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| Being an opinion editor amid the Brexit chaos | Being an opinion editor amid the Brexit chaos |
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| To edit the opinion pages of the Guardian you need to be a news and ideas obsessive with a hunger for debate and a Rolodex of the English-speaking world’s best thinkers and polemicists. That’s the easy bit. | To edit the opinion pages of the Guardian you need to be a news and ideas obsessive with a hunger for debate and a Rolodex of the English-speaking world’s best thinkers and polemicists. That’s the easy bit. |
| Sometimes you feel as if you should also have trained as a psychologist, a diplomat, a hostage negotiator, an air traffic controller and practiced doing a Rubik’s Cube. | Sometimes you feel as if you should also have trained as a psychologist, a diplomat, a hostage negotiator, an air traffic controller and practiced doing a Rubik’s Cube. |
| I joined this paper in 2013 having previously been comment and foreign editor of the Independent, and now jointly edit the Guardian Opinion pages for print and online with my colleague Kira Cochrane. Earlier this year, we sat down with a blank document, typed “BREXIT 24 June” at the top, and started to imagine how we would respond if voters went for the nuclear option and voted for Britain to leave the EU. | I joined this paper in 2013 having previously been comment and foreign editor of the Independent, and now jointly edit the Guardian Opinion pages for print and online with my colleague Kira Cochrane. Earlier this year, we sat down with a blank document, typed “BREXIT 24 June” at the top, and started to imagine how we would respond if voters went for the nuclear option and voted for Britain to leave the EU. |
| We would have, perhaps just hours, to produce a great deal of meaningful comment. | We would have, perhaps just hours, to produce a great deal of meaningful comment. |
| Identifying the angles wasn’t hard. British political life would be in chaos: we might have resignations. Across Europe there’d be expressions of amazement, dismay, cries of “what now”? Some would be saying “good riddance”. We’d need economists, historians, psephologists, political scientists to offer their view on what had happened, if this earthquake would bolster the far right, the forces of progressive renewal and democratisation. | Identifying the angles wasn’t hard. British political life would be in chaos: we might have resignations. Across Europe there’d be expressions of amazement, dismay, cries of “what now”? Some would be saying “good riddance”. We’d need economists, historians, psephologists, political scientists to offer their view on what had happened, if this earthquake would bolster the far right, the forces of progressive renewal and democratisation. |
| Would the financial sky fall in? What about the union? The Irish border? Would we find anyone who’d be sanguine? | Would the financial sky fall in? What about the union? The Irish border? Would we find anyone who’d be sanguine? |
| It had felt, by the end of a raucous and very divisive campaign that there were not many groups left in Britain who had not provided us with their opinion on Brexit. We’d heard from fashion designers, scientists, small businesses, people in the arts. TV chef Delia Smith had weighed in as had former footballer John Barnes. Perhaps we’d need a psychologist to advise on coping mechanisms. | It had felt, by the end of a raucous and very divisive campaign that there were not many groups left in Britain who had not provided us with their opinion on Brexit. We’d heard from fashion designers, scientists, small businesses, people in the arts. TV chef Delia Smith had weighed in as had former footballer John Barnes. Perhaps we’d need a psychologist to advise on coping mechanisms. |
| And we’d need cultural and literary figures to articulate the mood of the nation – the howl of pain, the call for healing or the imminent birth of a little England. | And we’d need cultural and literary figures to articulate the mood of the nation – the howl of pain, the call for healing or the imminent birth of a little England. |
| But in the planning it also became clear that sometimes you need to wait until something actually happens to know how people will really feel, who they’ll want to hear from and what needs to be said. Anticipatory grief or celebration doesn’t quite work. | But in the planning it also became clear that sometimes you need to wait until something actually happens to know how people will really feel, who they’ll want to hear from and what needs to be said. Anticipatory grief or celebration doesn’t quite work. |
| We also decided that since the Guardian is lucky enough to have a stable of remarkably talented staff writers and political columnists, these were the people we would deploy to best and speediest effect. After all, they would be better informed than anyone and adept enough to respond swiftly whatever the outcome. | We also decided that since the Guardian is lucky enough to have a stable of remarkably talented staff writers and political columnists, these were the people we would deploy to best and speediest effect. After all, they would be better informed than anyone and adept enough to respond swiftly whatever the outcome. |
| Our online editors were in at 3.45am on Friday 24 June, followed by the vanguard of the web production team. The first referendum results comment piece went up on the site a little over an hour later. From then on it was like a military operation. | Our online editors were in at 3.45am on Friday 24 June, followed by the vanguard of the web production team. The first referendum results comment piece went up on the site a little over an hour later. From then on it was like a military operation. |
| In all, from 10pm on Thursday when the polls closed, through to 8pm the next day when the Saturday pages were sent to the presses, we published 55 pieces of comment and registered 7m page views online. To put that in context, we normally consider it a good day’s work if Guardian Opinion hits the1.5m page-views mark. | In all, from 10pm on Thursday when the polls closed, through to 8pm the next day when the Saturday pages were sent to the presses, we published 55 pieces of comment and registered 7m page views online. To put that in context, we normally consider it a good day’s work if Guardian Opinion hits the1.5m page-views mark. |
| We had asked Timothy Garton Ash who covered Europe’s post-communist revolutions and the fall of the Berlin wall to prepare for a 3,000-word essay for a hypothetical Brexit. In the early hours of Friday, a very sad Tim sat down to write and filed on the dot of 4pm. | We had asked Timothy Garton Ash who covered Europe’s post-communist revolutions and the fall of the Berlin wall to prepare for a 3,000-word essay for a hypothetical Brexit. In the early hours of Friday, a very sad Tim sat down to write and filed on the dot of 4pm. |
| In the fortnight since, we’ve commissioned responses to every aspect of the fallout: from the reasons for so much disaffection in the “left behind” areas of the country to racist attacks; from the fate of 3 million EU citizens in Britain to the legal avenues for potential challenges to Brexit. And it’s all being read: page views up; print sales up. | In the fortnight since, we’ve commissioned responses to every aspect of the fallout: from the reasons for so much disaffection in the “left behind” areas of the country to racist attacks; from the fate of 3 million EU citizens in Britain to the legal avenues for potential challenges to Brexit. And it’s all being read: page views up; print sales up. |
| The breathless pace of the dramas unfolding at Westminster made our job demanding to say the least. On the morning of 24 June, columnist Aditya Chakrabortty had been on duty from 6am drafting an angry piece demanding that David Cameron go – Aditya thought that should happen whatever the result. Cameron obliged at about 8am so the piece morphed at speed into one headlined: ‘Cameron has lost his job, his Teflon cockiness has finally worn off’. It launched at 8.53am. | The breathless pace of the dramas unfolding at Westminster made our job demanding to say the least. On the morning of 24 June, columnist Aditya Chakrabortty had been on duty from 6am drafting an angry piece demanding that David Cameron go – Aditya thought that should happen whatever the result. Cameron obliged at about 8am so the piece morphed at speed into one headlined: ‘Cameron has lost his job, his Teflon cockiness has finally worn off’. It launched at 8.53am. |
| The first inkling anyone had that a palace coup was underway in the victorious Tory leave camp was on the following Wednesday evening when a leaked email from Michael Gove’s wife, Sarah Vine, hinted at a split between Boris Johnson and the justice secretary. | The first inkling anyone had that a palace coup was underway in the victorious Tory leave camp was on the following Wednesday evening when a leaked email from Michael Gove’s wife, Sarah Vine, hinted at a split between Boris Johnson and the justice secretary. |
| The opinion print team were getting ready to send the next day’s opinion pages but found themselves tearing them up and commissioning Zoe Williams who took just 35 minutes to write 800 words of biting satire which by the skin of its teeth made it into Thursday’s paper. | The opinion print team were getting ready to send the next day’s opinion pages but found themselves tearing them up and commissioning Zoe Williams who took just 35 minutes to write 800 words of biting satire which by the skin of its teeth made it into Thursday’s paper. |
| Next morning, just as we prepared for the expected Johnson and Theresa May declarations in the leadership contest, a roar went up from the newsdesk as Gove dropped his bombshell and the defections from camp Boris began. Matt d’Ancona was on standby to react to the leadership declarations, but by 10.28am he had switched to delivering a fast take on Gove’s treachery. | Next morning, just as we prepared for the expected Johnson and Theresa May declarations in the leadership contest, a roar went up from the newsdesk as Gove dropped his bombshell and the defections from camp Boris began. Matt d’Ancona was on standby to react to the leadership declarations, but by 10.28am he had switched to delivering a fast take on Gove’s treachery. |
| The former London mayor pulled out of the race a couple of hours later, and Marina Hyde was quickly on the case delivering ‘Bye Bye Boris the man who wouldn’t clean up his own mess’, which launched online at 1.15pm. | The former London mayor pulled out of the race a couple of hours later, and Marina Hyde was quickly on the case delivering ‘Bye Bye Boris the man who wouldn’t clean up his own mess’, which launched online at 1.15pm. |
| The quick take is great for web but we then had to commission longer pieces on the day’s drama for the Friday’s paper. Johnson’s biographer Sonia Purnell drilled into his alleged mendacity and Martin Kettle turned in 1,100 words headlined ‘Good riddance to Boris Johnson’ by 5pm. | The quick take is great for web but we then had to commission longer pieces on the day’s drama for the Friday’s paper. Johnson’s biographer Sonia Purnell drilled into his alleged mendacity and Martin Kettle turned in 1,100 words headlined ‘Good riddance to Boris Johnson’ by 5pm. |
| Leading Tories turning on each other like it was the final scene in Hamlet would have been challenging for an editorial team at any time, but after almost a week of 24/7 working we began praying for a news blackout. | Leading Tories turning on each other like it was the final scene in Hamlet would have been challenging for an editorial team at any time, but after almost a week of 24/7 working we began praying for a news blackout. |
| For nearly two weeks now our Top 20 most read has been dominated by Brexit pieces – some days every one has been about the EU. This would have been unimaginable even three months ago. | For nearly two weeks now our Top 20 most read has been dominated by Brexit pieces – some days every one has been about the EU. This would have been unimaginable even three months ago. |
| It appears too that on Brexit our readers are voracious for information and especially interested in serious “what next” pieces and in heavyweight analysis rather than anything especially poetic. | It appears too that on Brexit our readers are voracious for information and especially interested in serious “what next” pieces and in heavyweight analysis rather than anything especially poetic. |
| In times of what has felt like a nationwide nervous breakdown, readers either want to cut to the chase and seek out voices of authority and genuine knowledge, or else they want biting satire and blind fury, which, either way, is heartening. | In times of what has felt like a nationwide nervous breakdown, readers either want to cut to the chase and seek out voices of authority and genuine knowledge, or else they want biting satire and blind fury, which, either way, is heartening. |
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