My favourite bit:

"As we all know, the NME does not speak for its readership, the artists do."

There's also an intriguing riposte by Mozza's manager which makes a counter-accusation to McNicholas. Sadly, none of the sides come out of this particularly well.
Morrissey appears trapped in a Arnold Bennett-style 50s world of warm tea, brassy matrons and by 'eck, it's sharp out, Gladys.
Whilst NME indulged in hyperbole to make him look like a UKIP sympathiser, which I suspect he isn;t really - despite a bit of flag-waving previous around Madstock.
As a tabloid hack meself, I understand the nature of spin and need to shift copies yada yada, but it is interesting that the original interviewer appears to have distanced himself somewhat from the tenor of the article. Was it a stitch-up? I dunno, frankly. Then again Clapton can get away with reiterating his vile Enoch rant in articles with scant opprobium.
One last thing, I do wonder what the Italians make of an Irish/Mancuncian immigrant insinuating himself into their 'traditional' culture?

Just read the piece. First time I've read the NME in about ten years. Sad to realise they're still trying to drive sales by whipping up a "Moz" controversy.
I think the only people justified in calling up the libel lawyers are "Tories", who, throughout the article, are deemed equivalent to racists.

Hazard a guess:
Percentage of non-white records in Morrisey's collection: 37.
Percentage of non-white records in average NME writer's collection: 3

you the same Richrad Lowe who was involved with Ammo City. if so, hello. If not, erm, apologies.
Re Tory libel: a smart lawyer could contend that Tory immigration policies are, indeed, racuist (But that's summat for New Statesman, I suspect.)
And can someone's commitment to the anti-racist cause be ascertained by the number of records by non-white artists? I would aver not, judging bu the number of racist skinheads I had the misfortune of bumping into at school who had swathes of Two-Tone and Trojan records...

Isn't Morrissey sticking up for British identity a bit like Sean Connery campaigning for Scottish independence?

If you think British identity is so great then why don't you live here?

Although I think his "If you walk though Knigstbridge you'll hear every accent apart from an English accent" speaks more about how dissociated he has become from normal life than it does about any racist tendencies he may exhibit.

Much as I'm ,loathe to defend NME - on the grounds of everything from its achingly wannabe hipsterism (tho i suspect that goes with the territory) to its Year Zero revisionism every five years - I think the Student grant jibe is a tad harsh. I wholeheartedly support the Love Music, hate Racism campaign fer a start. And I think it does more than pay lip service to 'black' music - and I do dislike polarising music on grounds of race (where does that leave the Dears, Bloc Party or Lightspeed Champion?). The likes of Lethal Bizzle, Kanye West and Dizze rascal have all had fervent 'n fervid reviews.
There's nowt intrinsically wrong about grabbing the moral high ground, surely? Unless it's an act of cant (I said 'cant') and hypocrisy.
But it's almost 3am and I suspect my logic is less than platinum right now. Hope this makes some kind of affected sense....

I detest Morrissey's warblings and the fawning that is generally the norm when he's interviewed but!

His views have always seemed pretty consistent and he's just varying from a few Billy Bragg points.

Incredibly Naive to think he'd not be portrayed as an out of touch racist by the NME, what did he expect, more fawning?

I find this all very interesting.

Two points strike me.

First, I suspect most of the responses to Morrissey's comments have come from people who think that The Smiths are one of the most important bands of their time.

As a result Morrissey needs to be excused his remarks otherwise it calls into question the adoration attaching to The Smiths.

What would have been the reaction if the remarks had been made by somebody dreadfully uncool?

Second, one of the standard excuses offered up is that Morrissey is nostalgic for an England that is past, the fifties or early sixties. As a result he is a loveable old Northern character, a bit eccentric maybe but it's all sort of understandable.

Lets be clear on what this means.

He would like to go back to a period when there was no large scale immigration. So away with people from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Pakistan etc.

He would no doubt use the old "some of my best friends....." argument but this is a racist approach. His dislike is of people of another race.

This charming man indeed!

is anyone still interested in he who was a brief flash in the 80s?

Doctor Nacko has a point (are you a real doctor by the way? ).

Morrissey is no fool and he must have understood the implications of making such statements to the NME (they do have "history") and to say them at a time when immigration and racism are such sensitive issues (at any time it would be bad enough) is simply inflammatory. He is not that naive to say stuff like that and leave it open to be misunderstood..... This in a week where David Irving and Nick Griffen were given the credibility of speaking at the Oxford Union. I'm not saying Morrissey has the same views as those two, but he is in danger of allowing those views to become more acceptable.

The NME may have a hipper than thou ethos (as they should after all its aimed at 18 year olds) but they are absolutely right to try and point out the ignorance of these attitudes as soon as they appear.

Does that make the Smiths pants? I don't think so. You have to seperate the art from the artist otherwise you would be only listening to a tiny proportion of the music (and literature and films come to that) that is out there. Just because Jack Kerouac became an alcholic misogynist later in life doesn't mean that On the Road is now rubbish. Just because (apparently) John Martyn was an abusive drunk doesn't mean that Solid Air is cack. Just because Paul Weller (apparently) only values his music in the form of money doesn't mean that Going Underground sucks.

It does become a knottier problem with racism of course...my classical music friends keep urging me to listen to Wagner, but I can't handle it knowing that he was Hitlers favourite composer and a known anti-semite. And its really overblown nonsense...

But The Smiths still matter as they are one of the key influential bands in Brit Rock, acknowledged influences on the Stone Roses, Oasis, and the Arctic Monkeys - some of the most important and popular bands of the last three decades.

So when I get a headache and I can't remember my skip james from me blind lemons your the man to call?

You don't know how handy that is....