This was one of the iconic images of my childhood: Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on the rostrum at the UN General Assembly. He was freaking out because they’d just shot down an American spy plane over Russia. Gasp! Oh, no! Did you say a spy plane? You mean you spied on us? [Bangs shoe on podium]
The hypocrisy was not lost on many people. Not even on 11-year-old kids.
Today, somehow I find it impossible to believe in the sincerity, or even the sanity, of some paunchy, middle-aged white liberal sitting behind a posh desk at The Guardian yelling and banging his shoe because there aren’t enough Minority central characters in children’s fiction and the government had ought to do something about it! Like dictate the content of books before they’re written! They could set up a special government agency just for that.
Will they never just dry up and blow away?




