A SENSE OF HUMOUR LOST AND REGAINED ?

The actor and theatre critic Michael Billington laments the apparent demise of classic stage comedy in yesterday's Guardian newspaper. Notwithstanding endless repeats of the likes of "Dad's Army" on television - about which I'm not complaining incidentally - I do wonder whether this is part of a wider sense of humour failure amongst the English people. Political correctness no doubt has played a role. However, there is, I think, a bigger problem. There seems to be a tendency, at least in some of the circles I frequent - particularly bureaucratic, and including "cultural administration" - for people to take comments seriously when these are made partly in jest, and, indeed, to take themselves very seriously indeed.

One of the most effective area regeneration practitioners I have come across in my career - a former director for development at the Government Office for London - was ever alert to a sense of humor failure and, I seem to remember, chastised me on at least once occasion for such shortcomings. I hope that, in recent years, some of these earlier failings have been outgrown, and I have continued to develop my sense of humour, even if this is not always readily appreciated by others, including some "arty" types who, as Janet Street Porter might have said, can be so "f...ing boring !" anyway.

However, ins spite of these cultural and wider social trends, I would suggest that British politics and politicians have provided more genuine comedy in recent years, and hence the great success of satirical shows like Bremner, Bird and Fortune, the stand-up comedy scene. These have, in turn sharpened the comic instincts and observation of many people "out there". Thus I find there is often still plenty of fun to be derived from daily life in general, even if this is lacking in certain cultural quarters. Moreover, the advent of a mass media by the people (as distinct from for) on the Internet has opened up opportunities for user-generated content as never before, so we no longer need, thankfully, to rely upon the cultural establishment for this.

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