Much as I hate to be topical, I'm going to write about the whole Ross/Brand debacle now. First of all, I'm not particularly ill-inclined with regard to either of them, so that I'm certainly not thinking, about their double fall from grace, "At last!" as I might do with some people. Having said that, I'm not especially a fan, either.
I don't even know what I'm going to say here, apart from the fact that at a time when home repossessions are on the increase because of the economic collapse brought on by the greed inherent in the American-style expansionist capitalism that this country has been pursuing for so long, it is obscene that anyone should be getting paid the kind of money that Jonathan Ross has been, let alone someone whose job is basically to be rude to other celebrities in a rogueish, cheeky kind of way.
What kind of money? Well, a twelve week suspension from his job is apparently to cost him £1.5 million.
I honestly think there is no need to pay anyone on Earth that much money for anything, and especially not a television presenter. I find it hard to grasp that someone whose job should be to hold the microphone (figuratively) to the mouths of those more famous than himself – a position that I have always thought to be exceedingly lowly – has somehow come to be a member of a kind of modern aristocracy. And yes, when so many of us are being told that we must eat cake, so to speak, I certainly have no objection to heads rolling, if only because they must be bowed first in order to come under the guillotine. I really wish, however, that he had been suspended – or sacked – just because someone had said, "Hang on a minute, this is obscene! No one should be earning this much. And this guy is always going on about how much he loves punk, et cetera. Sack him!"
And yes, it's hard to see how he can do his cheeky-to-the-point-of-damned-rudeness routine after this suspension.
Having said that, I don't have much else to say. I don't have a particularly strong view on the matter, although it is fascinating to me just what a big story this has become – what is essentially a couple of idiots leaving some silly messages on someone's answerphone. However, it has to be said that Brand is guilty of a terrible offense against taste in boasting about his sexual conquests so publicly. He has money and fame and, unfortunately, revoltingly even, can therefore probably sleep with just about anyone he likes. He doesn't also have to rub this fact in other's faces (which really is a revolting thought). I cannot think of anything more vulgar in the entire universe. But then, maybe this is a microcosm of the hubris and the fall to which it must lead that is inherent in our whole 'greed is good' society. (Incidentally, the aristocratic 'right' to sleep with whomever one wants, so that the lord of the manor had rights to a peasant bride before her husband, was a key feature in Dickens's depiction of the outrage and fury that led to the French Revolution, in A Tale of Two Cities. I have no idea to what extent this was a trigger to events in actual history, but would be interested to know.)
I sincerely hope that recent developments will encourage people to bury the greed-is-good philosophy forever, and kick to death in the streets any known to have brought about this crisis.
[Additional, as Captain Kirk used to say: Apparently there were only two actual complaints made when the show was aired. The rest of the – what is it now? – twenty thousand complaints, have been made since, presumably whipped up by the press. I kind of feel that, if you weren't listening to the original radio show, you don't have the right to submit a complaint to the BBC, unless you happen to be Andrew Sachs or his granddaughter. It's all in the good, British tradition of "I'm sure it was outrageous and unacceptable, whatever it was".]
