Ben Elton:
More bark than bite

I have just returned from His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen, a cold, smiling, but ultimately disappointed man. For many, Ben Elton's one-off appearance at the Aberdeen Alternative Festival was to be the highlight of the week, and to be fair this may well have been the case.

But funny as Elton was; and he was very funny; I felt let down. Ben Elton used to be more than just plain funny. He used to be surreal, scything, ironic, irate. Political.

I suppose, beneath the toilet humour and the-difference-between-men-and-woman material in which he revels, Elton still is political; but in a social conscience kind of way. I mean: this is the man who once performed a sketch about swing-top-bins which he swivelled to create a metaphor for the M25 and to attack the Government's road building policies.

It is that combination of surreal observation and direct political attack that I miss and crave. Elton is still masterful in exposing the absurdity of society, but it is hard to think of a truly political stand-up contemporary.

So we are left with a void, vacated by Elton some years ago. A niche that needs to filled. We all know how ridiculous and spun politics has become of late, but I believe it should be rammed down their throats. We need Ben Elton to bite the bullet and once more go for the jugular.