Rex - Binface is, thankfully, one of many ‘eccentric’ candidates in English by-election history. The capacity for ironic mockery of the system is almost built in with the openess of ‘democratic process’. I wonder how healthy it really is? Perhaps it stems from a public school tone of satire about the ruling class that I guess was set up deliberately to keep the status quo by lampooning its idiosyncracies. The decision taken by other established political parties not to stand against Farage gave Binface the opportunity to show a formal virtuosity about democracy linked loosely to a moral seriousness. Moments like this appear to swing from the gentle sideswipe to savage indignation of ‘what do you expect in such a system?’ to ‘it shouldn’t be allowed!’ If Binface wins, the response will be interesting …
Good question, and I think "healthy" is the right test to apply.
The public school connection is real: Peter Cook, Beyond the Fringe, and several of the Monty Python's Flying Circus lot. English political satire has always let people mock the ruling class's manners while leaving the ruling class itself untouched. Boris Johnson built an entire career on this: the bumbling toff act let him get away with things a serious politician couldn't, then he became prime minister anyway. Binface sits in that same tradition, just aimed at the whole system instead of one party.
I can't see him winning, but if he gets anywhere above 25% of the vote, I'd say British democracy is terminally ill.
Rex - Binface is, thankfully, one of many ‘eccentric’ candidates in English by-election history. The capacity for ironic mockery of the system is almost built in with the openess of ‘democratic process’. I wonder how healthy it really is? Perhaps it stems from a public school tone of satire about the ruling class that I guess was set up deliberately to keep the status quo by lampooning its idiosyncracies. The decision taken by other established political parties not to stand against Farage gave Binface the opportunity to show a formal virtuosity about democracy linked loosely to a moral seriousness. Moments like this appear to swing from the gentle sideswipe to savage indignation of ‘what do you expect in such a system?’ to ‘it shouldn’t be allowed!’ If Binface wins, the response will be interesting …
Good question, and I think "healthy" is the right test to apply.
The public school connection is real: Peter Cook, Beyond the Fringe, and several of the Monty Python's Flying Circus lot. English political satire has always let people mock the ruling class's manners while leaving the ruling class itself untouched. Boris Johnson built an entire career on this: the bumbling toff act let him get away with things a serious politician couldn't, then he became prime minister anyway. Binface sits in that same tradition, just aimed at the whole system instead of one party.
I can't see him winning, but if he gets anywhere above 25% of the vote, I'd say British democracy is terminally ill.