Believe Nothing Until It Is Officially Denied 
Patrick Cockburn, Verso, £30

THE title of the book, Believe Nothing Until It Is Officially Denied, is a phrase credited to Claud Cockburn which has become the mantra for journalists the world over.

Claud Cockburn, the son of a Foreign Office diplomat, went to Berkhamsted school in Hertfordshire, then on to Oxford University, where he was close friends with novelist Graham Greene. He was also related to Evelyn Waugh. But that where the conventional establishment formation ends. 

Claud and Greene travelled in the Europe of the inter-war years, seeing much devastation and importantly witnessing the rise of fascism. Claud became a reporter for the Times in Europe, and then in the US. He was highly valued by the then Times editor, Geoffrey Dawson, and the management. But in 1932, he struck out on his own, creating a shoestring operation, The Week magazine, a kind of newsletter, breaking news not seen anywhere else. It had a small circulation but, with excellent inside sources, was essential reading and  particularly in relation to what was happening in Europe with the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the Spanish civil war.