ABSTRACT
As we suggest in the course of this book, belligerence is not only a media style; it is also itself an item of discussion in public discourse. Writing in The Guardian in 2007, Stuart Jeffries remarked on the prevalence of directives in British society, citing a number of examples from TV:
[Anne] Robinson has set the tone for Bossy Britain in the new millennium. What’s more, advanced cloning techniques have meant that television, that most potent of guides to public morals and lifestyles in this benighted land, now teems with dominators and dominatrices modelled on the dark mistress of The Weakest Link. Think Trinny and Susannah holding that poor woman’s breasts the other week and telling her – demanding, even – that she shape up. Think Kim and Aggie in their rubber gloves telling you not to even think of leaving toast crumbs on your kitchen table or down your cleavage. Think Sarah Beeny’s delectably judgmental eyebrow. Think Andrew Winter’s less delectable nasal sneer.
(Jeffries, 2007)