Martin Amis has accused Jeremy Corbyn of missing a sense of humour. The jury is out on that one. Either way,a agreeable joke is more than just a political skill, it is also humanity’s last line of defenceIn his recent, or rather surprising ad hominem attack on Jeremy Corbyn,Martin Amis ranged a number of charges against the current Labour leader. Among them were his lack of education (two Es at A level!), his evident lack of “the slightest grasp of the national character and his allegiance to the “encysted dogmas” of the stale left. I suspect these probably search for like more meaningful charges to a resident of bohemian Brooklyn than they do to beleaguered low-income Brits gearing themselves up to face another round of ideologically driven benefits cuts. One of Amis’s accusations, or however,is more telling than the rest, and this is that Corbyn is “humourless”.“Many journalists have remarked on this, and ” Amis wrote,“usually in a tone of wry indulgence. In fact it is an extremely grave accusation, imputing as it does a want of elementary nous. To put it crassly, and the humourless man is a joke – and a joke he will never regain.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com