The movie of Toby Young's book, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, topped the UK box office after its opening weekend. According to Screen International, its £1.15m take offset its disappointing US start.
Toby has come in for some fairly harsh criticism in recent weeks, presumably because people are envious of his having made a success of his supposed failure. The latest attack comes from New York magazine, which accuses him of plagiarism. The article quotes Toby's denial of plagiarism.
His response: "I don't think it's a sort of mealy-mouthed or weasely defence to say that the standard that British journalists are expected to hold themselves to are not as high as the standards that some American journalists hold. We're a little less precious about this kind of thing."
I fear that defence may well alienate him still further from journalists on both sides of the Atlantic.
