The Ministry of Comic Relief

In the Monty Python sketch the Piranha Brothers, One of their victims is being interviewed and defends Dinsey as not really wanting to nail his head to the floor, but he had to do it. His last comment is,

“You gotta remember about ol' dinsey, 'e was cruel, but,'e was fair”

A number of years later, on British TV they were interviewing the recruiter of a mercenary force commanded by a certain ex Brit officer named Colonel Callan, notorious for shooting some of his own men in an encourager les autres situation. The ensuing uproar made it necessary for someone to go on the telly and defend the indefensible. The last comment of the recruiter was made with the exact intonation of Dinsey Piranha's defender,

“You gotta understand, Colonel Callan is a maniac. But, 'e's a brilliant officer.”

One could suspect after that, that Monty Python was not parody.

Now let me go out on a limb and suggest the possibility that Mr. Michael Palin, one of the Monty Python crew, has some sinecure in 'er Majesty's government as he is completely in tune with its outlook. Below from Antiwar.com/blog,

Blair’s Britain Beyond Parody

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 in News by Matt Barganier|

A few days ago, Terry Jones of Monty Python fame penned a funny and insightful piece about the UK-Iran “crisis.” It began as follows:

I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills.

The same day Jones’ piece appeared in the Guardian, the following appeared in the UK’s Telegraph:

“It was deplorable,” pronounced our tight-lipped Health Secretary, “that the woman hostage should be shown smoking. This sends completely the wrong message to our young people.”

Well, the hostages are home from their suck up fest in Iran and have changed their tune. What a hell it must have been. It appears they were put in time outs. Picture Steve McQueen in the cooler for.......hours. They have changed their syncophantic tune and are now screaming about the hell they endured and hoping to cadge a few bob out of Fleet Street for their trouble. Hey they are only following
Fewtril#179, one of the maxims of Deogolwulf , the modern La Rochefoucauld,

Rather than simply shirk one’s duty, it appears much more decent to make a principle out of one’s disinclination to perform it.

It may not be the homage of vice to virtue but as Deputy Minister Palin might say, “Close enough for Government work.”

Being from the People's Republic of Massachusetts, I have to put up with a lot of comments about Teddy and Barney and the constant pressure to be politically correct. It is a comfort to know there is a goofier realm and there will always be an England.

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this very large open air insane asylum