Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why living near my old friend Michael Gove can seriously damage your health

The reaction to the latest drinking survey is hysterical

issue 20 October 2007

People living within a 25-mile radius of Michael Gove, MP, are more likely to die of cirrhosis of the liver and alcohol-related tumours than anywhere else in the country. There is a direct correlation between (fairly) close proximity to Michael and very high levels of alcohol consumption. A study carried out by researchers from the Liverpool John Moores University discovered that five of Britain’s most alcohol-saturated areas were congregated around Michael’s constituency in Surrey Heath. The only one that wasn’t nearby was Harrogate, in North Yorkshire — and just a cursory check through the clippings shows that Michael delivered a speech there to the Chartered Institute of Housing, in which he was critical of the government’s house-building policy. So, now that we have uncovered the correlation, we must decide what to do about it. The humane answer would be to relocate Michael to a place where his baleful, drink-inducing aura will be of the least danger to human life — Gruinard Island, in the north-west of Scotland, for example, which has recently been pronounced entirely free of anthrax.

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