Just a bit earlier I heard a BBC Radio4 comedy programme where they go through political and topical figures and play it for laughs. I’ve heard a few of these but not enough to claim certainty (P>0.05, lol) - but it does seem remarkable that the point of the joke, ie the assumption needed for it to be funny, always seems to be against the establishment opponent.
The Corbyn joke had him saying he wanted to oppose civil wars in Yeman, everywhere…except the one he had started in the Labour party.
The Starmer joke was that he didn’t get riled enough, except when his hair was disturbed.
So a little bit of political value re Corbyn, but meaningless fluff for Starmer.
The Corbyn ‘point’ is laid bare by Starmer’s pursuit of wrongthinking jews in the Labour party - ie the expulsion of jews who oppose the witch hunt against Corbyn and outspoken lefties, and of those who oppose Israel’s crimes against Palestinians - in the name of antisemitism
(H/t to the Hulk for link: Jewish members say Starmer’s pursuit of them ‘makes a mockery’ of claim to be making Labour safe for Jews, https://skwawkbox.org/2020/12/18/jewish-members-say-starmers-pursuit-of-them-makes-a-mockery-of-claim-to-be-making-labour-safe-for-jews/).
Humour is humour, but the BBC writer aimed for political value by reversing the reality.
Last week had a spoof Bill Gates phoning in about ridiculous conspiratorial vaccine plans - ho ho ho, the moral of the story being to reinforce the oft-repeated message that vaccine-hesitant will believe anything.
They do take the p*ss out of Boris (otherwise that p-value would go below 0.05 for sure), but as noted in the Chomsky Reader, criticizing government figures is within the spectrum of thinkable thought. Suggesting the antisemitism wave in New New Labour is fake, even by highlighting obvious contradictions, is outside the bounds, ie unthinkable.
Just as it’s unthinkable that someone hesitant over vaccines might have sensible reasons and questions, and (heavens!) might not even be an anti-vaxxer. I’ve not heard a BBC voice acknowledge any reasonableness in vaccine hesitant views, and there have been a few programmes designed to essentially smear them.
Pretending Corbyn deliberately started a civil war in Labour (by replying to fake criticism of his leadership) is the funniest thing I’ve heard; what remained of despairing Labour support on the left were publicly willing him to challenge the fakes on the right when he was in power, and cause that civil war, when it had a chance of achieving power - but he shied away from that.
This was the intellectual flagship Radio 4 but the BBC’s political savvy on controversies that are key to the establishment is at the level of Ceebeebies - and seemingly by policy 