Law Blogger Milly Bancroft Misses Out As Orwell Prize Goes to Super-Niche ‘Rangers Tax Case’ Blog

Gasps, sighs and the sentence “A blog about a Scottish football team’s tax case?!” echoed around a disbelieving Church House Hall in Westminster last night, as the winner of the Orwell Prize for blogging was announced.

Supporters of Beneath the Wig author and former barrister Milly Bancroft, one of seven bloggers nominated for the prestigious prize, shook their heads in disbelief as some Scottish bloke trudged to the front and made some speech about football and tax.

“GET OFF! YOU’RE BORING!” we yelled in unison, before turning on the event organisers. “Where’s the food? At other award ceremonies you get food! What the hell is this?!” we continued.

But amid the pain, there was hope, too. Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore, who presented the awards, sought Bancroft out personally after the ceremony to offer her best wishes. Earlier, she had described the Beneath the Wig author as “so persuasive and no doubt a big voice for the future”.

And, of course, just by being there all us Bancroft supporters got to feel very important, as we mingled with leading lights in the journalism and blogging worlds like Amelia Gentleman, Peter Hitchens and NightJack (pictured).

Not that our group wasn’t stacked with big names itself, with members including journalists David Allen Green and David Banks, Financial Times general counsel Tim Bratton and Justice Gap commissioning editor Kim Evans.