‘I could have been a politician, but I chose to be someone who was mining my own questions about society, so I could make sense of myself.’ These are the words of this week’s cover star, theatre sensation Jeremy O. Harris.
I think Jeremy would make an amazing politician precisely because of his soul-searching. Call me old fashioned, but shouldn’t politics be all about truth-seeking? Less grandstanding and chest-beating, more introspection please. The general malaise around our general election, it seems, has a lot to do with the style of politics we’re forced to endure these days.
What is it about MPs and their pathological inability to answer a direct question? I want my leaders to be great freewheeling orators; agile in thought, dazzling with their words. Where is our Cicero or Dr King? I don’t need big, important ideas like housing, healthcare and the economy dumbed down into meme-friendly bites. I want grown-up, robust discourse. Not the playground squabbling and petty point-scoring we witnessed on that Rishi/ Keir TV debate. Gore Vidal vs William Buckley it was not (google it). And, sorry to be shallow, but is it too much to ask for a politician with some dress sense? Where do they get these estate agent suits?
Sometimes the only rational response is to hurl a banana milkshake. Actually, that gives me an idea: for election night results, rather than Peter Snow and his swingometer, maybe we need Noel Edmonds and his gunge tank back. I can see it now: Noel’s House Party live from No 10. Farage dressed as Mr Blobby... Only two more weeks to go, folks.
