Satire occasionally arrives fully assembled. On page 45 of the latest Looker, David Wimble mocks Britain’s instant experts:
“Apparently all you need to become Britain’s leading authority on absolutely anything is a pint in one hand, a mobile phone in the other and just enough confidence to tell everyone else they’re wrong.”
Then there is the photograph.
Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA.
The coincidence becomes richer because Wimble is not merely a passing commentator. He is The Looker’s publisher, a Reform UK district councillor and a Kent County Council cabinet member. In other words, this was an observation delivered with considerable authority about people delivering observations with considerable authority.
And there is another punchline.
During an interview with former MP Lembit Öpik on Unprecedented TV (16m 30s), Wimble recalled meeting Farage following his KCC election result. According to Wimble, he asked: “What’s the plan now?” Farage’s alleged response was admirably direct:
“We make it up as we go along.”
It may have been a joke, an off-the-cuff remark or simply Wimble’s recollection of a private exchange. But placed beside the pint, the phone and the warning about overconfident experts, it acquires a certain accidental magnificence.
Glorious accidental comedy.
Readers may conclude that British politics has finally achieved perfect efficiency: one Reform politician writes the joke, another supplies the illustration, and then, according to his colleague, casually provides the punchline.
The pint, meanwhile, continues to perform the fact-checking.
The Shepway Vox Team
Deliriously Delightful Dissent
