I finished Mail Men, which was a cracking read. It's really like two books in one - the first covers the founding of the paper and the years up until 1971, and the second is about the making of the paper as we know it today under two successive editors, David English and the seemingly bonkers Paul Dacre.
The founder of the paper, 'Sunny' Harmsworth, actually seems like he could have been a decent man in a more enlightened time. Certainly, compared to his successors, he doesn't come across as a frothing at the lips madman. Well, until he literally became a frothing at the lips madman. After his death, the paper fell into the hands of his brother, 'Bunny' Harmsworth, who was an unadventurous proprietor who would have been long forgotten if it wasn't for the fact that he became mates with Hitler and thought that the nazis were a great bunch of lads. After him, the paper passed onto his son, who was so dull that I can't even remember his silly name.
The real scurril kicks off with Vere Harmsworth, who appointed David English to knock the declining paper into shape, which he did by turning it into the horrorshow it's been ever since, and it's no surprise that he was also great mates with a fascist, one M. Thatcher. English stepped aside in the early nineties when Paul Dacre took over, and it seems likely that nothing short of death will stop him from carrying on as editor. He is almost dangerously committed - the story, which I think has been mentioned on CaB elsewhere, of his usual daily routine never involving him setting foot outside is bizarrely compelling - he is driven from home to the office, where he will spend 16-18 hours, and then driven home again, without ever coming into contact with anybody but newspapermen (and women). There's also the revelation that the ultimate badge of honour in the Mail office is a 'double cunting', where Dacre will use the word 'cunt' twice in one sentence whilst bollocking you. Otherwise, working for the Mail seems like an endurance test which most people despise.
Something lighter next - Killing Pablo!