‘Despicable’ attack by New York Times

THE New York Times sparked anger after it ran an article on the day of the Queen’s death which said the monarch had ‘helped obscure a bloody history’.

A piece written for the US newspaper by a Harvard academic on Thursday used her death to attack the ills of British history.

Maya Jasanoff called on people not to ‘romanticise’ the Queen’s era, saying that she had ‘put a stolid traditionalist front over decades of violent upheaval’.

The extraordinarily ill-timed attack sparked deep anger across the globe – including from the newspaper’s own readers.

One reader described the timing of the piece as ‘despicable’ while another in Malaysia said it had been ‘entirely inappropriate’, ‘mean spirited’ and ‘disrespectful’.

Another reader in London said: ‘Trust the New York Times to take the low road and give the British and Commonwealth subjects a kicking once the sovereign has passed away. Can’t you just let us take a breath before publishing this?’