stand-off results from essentially personal differences.
Mr Ingrams isn’t someone to trade put-downs with. He’s also not one to be gathered into a corporate management regime. He does what he does – edits The Oldie – very well apparently, and relies on Mr Pembroke to supply the money to allow him to do so. Perhaps Mr Pembroke felt that he needed to impress on Mr Ingrams that he should be more of a team player. Hmmmm.
Malc McGookin said on June 11, 2014
The problem with Punch was the articles. Bloody boring, middle-of-the-road, sensible cardigan middle class tosh, they were.