Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, told me it was time for a new kind of ‘moral capitalism’ to kick in, where the best American companies look after their own.
To back up his point, Schultz – who, never mind the coffee beans, probably makes more cardboard cups than anyone in history – revealed he’s opening a new factory in Georgia in the US, rather than overseas. ‘It’s the right thing to do,’ he explained.
I bet all the tea in China that Starbucks makes even more money with this strategy.
MONDAY, 26 MARCH 2012
Today, I heard the greatest excuse of my life.
I was due to meet Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico, in Mexican resort city Puerto Vallarta, but he was running late. His aides kept apologising, and stressing that he is a stickler for punctuality. ‘It must be something very important,’ they assured me.
Calderón eventually rushed in, an hour after our appointed time.
‘I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting,’ he said, ‘but I’ve been with the Pope.’
TUESDAY, 27 MARCH 2012
America is raging over the killing of a young black teenager called Trayvon Martin by a local Neighbourhood Watch coordinator called George Zimmerman in Florida.
It’s a highly emotive case because Martin, seventeen, was unarmed and simply picking up sweets from a shop before walking to his father’s house when a passing, suspicious Zimmerman decided to report him to police, and then apparently follow him against police instructions.
The exact details of what happened next remain debatable. Zimmerman claims he was walking back to his car when Martin appeared from nowhere and attacked him.
Martin’s family say Trayvon was hunted down, a confrontation ensued and Zimmerman shot him.
Zimmerman claimed self-defence immediately after the shooting, and because the police had no evidence to prove otherwise, he was allowed to go home without even being arrested.
It was only weeks later, after huge media pressure, that he was finally held and then charged with second degree murder.
What’s most perplexing to me is the new law in Florida called ‘Stand Your Ground’ – which may or may not be used as an actual defence in this case – that basically allows anyone to shoot anyone else if they believe their life is in imminent danger, and unlike with ‘self-defence’ there is no need to even attempt a retreat.
The ‘Stand Your Ground’ law is already being used and abused in Florida, and the numerous other states where it has also been introduced, by drug dealers and gang leaders, to avoid prosecution.
There is much to be admired about the American justice system, but ‘Stand Your Ground’ is a dangerous nonsense – especially in a country with more than three hundred million guns in circulation.
THURSDAY, 29 MARCH 2012
Mike Tyson was my guest tonight, and I asked him how much of his wild behaviour could be attributed to his dreadful upbringing in Brooklyn, New York.
‘A great deal of it, but that same emotion, that crudeness and stuff, is the same fire that everybody else liked too. I couldn’t just separate the two at the time, they fed off one another.’
And that’s so true, isn’t it? Tyson the barbarian appalled us outside of the ring, but enthralled us inside it.
‘Are you at peace with yourself now?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know if I’m ever at peace with myself.’
When I questioned why he felt he was still so popular, he smiled. ‘People call it luck. Napoleon said greatness masters the artistry of luck. I’m not saying I’m great, I’m just saying what a great man said about luck.’
SATURDAY, 7 APRIL 2012
Gordon Brown is in LA to make some speeches, so Celia and I had dinner with him and his wife Sarah tonight.
‘Where are you watching the football tomorrow?’ he asked as the bill arrived. Arsenal, the team I’ve supported since I was a boy, were playing a big match.
‘My place, want to join me?’
‘That would be great.’
SUNDAY, 8 APRIL 2012
I woke at 7 a.m., and went to shake the boys, who are here on holiday, out of their stupor.
‘You’d better get up, we’ve got a prime minister coming to watch the game.’
As the game finished, with a magnificent Arsenal win in the bag, my Skype began ringing, and I saw it was my mother in Sussex, where the rest of the family was gathered for Easter.
Chance for some amusement.
‘Hi Mum, I’ve got someone who wants to say hello.’
I turned the laptop to face Gordon, who went straight into politician mode.
‘Mrs Morgan, this is Gordon Brown, how are you?’
I could see the mouths of various members of my family drop open with shock in the background. Though Mum never missed a beat, as if this whole scene was perfectly normal, and went straight into maternal mode: ‘Hello, Gordon, how are your boys?’
TUESDAY, 10 APRIL 2012
Bubba Watson won the Masters golf tournament, and the American media’s been desperate to land the first big interview with this wonderfully eccentric character.
To my amazement, he insisted on giving it to me.
When I asked him why tonight, he explained: ‘Honestly? It’s because I loved what a prick you were on America’s Got Talent!’
SUNDAY, 15 APRIL 2012
Saw Bill Cosby on CNN talking about guns and the Trayvon Martin case.
Of George Zimmerman, he said: ‘It doesn’t make any difference if he’s a racist or not, if he’s scared to death and not a racist, it’s still a confrontational provoking of something.’
Cosby said he used to own a gun himself, to protect his family, but gave it up.
His own son Ennis was shot and killed by an armed robber in 1997.
‘When a person has a gun,’ he said, ‘sometimes their mind clicks that this thing … will win arguments and straighten people out.’
This surely is the key point.
Gun rights lobbyists say that you need a gun to deter aggressors and make yourself safer.
But, as Cosby says, often the mere presence of a gun has the complete opposite effect, and merely serves to escalate the violence into a deadly conclusion.
‘When you tell me that you’re going to protect the neighbourhood that I live in, I don’t want you to have a gun,’ he said. ‘I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way.’
MONDAY, 16 APRIL 2012
Robert De Niro is reputed to be the hardest star to interview. I’ve heard endless stories of how tricky he can be – monosyllabic, humourless, gruff, irritated or just plain bored.
One of his aides even warned me before our encounter today:
‘Don’t ask Bob any questions that can be answered with yes or no, because that’s exactly how he will answer.’
To complicate matters, I was in Los Angeles and he was in New York, so we were doing the interview via satellite, with a slight time delay.
I spoke to him briefly before we began the interview.
‘Hi, Robert, it’s Piers here, how are you?’
‘Fine,’ he replied. ‘Thank you.’
To try and lighten things from the start, we thought it would be amusing to break the ice with that hilarious clip from Meet the Fockers where De Niro wears fake breasts.
His face, as he watched, never flickered.
‘Now, Robert,’ I began, ‘when we have dozens of great movies to choose from for a trailer, and we choose the one of you wearing false mammary glands, does your heart swell with pride or does part of you think, “Why the hell couldn’t you have done something a little bit more serious for me?”’
His brow furrowed.
‘My heart’ – he grimaced – ‘swells with pride.’
And that was about the only real answer I got out of him.
For the next ten minutes, he responded to virtually all my questions about the economy, politics, gun control and the American Dream with phrases like ‘I don’t really
know’, ‘I can’t really say’, ‘That’s a big question’ or – the ultimate death knell for interviewers – prolonged silence, and a shrug of the shoulders.
As we approached a commercial break, I announced: ‘I want to come back and talk about news with you because I hear you’re a bit of a news junkie …’
Silence.
‘… So I’m hoping that includes this show …’
Silence.
‘… let’s leave viewers on this gigantic cliff-hanger, Robert …’
Silence.
‘Don’t give it away yet … your facial expressions aren’t telling me any good news here …’
Silence.
We went to the break. My mouth was dry, small beads of sweat had formed on my neck and I glugged from an emergency bottle of cold water at the side of my desk.
‘I think he likes you,’ chuckled Jonathan.
After the break, I asked De Niro to name his favourite actor.
‘How can I answer that?’ he said with a sigh.
Rather easily, I thought.
‘What’s the trick to great acting?’
‘I don’t know … It’s hard for me to answer. I don’t know if I can give it …’
I gave up on the acting questions.
‘We have something in common, Robert.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, we both became fathers to baby girls four months ago.’
‘I didn’t know that, congratulations.’
‘Number four for me, number six for you. How’s fatherhood going the sixth time around?’
‘Well, as any parent will tell you … it’s an … experience.’
Unfortunately, not an experience he wished to share in any further detail with me!
It was time to admit defeat.
‘Well, congratulations on the baby, and indeed on surviving this interview, because I know you can’t stand doing them.’
He nodded. There was no denial.
‘For my part, I’ve loved every second and it’s been a great honour.’
And finally, Robert De Niro laughed. Loudly.
‘Oh you’re just saying that.’
And maybe I was.
TUESDAY, 24 APRIL 2012
The Dalai Lama, who became ruler of Tibet in 1950, is the world’s second longest-serving leader of any kind – religious, political or royal. Only King Rama IX of Thailand, who was crowned in 1946, beats him. Our own queen comes third, with sixty years on the throne and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro fourth, with forty-nine years in power.
I flew to the world-famous Mayo Clinic in Minnesota today to interview him. He was there for his annual health checkup and, unsurprisingly, given his abstemious lifestyle, he’d been given a very positive report.
‘Do you ever drink alcohol?’ I asked.
‘Never.’
‘Have you ever smoked a cigarette?’
‘No.’
‘Ever taken a drug?’
‘No. My mind quite peaceful. So no need these things.’
‘Let’s move on to other issues. As a monk, you obviously subscribe to a vow of celibacy.’
‘Yes.’
‘Is that hard?’
‘No. If you just see physical experience, then you may find a certain desire. But when I go to England, and watch people who have families, sometimes I notice on my first visit, another woman, another wife. Second visit, another woman, another wife. Previous wife, some children. Then another occasion, third wife.
‘Children suffer much when parents divorce. Married people, their mental state, their emotional state, too much ups and downs!
‘Compare that with celibate people, mind more steady. So, long run, we have some advantage.’
He roared with laughter as he said this.
‘Do you ever feel temptation when you see a woman?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes, sometimes I see people and think, “Oh, this is very nice.” But I’m Dalai Lama. I always remember. I am monk, always monk.’ He said he hadn’t watched TV in two years, and never uses email, computers or mobile phones.
Nor does he listen to music, or go to the movies.
‘Not even to see your friend Richard Gere?’
He chuckled. ‘No!’
‘Have you heard of Simon Cowell?’
Bemused, he turned to his interpreter, and muttered: ‘What IS that?’
I’d been warned that if the Dalai Lama sat back in the interview, it meant he was bored.
‘I’m encouraged to see you’ve been sitting forward, Your Holiness,’ I told him towards the end. ‘Does this mean you’ve been enjoying the interview?’
‘It seems you are talking with certain feeling,’ he replied, ‘and I love your accent!’
Perhaps the most surprising revelation came when I asked him to name the most impressive world leader he’s ever met.
‘I like President Bush.’
‘Which one?’
‘The younger one. His policies were not very successful. But as a person, I found him very nice. I love him.’
This is the curious contradiction about George W. Bush. He was one of the most divisive, war-mongering US presidents in modern history – yet numerous people who have met him have said exactly the same thing to me about his personal likability.
When the interview was over, the Dalai Lama presented me with a magnificent white Tibetan khata ceremonial scarf.
‘I wish you great peace and happiness!’ he said.
‘I feel happier for just meeting you, Your Holiness,’ I replied.
He exudes such warmth and serenity that it’s impossible not to.
WEDNESDAY, 25 APRIL 2012
Tom Repicci, John’s excellent deputy, emailed: ‘Hi Piers, please see attached offer for a free top-of-the-range toilet from Kohler. Let me know if you’d like to accept it.’
I passed.
I’m not going to be beholden to anyone for my bowel movements.
SATURDAY, 28 APRIL 2012
Goldie Hawn was my guest at the White House Correspondents dinner in Washington tonight.
‘Coming down. Drink. Bar,’ she texted, as I drove over to pick her up from her hotel.
Goldie arrived wearing a dazzling black Dolce & Gabbana dress, a white fur wrap and enough large sparkling jewels to light Capitol Hill for the night.
We ordered champagne and talked about our daughters. Goldie’s, of course, is superstar actress Kate Hudson. Mine is Elise Morgan, only five months old but no less of a superstar to me.
‘You will be the most important man in her life forever,’ she warned. ‘Don’t ever forget that.’
We drove to the Hilton. ‘This is where Reagan was shot,’ Goldie noted as we walked inside.
‘Well, I’m sure our evening will go better,’ I reassured her.
President Obama made a very funny speech, mocking all and sundry. This time last year, at the same event, he made a similar speech having just ordered SEAL Team 6 to take out Osama bin Laden.
His favourite target that night was Donald Trump, who’d been loudly questioning the veracity of Obama’s birth certificate.
Tonight, his opening line was: ‘Last year, we finally delivered justice to one of the world’s most notorious individuals …’
As the audience broke into applause, the big screens suddenly switched to a photo of Trump. Cue mass hilarity.
At the Vanity Fair party inside the French Embassy afterwards, I got drunk with George Clooney.
As in properly, delightfully, head-damagingly intoxicated.
We stood together in the centre of the lobby from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., drinking a lot of vodka, discussing everything from phone-hacking to the Sudan, and exchanging regular bear hugs.
He’s hilarious.
THURSDAY, 3 MAY 2012
I interviewed Ted Turner tonight.
‘Are you still proud of CNN?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Do you still watch CNN?’
‘You bet!’
‘Do you like what y
ou see?’
‘I like most of what I see …’
I was curious as to how he would have responded to the new competition from Fox News and MSNBC.
‘Should CNN still remain the impartial observer of news?’
‘Yes, and cover the substantial news. That doesn’t mean you don’t cover Hollywood, kidnappings and the sensational too. But the emphasis should be on hard news. I wanted CNN to be the New York Times for the news business, not the Daily News, even if the ratings weren’t the greatest.
‘If you had the most prestige and you were the network that everybody turned to in times of a crisis, that was the most important position in the news business to hold.’
Ted singled out the rescue of a baby called Jessica from a well in 1987, the first Gulf War in 1991 and the 9/11 attacks as the three biggest stories in his CNN tenure.
And as he spoke about them, I could see the fire burning again inside his news-obsessed body.
We spoke about Jane Fonda.
‘Was she the great love of your life?’
‘Probably.’
‘Have you ever gotten over her?’
‘No.’
‘Think you ever will?’
‘No. When you love somebody and you really love them, you never stop loving them, no matter how hard you try. You can’t, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s good.’
‘You’re a man used to winning, and you lost Jane …’
‘I lost Jane, I lost my job here, I lost my fortune, most of it, got a billion or two left. You can get by if you economise!’
‘Which upset you the most?’
‘They all broke my heart. But I rallied. Winners never quit and quitters never win.’
Ted now has four girlfriends, who all know about each other.
‘How do you get away with that?’
‘With great difficulty!’
‘What would you like written on your tombstone?’
‘I’d like, “I have nothing more to say!”’
A CNN staffer later sent me a hilarious Ted Turner anecdote after watching the show.
‘I was at his table for a lunch hosting the winners and finalists of the CNN African journalist of the year competition.
‘Ted told them, “You know fellas, this year I have lost my company, billions of dollars, and my wife …”
‘Quick as a shot one of the African lads said, “But as I understand it, Mr Turner, you are still a billionaire and, according to the papers, you are fucking Bo Derek.fn1 Where I come from that would not be considered such a bad year.”
Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God, and George Clooney Page 19