Author Martin Amis has condemned “humourless” and “literalist” English journalists over the reporting of comments he made about euthanasia and the elderly earlier this year.
The author was interviewed by the Sunday Times in January this year as he promoted his new book The Pregnant Widow and he said of the UK’s ageing population: “How is society going to support this silver tsunami?
“There’ll be a population of demented very old people, like an invasion of terrible immigrants, stinking out the restaurants and cafes and shops. I can imagine a sort of civil war between the old and the young in 10 or 15 years’ time.
And reporting that he supported “ethanasia booths” Amis was quoted as saying: “There should be a booth on every corner where you could get a martini and a medal.”
Gulf News today reports Amis telling an audience in Dubai that “everything I say gets twisted and distorted”.
He said that his quote about euthanasia was “immediately taken up by literalists and humourless everywhere”, adding that “when Sir Terry Pratchett made the same remarks, it was not taken up at all”.
According to Gulf News Amis said that he had “no problem” with the Scottish, Irish or Welsh, press but with English “metropolitan journalists”.
He said: “There’s nothing controversial in what I say.”
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