I realise that I am probably stating the obvious when I say that HIGNFY is not as funny as it used to be. Actually, that decline probably started when Angus Deyton vacated the host’s chair and a succession of somewhat variable quality guest hosts followed.
Still, Mrs L and I have persevered, just as we have persevered with the declining Mock the Week in the hope that there will still be a nugget of genuine satire to be found.
The show broadcast last Friday had among its guests Louise Mensch. Now when a politician is on the panel, they – and we – can expect some ribbing. It goes with the territory. They have given Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and more recently following the loss of his seat at the general election, Lembit Opik a rough ride. However, more important is that such shows should lampoon the absurdities and double standards that are not necessarily picked up during the normal news coverage. That’s why we watch it.
When the panel was given the occupy protests as material, Mensch pointed out that these folk were protesting about capitalist corporations yet were happy to patronise Starbucks. “Oh, good,” I thought. “Somebody has noticed.” What followed however, was not some well deserved satire; rather Mensch was shouted down for daring to criticise these people for wanting to drink a cup of coffee in what appeared to be am orchestrated deliberate missing of the point. It wasn’t about wanting a cup of coffee as Mensch tried vainly to get across, it was about protesting about capitalism and then enjoying its fruits. Just as any of those protesters were guilty of double standards who were taking photographs or video footage using cameras made by corporations, using mobile phones (and, no, it having an “i” in front isn’t a get out of jail free card. Apple is just as much an eeeeevil corporation as all the rest), MP3 players and designer clothing – not to mention anyone who drove to the event and all those nice modern tents – all made by capitalist corporations. There was hypocrisy here in abundance and it was ripe for HIGNFY treatment, yet the rest of the panel preferred to shout down the token Tory who raised it and they were applauded for doing so. And given his usual nose for double standards, disappointingly Hislop joined in with the mob rather than run with the nugget raised by his team mate.
As Mrs L said afterwards; disappointing. Not funny and they really have lost the plot. For me, Mensch’s treatment was something she doubtless expected, and as an MP, that’s just part of the territory – no, what really showed through in all its naked glory was the blatant bias of the BBC set.
Yes, I’m sure that some of you will say that this is nothing, the bias is always on display. I agree, I am often irritated by it, however, this was such an overt example, you’d have to be dense enough to bend light not to notice. I wonder, is this a good thing?
I’m not even convinced that the ‘Occupy’ protest is about protesting about ‘capitalism’ is it?
That you (and Mrs Mench) fail to understand the simple concept that you can criticise the way that some greedy financial institutions are seemingly trying to bankrupt us all and still drink ‘capitalist’ coffee, take photographs with ‘corporate’ telephones says more about your particular view of others opinions more than anything else.
Have been thinking the same thing of late. HIGNFY used to be quite amusing, but I’ve stopped watching this last series following a quite significant lurch to the left (i.e. from ‘centre ground’ to outright ‘student union’ politics).
To be honest, the point at which both HIGNFY’s and Mock the Week’s decline was really noticeable for me was when Chris Addison started appearing regularly…
If it wasn’t for QI and Would I Lie to You, BBC Comedy would be dead to me…
No, it doesn’t. I understand perfectly well. Any anti-capitalism protest will raise the same point – one which the media avoid like the plague. These people are exercising double standards and as such are ripe for a ribbing. Ms Mensch and I are not the ones missing the point. I expect a satirical programme to be an equal opportunities offender. HIGNFY clearly is not when it comes to the standard lefty “we hate capitalism” bollocks. And maybe the Occupy crowd could take their own Fair Trade caffeine-free coffee with them rather than patronise one of those evil greedy corporations, next time around.
Manu, I hadn’t picked up on that, but now that you come to mention it…
The only “greedy financial institutions” that “are seemingly trying to bankrupt us all” are governments.
No one else can hold a gun to your head to steal your money and then give it to their mates.
[EDIT] Quoting from the comment by Voyager, not replying to the post (as it was spot-on, that was a nasty attack on Mensch, I’m not going to be watching again).
[EDIT #2] And I find it rather spectacular that our state broadcaster, continually and venomously, attacks the state. As Sean Gabb said, Cameron should have dealt with the BBC as soon as he got in power.
I didn’t see it, I’m sure I would have cringed, but I’d say la Mensch was naive to think that wouldn’t happen. Hopefully she will become an implacable enemy of the BBC from henceforward.
@ Voyager,
“I’m not even convinced that the ‘Occupy’ protest is about protesting about ‘capitalism’ is it? ”
It depends who you ask. Michael Moore said it was about ending capitalism. Not that he seems to mind making millions from the movie industry.
Whilst, indeed, you can criticise the actions of corporations and not be attacking capitalism, you must acknowledge that that word (capitalism) is mostly used in a pejorative sense, as if it means nothing but corporatist looting, and if your solution to the latter is socialism, then most certainly it is valid to point out the benefits of capitalism which surround us (basically, everything we have that the North Koreans don’t; luxuries like food, clothing etc).
@ 4 Andrew,
I think you are ignoring the massive overlap between corporate power and government power, and the revolving doors between the Fed, the Treasury and the Wall Street ‘too-big-to-fails’.
This goes back a very long time, actually right to the beginning of the US. To put it in very simple terms, it’s the Jeffersonians versus the Hamiltonians (the Jeffersonians being, of course, the good guys).
TT – I agree, I fully expect that Mensch knew what she was letting herself in for. The disappointment here was that she raised a point that was ripe for the picking and she was shouted down unnecessarily.
Andrew – What these “anarchists” and anti-corporation/capitalist protesters always seem to fail to appreciate or acknowledge is that the evil corporations are simply the other arse cheek to the state. And it is the state that uses force, rather than the corporations. More often than not, these are the people calling for more regulation from a state that was up to its eyebrows in the whole sorry mess in the first place.
Trooper and Longrider,
My comment, evidently poorly worded, was intended to make those points.
The New Scientist certainly seems to think it’s an anti-capitalist protest, they say so on the front cover this week, “Exclusive The Network That Runs The World, Mathematics reveals the reality behind the anti-capitalist protests”. The actual article looks a bit more balanced than the headline, I haven’t read it yet just skimmed but one quote stood out. “Reality is so complex, we must move away from dogma, whether it’s conspiracy theories or free market….Our analysis is reality based.” So the idea of a free market is a dogma comparable with conspiracy theories it seems and what to make of a scientist who thinks that the well attested complexity of free markets and human economic behaviour isn’t reality based ? Obviously he’s never come across the Austrian School.
@ 8 Andrew,
fair enough!