Saturday, July 28, 2007



America to the rescue!

Earlier in the month, Parliament changed its standing orders to protect MP's overinflated egos from public puncturing by resurrecting lese majeste and banning the use of images from the House for the purpose of "satire, ridicule or denigration". This hasn't gone unnoticed elsewhere in the world, and so we get our very own mention on The Daily Show:

Yes, we may not be able to shit on our own politicians, but John Stewart will be our anus. And a very good anus he is too - though I wish he'd pointed himself at Peter Dunne. It would have been interesting to see him explode...

All I can say is that I love having a free market in legal jurisdiction. I wish Parliament luck in trying to drag Americans into their Star Chamber for "contempt" (something MP's are fully deserving of over this move). Still, there is an interesting question: will they try and stop it from playing on local TV (C4 screens the Daily Show four nights a week)? And will they go after people who violate their ban by spreading it?

(Hat tip: DPF)

Update: Apparently it screened on C4 last night - the one night this week when I haven't been able to watch the Daily Show. Damn.