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Russell Brand Emerges with some sort of honour

This is bizarre. The world is burning, and the anti-BBC crowd are out in force to condemn a flighty comedian with a half-genuine otherworldly image who made some sex jokes to another celebrity's answerphone, because he got excited. The said other celebrity is old and well loved, and has hung around show business all his life, so therefore has no clue that his granddaughter--a 'self described satanic slut'--actually has a sex life. Indeed, to read the press, Andrew Sachs should be protected from all that since the old should be patronised when not being ignored. This protection does not extend to protection from gangs of press outside the door demanding interviews, obviously.

Said unkempt comedian, who seems harmless enough and who spends his life alternating between a sort of aggressive and surreal wit, the usual soppy prejudices, and lots of sex, apologises and resigns. What he did was clearly wrong, but you have to note that he took the blame. The man who encouraged him doesn't. The BBC Boss stayed on holiday, then suspended everyone. The Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister weighed in in a craven fashion.

And the last victim of this sort of silly monstering by a frankly evil press cries her way through cancer and bravely plans her funeral. I hope that she keeps the plans in a drawer for decades.

Procopius this isn't. There really are few things more nauseating than the English in an hysterical moral spasm, as Oscar Wilde didn't put it.

A Third Great War of the Congo may be about to kill millions. The world is sinking into a long crisis. People in uniform are killing and being killed and maimed tonight. Earthquakes, and floods, and war, and recession are around and the fabric of democracy has been rent and torn all over the world. For goodness' sake, either smile, or show these people some humanity, or dispatch them to their private lives--but move on and wake up. Somewhere, we have something that moves our better selves ; in hoc signo vinces

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