Funny you should say that

I think it was Richard Littlejohn writing for the Daily Mail who said he wished Britain had a politician who, like Donald Trump, would make us laugh again. Cue lefty outrage. How dare Littlejohn say anything about Trump that’s not insulting. Typical of the Daily Mail to publish it. Trump is a misogynist / convicted felon / dictator / fascist. Anyone who doesn’t hate Trump is a **&£^%$! Don’t even joke about him.

Which kinda proves Littlejohn’s point.

I haven’t done a scientific study, but I do have the distinct impression that lefties are more likely to be without a sense of humour or, if they do have one, they lose it very quickly when their precious doctrines are challenged successfully, i.e. most of the time. Hello, Lefties, I’m joking! Or am I?

Actually, I do know some lefties who have a sense of humour; well maybe three … ok two. But it’s off-and-on, touch-and-go, depending on the moon and the tide. In general, though, how many lefties tolerate jibes against their Dear Leader, or should I call him Two-Tier Keir, also known as Granny-Embalmer Farmer-Harmer Starmer-Stalin. And don’t you dare take the mickey out of the woke – you know, the kind, tolerant lot who are the most unkind and most intolerant when you dare challenge their fact-devoid, commonsense-missing, humour-killing philosophy of 89 genders, or claims (by black Labour MP Dawn Butler) that Kemi Badenoch is a white supremacist. I threw that in because it’s a hilarious thing to say. Ironic then, that Butler’s no comedian. What is she? Answers on an inverted pentagram. 

At least the left’s dislike of humour outside their narrow and Stalinesque/Kafkaesque-controlled criteria is consistent with their opposition to the principle of free speech, any speech, not just humorous speech.

Anyone without a sense of humour makes me suspicious. I don’t trust them. Why are they so miserable? What do they know that the rest of us don’t? Anyone with a sense of humour I’ll go down the pub with any day, whatever their politics, which rules out most (if not all) Labour, Lib Dem, and Green MPs. (I would have added SNP, but Alex Salmond RIP I found to be quite jovial.) But please don’t try and claim that Ed Davey is funny because of his idiotic stunts during the election campaign. That wasn’t humour; that was desperate, cynical, stupidity: trying to out-Boris Boris and failing miserably.

Talking of Boris. I forgive him a lot of things because he makes me cackle. And, it has to be said, Trump does as well. Turning up in high-vis in a garbage truck the day after Brain-dead Biden calls Trump supporters garbage was rib-tickling. So was Trump serving burgers at a McDonalds to highlight the fact that no one could substantiate Hopeless Harris’s claim that she understands ‘working people’ (keep reading) better than Trump because she used to work at Big M. I don’t care if he didn’t come up with the ideas himself. He was the guy who pulled them off. He might be a convicted felon etc. etc., but he has a sense of humour. Harris doesn’t. Biden doesn’t. Obama doesn’t. And they wonder why voters don’t warm to them. Don’t call Trump supporters garbage. It’s because they recognise the Democrats as garbage that they’re flocking to the one guy with the sense of humour, even if he himself is also garbage.

And what is it with politicians’ obsession with prioritising ‘working people’ as if no one else matters? What are working people anyway? Is that a more difficult question than ‘what is a woman’? Are corporate executives, who work very very hard, not working people? They certainly work harder than ‘public servants’ who ‘work’ from home four days a week for five days’ pay. What about farmers who work eight days a week for one day’s pay? Strikers strike; they don’t work; in fact they strike for the right to work even less for more pay. DEI pushers – I suppose they work hard to invent the next identity category: ‘alligator’ anyone? Princess Anne works very hard – let’s give her a tax break. Footballers get paid squillions a week, but how much do they actually earn? Taylor Swift … does what exactly? She certainly doesn’t write good songs. What about people who stay at home to look after sick relatives? And let’s hear it for PhD students! In other words, saying you’re protecting working people without saying what working people are means you can shaft working people and claim that you’re not. Only a socialist could come up with that one. And Thieves Reeves is so dour! Proving my – and Littlejohn’s – point once again.

Another chap with a sense of humour is Farage. His response in the House of Commons to the worst budget ever illustrates that. Yes, Wrecker Reeves is even worse than Trussonomics. The problem with Truss was the markets were already spooked by the Bank of England’s failings on so many levels, but things settled down again reasonably quickly; whereas, Reeves is trickling icy water on a lukewarm economy, and the damage will be slower to materialise and more difficult to reverse. Anyhoo, back to Nige and his speech in the House. Firstly, he made a little dig at Diane Abbott’s innumeracy that I initially missed. The benches opposite, however, had a collective sense-of-humour failure and nappy-soiling episode, huffed and puffed and intervened, and ended up drawing attention to the dig that I then replayed and found quite funny. It wasn’t as funny as: “We only invited Diane Abbott to make up the numbers”, but it provided some welcome light-hearted relief. Farage then made a crack about the whole one penny off a pint of beer that would save him personally £1 a week – i.e. he drinks 100 pints a week. He doesn’t, of course, but he was illustrating the pathetic gesture from our first female Chancellor of the Exchequer. Jeez it makes me embarrassed to be female.

Quick aside re Farage (if I’ve told you this before, I apologise). I was in a seminar a few months ago, and someone labelled Farage as far right. I asked how they were defining far right, and they had no idea. Isn’t that funny? I’d love to go down the pub with Our Nige, because he’d give a straight answer to a straight question and he wouldn’t hold a grudge if (when) I disagreed with him. It would be even more fun if his Reform UK colleague Lee Anderson joined us. I reckon we’d end up exchanging metaphorical blows, because I adore Maggie and he’s an ex-miner. Say no more. But he’s another naturally funny guy so who cares. TBH, the Reform UK guy who I’m most impressed with is Rupert Lowe. A businessman and a farmer, he has the measure of Reeves, but he doesn’t make me laugh so he can’t come down the pub with us.

I think, of all the candidates to lead the Tories, I had fewer concerns about white-supremacist (see earlier) Kemi, partly because she spoke out, more than any other senior Tory, against woke culture. It was also because she’s funnier than the others. Now her humour doesn’t always work. Sometimes she tries too hard, like when she had a go at Rayner. The first bit was spot on – pointing out that Rayner had got where she was because of Tory policies on education and housing and a climate of rewarding hard work, basically calling her a hypocrite ever so nicely. But then Kemi got a bit condescending and didn’t do herself any favours. However, I think she’ll grow into her role, and her humour will calm down and be subtle rather than overt; maybe I’ll smile rather than giggle. Good enough.

Talking about Kemi and woke culture, did you see what JK Rowling tweeted when Kemi’s victory was announced? “My thoughts and prayers are with David Tennant at this very difficult time.” Two-bit-actor Tennant recently said he wanted Kemi to ‘go away’. Had he been a working-class Northerner saying that about a Muslim, he’d have been thrown in the slammer for two-to-three years. But as he’s a luvvie, and Kemi’s a Tory, he was allowed to get away with it. As it happens, JKR is left-of-centre, but her brave and tenacious fight in support of women’s rights transcends any other opinions she might have, and her sense of humour shines through. She is the master of the put-down. I could write a whole blog about her one-liners, but that might get me a two-to-three-year term.

So why does it matter if a politician or political commentator – professional or armchair – has or has not a sense of humour? It probably doesn’t for some people, and I respect that. But for me, wit is a sure sign of intelligence, but also humanity, empathy (see previous blog), and amiability. Me? I have a sense of humour but readily admit it’s not to everyone’s taste, yet it keeps me sane (to a certain degree) so please be grateful, because the alternative scenario wouldn’t be pretty.