It has become a commonplace to claim that satire is no longer able to keep pace with reality. “It was at that moment that satire died,” said musical satirist Tom Lehrer when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In fact, the real enemies of satire are the “spokespersons” who stand ready to take offence the moment a novelist or playwright or comedian says something politically incorrect. Thus, Jeremy Clarkson can’t call the Prime Minister a “one-eyed Scottish idiot” without incurring the wrath of the Royal National Institute of the Blind and Boris Johnson can’t accuse Scousers of being “mawkishly sentimental” without bringing the fury of an entire city down on his head. (To read more, click here.)
