I’ll be Bing Crosby to your David Bowie
If you’re wondering how the Manuelgate controversy will end (and I suspect you’re as uninterested as me, except to wonder why such a desperately poor “comedian” as Russell Brand is in employment at all), a clue could be heard on this morning’s 7am BBC Radio 2 news bulletin.
The answerphone messages were described by a BBC newsreader as being “obscene”.
Broadcasts that are “obscene” are illegal.
Ergo, broadcasters making “obscene” broadcasters cannot be permitted to ply their trade on the BBC.
But I’ll lay odds that it’ll be Brand who pays with his job rather than Ross. First, Brand does not present two primetime BBC One shows, isn’t one of the major forces behind Comic Relief, doesn’t win Gold Sony awards, and isn’t the planned successor to Sir Terence for things like Children In Need. Second, Brand’s contract will be a lot cheaper to buy off.
Strange how a “23-year-old glamour model” (a member of a dance troupe called the Satanic Sluts, no less) and Max Clifford are central to the way things have played out, isn’t it…?
A final thought: politicians seeking to use this pathetic non-story for cheap column inches that are not connected to economic meltdowns and/or the ineptitude of their best mates are beneath contempt.
The current roll call of shame (from the ‘quality’ press only, as I can’t bring myself to look at the redtops):
Arrivederci Gordon (New Scum)
Posh Boy Dave (Scum)
Nadine Dorries (Scum)
David Hanson (New Scum)
John Whittingdale (Scum)
Andy Burnham (albeit half-heartedly) (New Scum)
Dennis Skinner (tangentially) (Old New Scum)
Philip Davies (Scum)
David Davies (Scum)
Paul Farrelly (New Scum)
Andrew Mackinlay (New Scum)
Nigel Evans (Scum)