I was looking forward to the BBC’s Question Time last night, the big face off between Russell Brand and Nigel Farage it was billed as. Unfortunately it turned out to be as much a non event as those World heavyweight Boxing Championship contests in the 1970s when Muhammed Ali was on his bum o’ the month campaign, with the UKIP leader taking the role of Ali and Brand huffing and puffing a little but fearing to come out of his corner before throwing in the towel at around the halfway mark.
(Nice sustained metaphor Ian, take a bow)
The fact is when Russell Brand decided about a year ago I guess, to revive his flagging career by coming over all political, he was talking like a libertarian (or maybe just channeling Alex Jones or David Icke) but while that grabbed headlines it did not play to Russell’s natural audience who love globalism, big government, immigration, the dissolution of national sovereignty and national cultures and the idea that if we all join hands and sing Kumbaya we’ll turn into fairies and live happily ever after.
Still, despite the destruction of the Brand brand, the show was worth watching, for the man in the audience who excoriated Brand for patronising the disabled, and for the Labout representative on the panel who excoriated him for sexism when he tried to shout down the voluptuous but otherwise uninteresting Conservative, Penny Morduant.
Particularly enjoyable however was the blue-haired, loud mouthed female audience member who raged that Farage was a racist and advised that she was “coming for you Farage, don’t you bl**dy worry.”
I read in a comment thread earlier her name was Penny La Roche, if that is true then she is a professional race baiter who makes her living charging local Anti – Nazi League and Unite Against Fascism groups exorbitant fees for personal appearances at anti – BNP or anti – EDL demonstrations. If that is true it’s sad sad commentary on the mentality of the ANL and UAF that they can’t screech, “Racists, Fascists,” for themselves.
Whoever the woman was, she epitomised the thoughtful, reasonable and liberal face of the modern left.
After a second interruption as she tried to shout down a female audience member and was firmly put in her place by the commenter (“It is not racist to want to stop murderers and rapists coming into our country”) the stewards must have decided she had fretted and strutted her hour upon the stage because she was heard no more.
Our next Prime Minister commented that she was “lovely”. Or maybe he was referring to the extra votes she had just pushed UKIP’s way.
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