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Private Eye is required reading, as much for its straight journalism as for its satire, and the Annual has long been a fail-safe gift. As usual it takes the form of a scrap book of pieces from the year's Private Eye magazines, focusing on humorous pieces. Consequently, the book largely comprises short satirical squibs, along with spoof newspaper articles and letters and longer serials such as Never Too Old--a romantic novel based on the life of Rupert Murdoch which is as sharp on the genre as it is about the protagonists. Through these pieces, the Annual builds up a comprehensive overview of the year's news stories from Alan Clark's death to Big Brother with stories such as the Dome and the state of the rail service receiving extra scrutiny. These sections are particularly rewarding--the Railtrack disaster, for example, is covered from all sides in a variety of media, so that one spoof article highlights the attitude of hacks to train crashes, while another reports on Prescott's "firm undertaking to spend as much money as was necessary to close the stable door after the recent 'bolting' incident". At the same time a cartoon represents Blair telling Prescott "Good thinking, John--we've privatised the blame". Cartoons feature strongly throughout. The Eye has some of the best artists in the country working for it and most are represented here, ranging from the black humour of McLachlan and Honeysett, whose scratchy line drawings have a beautiful delicacy which renders their subjects all the more disturbing, to the keenly observed social commentary of Heath, Pilbrow and Ken Pyne. In the cartoon which forms the frontispiece of the annual Hunter observes that "A book is not just for Christmas". Although the Private Eye Annual is often to be found under the tree on Christmas morning, it gives pleasure throughout the year. --Anoushka Alexander
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