Memories of John Major's dog days still linger. The cones hotline. Sleaze. Europe. Most of all, Back to Basics, the petard upon which so much hoisting occurred.
For few things are more maddening than sanctimonious politicians telling us how to live our lives. So it was with dismay that I read of Michael Gove's comments on lad's mags:
I do not read Nuts and Zoo. This is because they are both shit. Laddish humour need not be devoid of style and wit, which is why FHM occasionally accompanies me on long train journeys, and those two never do. Similarly, I'll sometimes browse through Loaded when the Spectator or Private Eye seem just a bit too tough at 6am. And to my knowledge, it's not yet turned me into a despicable misogynist, absent-father-of-the-future and all-round lowlife scumbag. No more than was already the case, at least.
Hedonism is fun. Naked women are fun. Stupid laddish humour, in the correct doses (ie, those determined by the individual, not the politician), is fun.
Mr Gove is not fun. Of course, he's not in politics to be fun. But he shouldn't be in politics to stop everyone else's fun either.
For few things are more maddening than sanctimonious politicians telling us how to live our lives. So it was with dismay that I read of Michael Gove's comments on lad's mags:
"I believe we need to ask tough questions about the instant-hit hedonism celebrated by the modern men's magazines targeted at younger males. Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available. We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing."Men In Enjoying Pictures Of Naked Women Shocker.
I do not read Nuts and Zoo. This is because they are both shit. Laddish humour need not be devoid of style and wit, which is why FHM occasionally accompanies me on long train journeys, and those two never do. Similarly, I'll sometimes browse through Loaded when the Spectator or Private Eye seem just a bit too tough at 6am. And to my knowledge, it's not yet turned me into a despicable misogynist, absent-father-of-the-future and all-round lowlife scumbag. No more than was already the case, at least.
Hedonism is fun. Naked women are fun. Stupid laddish humour, in the correct doses (ie, those determined by the individual, not the politician), is fun.
Mr Gove is not fun. Of course, he's not in politics to be fun. But he shouldn't be in politics to stop everyone else's fun either.
1 comment:
It always astonishes me when public figures bemoan the possibility that heterosexual people might have the nerve to express interest, through thought or deed, in attractive members of the opposite sex. Hey, let's all stop sexual thought and let the population die out!
Michael Gove hasn't been any good since A Stab In The Dark anyway, and even then he was only okay because he wasn't Tracey MacLeod.
I must confess that I don't read any lads mags any more, but that's because I'm no longer a lad. The pictures of Jacqui Smith from the Commons balcony in Private Eye though ... phwooar ...
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