Scandal, or Priscilla's Kindness is a satirical novel by A. N. Wilson first published in 1983 about a British politician's rise and fall, the latter over a relationship with a prostitute. Although the title is the same and there are similarities in the subject-matter, Wilson's book is not the literary basis of the 1989 film Scandal. Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... Andrew Norman Wilson (born 1950) is an English writer, known for his biographies, novels and works of popular and cultural history. ... See also: 1982 in literature, other events of 1983, 1984 in literature, list of years in literature. ... A politician is an individual involved in politics. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ... See also: 1988 in film, other events of 1989, 1990 in film, list of years in film. Events Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. ... Scandal (1998) is a dramatic movie starring Joanne Whalley and John Hurt, written by Michael Thomas and directed by Michael Caton-Jones. ...

Set in the early 1980s, Scandal is about Derek Blore, an MP who, as a public figure, pays lip service to traditional values such as marriage, family and religion while at the same time paying for kinky sex with a young prostitute who is too stupid to realize who he really is. A few years earlier that girl, Bernadette Woolley, left her home town of Bognor Regis after an argument with her mother, went to London, advertised her services in a sleazy shop in Notting Hill, and had her first sexual intercourse, at 17, with her first customer. Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... MP may stand for: Member of Parliament military police magic points (in roleplaying games) Northern Mariana Islands (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code and USPS state code) milepost multiprocessing in computers Minimalist Program (linguistics) Modus ponens Megapixel M.P is also a drummer of an alternative rock band School... Marriage is a relationship and bond, most commonly between a man and a woman, that plays a key role in the definition of many families. ... A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ... Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town in West Sussex, England, and has a permanent population of about 20,000. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... For the movie of the same name, see Notting_Hill_(movie) For Notting Hill in Melbourne, Australia, see Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. ... A pair of lions copulating in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. ...

Now Bernadette has her own flat in Hackney where she can work undisturbed, and a pimp looking after her, Stan Costigano. Without Bernadette knowing let alone caring about it, her apartment has been equipped with video cameras and microphones which can be used to compromise, and eventually blackmail, her customers. Soon the people who pull the strings behind the scenes have Blore on tape—a long-term victim of his public school education, in shorts, on his knees, begging to be caned by his "teacher", Bernadette. As it happens—this is the time of the Cold War—Costigano's employers have a direct link to the Soviet embassy, where each of the politician's clandestine visits to Hackney is secretly registered. When he becomes a secretary of state in the new government Blore finally stops seeing Bernadette because it dawns upon him that now the risk of being found out is just too high. Hackney is the principal area of the London Borough of Hackney in East London. ... A pimp is an informal term for a man who runs a brothel or otherwise oversees prostitution. ... Blackmail is threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a monetary demand is met. ... A public school, in common English and Welsh usage, is a (usually) prestigious school, for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18, which charges fees and is not financed by the state. ... Caning is corporal punishment with a cane, generally on the buttocks, palm or the soles of the feet. ... The Cold War was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and its allies (roughly speaking, NATO members) and the Soviet Union and its allied (roughly speaking, Warsaw Pact members), until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. ... The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Russian: (СССР)  listen; tr. ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a senior Cabinet Minister in charge of a Government Department. ...

However, Derek Blore's downfall does not come about through Soviet intervention or through a political opponent seeing him enter or leave Bernadette's flat. Rather, it is his beautiful and absolutely loyal yet promiscuous wife Priscilla whose indiscretion towards her current lover, a journalist called Henry Feathers, triggers the "Blore Affair". ("Priscilla did not sleep with every man in London. When Feathers seduced her, it was a whole eighteen months since she had been unfaithful to Derek.") One day, after their lovemaking, she casually tells the journalist about the morning when her husband's "whore" came to see him at home. Reckoning that the story will be a scoop, Feathers composes a series of articles which finally appear in mid-summer, while the Blores are on a family holiday in France. Promiscuity is the practice of making relatively unselective, casual and indiscriminate choices. ... A scoop is a colloquial term to refer to a news story, (especially an exciting one) that is reported in a particular newspaper or magazine before it appears anywhere else, implying a high level of investigation skill; a scoop and a scoop reporter are highly positive assets for that newspaper...

Denying all allegations, Derek Blore is intent on sitting out his ordeal ("I've been in politics now for twenty-five years. And I hope I'm going to be in politics for a further twenty-five years.") and also announces that he is of course planning to sue Feathers and his newspaper. However, the Prime Minister is informed of the true state of affairs, knows that Blore is lying, and has him arrested while he is taking part in a rural pageant in his capacity as a church warden. A prime minister may be either: the chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives... A lie is a statement made by someone who believes or suspects it to be false, in the expectation that the hearers may believe it. ... A beauty contest, or beauty pageant, is a competition between people, based largely, though not always entirely, on the beauty of their physical appearance. ...

Quote

• On marriage:

Marriage was for the common-sensical, it was for those who took short views, or no views at all; it was for those for whom life was largely a matter of meals and clothes, orgasm and real estate. For anyone who nurtured Emotion as the centre of existence, and who felt the permanent pull of an unseen, spiritual or cerebral world, the quotidian triviality of married intimacy was bound to be intolerable. So, in practice, it invariably was. Not only were the married lives of most poets and musicians intolerable. So too were the lives of religious mystics if they made the mistake of getting married. As often as not, this category of person sensibly opted for a celibate existence. (Chapter Five) Marriage is a relationship and bond, most commonly between a man and a woman, that plays a key role in the definition of many families. ...

Read on

• A. N. Wilson's My Name Is Legion (2004) deals in a similar way with politics, political corruption and yellow journalism.
• Josephine Hart's 1991 novel Damage is a much more sombre treatment of a politician's fall from power.
• In a similar vein, Nicholas Mosley's Natalie Natalia centres around an adulterous British MP disillusioned with his job.
• Harley Granville Barker's 1906 play Waste, banned at the time, is about a politician who makes a married woman pregnant and then refuses to help her procure an abortion.
• Democracy, an 1880 novel by Henry Adams, discusses political scandals in the United States of the second half of the 19th century, with Ratcliffe being only slightly more unrefined and uneducated than Blore.
• Carl Hiaasen's novel Sick Puppy (1999) takes a look at regional U.S. politics and lobbying and at the scandals those in power try to hush up.

Andrew Norman Wilson (born 1950) is an English writer, known for his biographies, novels and works of popular and cultural history. ... My Name Is Legion is a novel by A. N. Wilson first published in 2004. ... See also: 2003 in literature, other events of 2004, 2005 in literature, list of years in literature. ... In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse of public office for private gain. ... Yellow journalism is a term given to any widespread tendencies or practices within media organizations which are detrimental to, or substandard from the point of view of, journalistic integrity. ... See also: 1990 in literature, other events of 1991, 1992 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Damage is a novel (1991) by Josephine Hart (ISBN 0449911888) about a British politician who, in the prime of life, causes his own downfall through an inappropriate relationship; and a film (1992) by Louis Malle, also released as Fatale, based on Harts book, starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche... Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale (born June 25, 1923) is a British novelist. ... Natalie Natalia is a novel by Nicholas Mosley first published in 1971 about a middle-aged British MP who, while seemingly on the brink of insanity, conducts an adulterous affair with the wife of a colleague. ... Harley Granville-Barker (November 25, 1877 – August 31, 1946) was a British actor, director, producer, critic and playwright. ... See also: 1905 in literature, other events of 1906, 1907 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1879 in literature, other events of 1880, 1881 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 - March 27, 1918) was a U.S. historian, journalist and novelist. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Photo of Carl Hiaasen by Robert Birnbaum Carl Hiaasen [pronounced hiya-sun] (born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. ... Carl Hiaasens novel Sick Puppy (1999) is regarded by some to be perfect entertainment and food for thought. ... See also: 1998 in literature, other events of 1999, 2000 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Lobbying is the practice of private advocacy with the goal of influencing a governing body, in order to ensure that an individuals or organizations point of view is represented in the government. ...

See also

• A list of British political scandals, in particular the Profumo Affair of 1963