Filthy/Gorgeous
Dominating the headlines on Channel 4 news last night was Charles Kennedy's frank and candid admission that he has been fighting a drink problem for the past 18 months. The Lib Dem leader handled the whole thing with a good deal of dignity and essentially said what needed to be said to put an end to all the incessant tongue-wagging. Jon Snow said it broke a British taboo and was a media first for a politician. The political story of the evening, in fact.
Until, that is, "Gorgeous" George Galloway stepped out of a limousine a few hours later to walk into the house in the first episode of this year's Celebrity Big Brother. It was car-crash television from the moment Michael Barrymore walked in, but George Galloway?! Three things strike me here:
1. To steal a phrase from a Harry's Place commentator, "whore, whore and thrice whore." Will Galloway stop at nothing to get on TV? The man seems pathologically incapable of keeping a low profile.
2. The Anywhere But Bethnal Green and Bow tour is taking on epic proportions of silliness. The speaking tour, Senate appearance and challenging various people to arrest him were all at least vaguely related to his political stance, but Big Brother? He himself said that his only reason for appearing on the show was "the chance to show a large and different audience what I'm really like". It's pure bloody egotism! I don't know why I'm surprised, but the sheer audacity of this caper is outrageous.
3. The chief of programming at Channel Four is a genius. Think about it. Who normally watches Big Brother? The same people who read Heat and Now! magazine. Who would normally rather stick pins in their eyes? Everyone else. In particular, those who prefer a political fight to a celebrity brawl. Harry's Place readers. And now, who's going to be watching Celeb BB? All of the above. You've really got to hand it to C4.
All that's left to do now is to sit back and enjoy the ride.... I'm personally predicting that Galloway will be one of the first to be evicted, if not the very first. Nobody in the house knows who he is, and in the context of Big Brother, he's got two strikes against him already: he's "old" and he's "serious". A death knell when you've got the likes of Jodie Marsh and Dennis Rodman to impress. Oh but I hope, I hope, I hope that the viewers keep him in for at least a week. I mean if this doesn't horrify his supporters, what will? Befriending a dictator? Been there, done that.
posted by Lady M @ 9:17 am
3 comments
3 Comments:
I can't understand why most commentators have to criticise George Galloway.
Okay, he's not my favourite cup of tea, but he is one of the few people in the country who are prepared to speak their minds one many vital issues, particularly on the war in Iraq.
I bet he represents his Bethnal Green and Bow constituency better than Blair lapdog Oona King ever could.
When you look at the massed ranks of supine Labour MPs, too demoralised to challenge Blair, and too stupid to have their own minds. We need more people like Galloway to tell it as it is.
How is going on BB worse than colluding in kidnap and torture - as Blair and Staw have done? You have a strange order of priorities.
I disagree, actually. I don't think that Galloway's appearance on Big Borther is "worse" than anything Blair or Straw have done (and if you read my post, you'll see that I never actually implied that anywhere). I think that Guantanamo Bay is a scourge on the current US and UK governments and a shocking and disgusting act of hypocrisy that will be looked back upon with shame and embarrassment in years to come.
That said, so will Georgie's red spandex leotard and complete loss of dignity in front of the entire country. So while the two things are obviously not directly comparable (and I wish Galloway supporters would stop trying to make out like they are), this BB appearance is still pretty damn tragic. And that, Anon, was the whole point of my post. So chill, and enjoy the show. Believe me, I would have been just as eager to mock had it been Tony himself.
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