Howard Jacobson: Foolish vanity of a public intellectual

Those who live by television shall die by television. So that's arrive-derci, David Starkey. I suspect – and hope – that news of his demise is premature. At a time when it's unpardonable to sound elitist or discriminative, we can't afford to lose people who go against the grain. Yes, the Starkey shtick has fallen victim to its own cuteness: all that campery and snootery and retro-tailoring, the rudest man on television blah blah. And cuteness is a fatal flaw in an intellectual. It marks the moment intellect gives way to "personality". But then it's for his "personality" that telly wants him. God forbid we should have to watch someone distinguished for intellect alone.