Mick Hartley

Howard Jacobson sums up the Russell Brand affair, and taking fools seriously:

If I was reminded at times of the trouble inquisitors have with George Galloway – wondering whether they’re talking to a serious politician with dangerously extreme views, or an ad hominem buffoon – I was reminded even more of those interminably tedious clowns in Shakespeare who mix madness with matter. These are impossible to reason with, since the moment you tackle them on matter they take cover in madness. Pertinent they might sometimes be, but they are seldom there when the essential business of the play is being settled. They are a sideshow at best.

When the king cannot see because he is lovesick, gullible, or simply too full of self-regard, a little jesting might restore him to his wits. Thus, when our politicians grow blind to the concerns of those they govern, it can’t hurt to expose them to ridicule. But we’d be fools ourselves to turn the clown into a better version of the thing he mocks. Scepticism demands that we mistrust everyone alike, the courtier and his jester.

Or, the politician and the satirist.