They're University men, you see.

I decided to reread Evelyn Waugh's Scoop as part of my campaign to sample more fiction. I read this sometime in my early twenties and enjoyed it a good deal but had little recollection of the story other than it is a fictionalized account based on Waugh's experiences as a war correspondent during the second Italo-Abyssinian War (1935-36) during the heyday of newspapers.

It is a wonderful satire and reads remarkably contemporaneously as it focuses on human behavior and foibles rather than on facts and events. My oldest son snatched it up after I was done and finished it in a day with lots of chortles. Recommended.

Some passages. William Boot, accidentally reassigned from writing his column on the British countryside to being the foreign correspondent for the Beast, receives a briefing from his editor, Salter. Salter's description of a 1930s progressive is still true today. Those interested in the Utopia of tomorrow usually have little regard for the workers of today.

"See that man there, that's Pappenhacker."

William looked, and saw.

"Yes?"

"The cleverest man in Fleet Street."

William looked again. Pappenhacker was young and swarthy, with great horn goggles and a receding, stubbly chin. He was having an altercation with some waiters.

"Yes?"

"He's going to Ishmaelia for the Daily Twopence"

"He seems to be in a very bad temper."

"Not really. He's always like that to waiters. You see he's a communist. Most of the staff at the Twopence are - they're University men, you see. Pappenhacker says that every time you are polite to a proletarian you are helping bolster up the capitalist system. He's very clever of course, but he gets rather unpopular."

"He looks as if he were going to hit them."

"Yes, he does sometimes. Quite a lot of restaurants won't have him in.