This is, of course, treacherous ground that Elton is treading but I think he strikes just the right notes and the book genuinely asks some fairly sobering questions about the direction our online, social media-driven society is taking. It may upset some, I'd be surprised if it didn't, but I'm more than happy to say I very much enjoyed it from start to finish! If you say something controversial on social media, YOU DIE! At least that’s what literally happens to the beleaguered characters in Ben Elton’s latest novel, Identity Crisis. A mathematician spinning the numbers to influence public opinion, a world-weary police officer struggling to keep up with inclusivity as well as other small cogs in this magnified melting pot of rage look so like our own world that it's hard to believe this is simply fiction. Enjoyable commentary on contemporary society and its over the top political correctness, and the ‘me’ generation with their social media obsession. Julian and his team of copy-writers had noted that the phrase ‘Lest we forget’ had so far been reserved for fallen soldiers. In minutes they had created a viral post accusing ‘crazed trans multi-cultural zealots’ of claiming that a dead transsexual was as much an English hero as the fighter pilots who had died during the Battle of Britain. Malika’s algorithms then swiftly sent the message to the people most likely to be annoyed by it.”

Ben Elton: ‘How am I going to say something when you can’t Ben Elton: ‘How am I going to say something when you can’t

This satire of identity politics and media manipulation must be effective because readers on both the left and right think it’s unfair to them. It’s definitely over the top, but not as much as we would all hope these days. Ah, yes. Conversation has come around – as come around it must – to the "sellout" accusation. The idea that Elton – by writing musicals with Tory supporter Andrew Lloyd Webber, by MC-ing the Queen's golden jubilee concert, by allowing his song to score the inauguration of George W Bush – has betrayed the principles for which he once stood. "Which is quite simply," he says – blue touch-paper lit – "the most utterly unreasonable and wounding and extremely unhelpful narrative that has ever bedevilled a minor, middle-ground celebrity." When I started as a comedian, standup was very, very rough. That was proper scary. If I hadn't had my cornflakes by 8am on the day I was compering at the Comedy Store, there was no way I was going to eat Ben Elton was born on 3 May 1959, in Catford, South London. The youngest of four, he went to Godalming Grammar school, joined amateur dramatic societies and wrote his first play at 15. He wanted to be a stagehand at the local theatre, but instead did A-Level Theatre Studies and studied drama at Manchester University in 1977. I’d hoped this book was going to be a wry, amusing look at the current state of Western society - specifically: vapid celebrity worship, outrage culture and social media witch-hunts, empty and divisive identity politics, and out-of-control political correctness - but unfortunately it’s not. Elton touches on all of those subjects but not in any way I’d say was fun, unique or insightful.This is brash, sharp writing. Swear words abound, so look away if you're easily offended. The short snappy chapters keep the story flowing well, and the chapters are titled - love it! More books should have them.

Identity Crisis - Penguin Books UK

You get the picture. This sets the tone for the book. It only gets crazier and more ridiculous from here. But the scary thing is, what Ben Elton describes is so eerily true of the "modern world". Society seems to be divided into very specific boxes based on beliefs/politics/gender/sexuality, and Ben has a great time flogging each of these sacred cows. You don’t have to be a Brit to find this a good read, but it helps because there are some side characters (with satirical names) who are stand-ins for political figures well-known in the UK. The wider world in which the microcosm is occurring is just as crazy - not only have we had the Brexit referendum, but now a similar vote is forthcoming to decide on Britain's future as the United Kingdom, or if it will break up. Both campaigns eagerly fall on every social media trend and news item, spinning it to their cause, to outrageous effect.

And then he wasn't. Nowadays you can't talk about Elton without references to selling out, and to Stewart Lee's notorious routine comparing him with Osama bin Laden, who "at least lived his life according to a consistent set of ethical principles". More on that later: Elton has plenty to say on the subject. But then, he's got plenty to say on every subject. At 60 and a self-described "dad man", the artist formerly known as Motormouth (the title of his 1987 album) is as voluble as ever in the run-up to his first standup tour in 15 years. outrage and counter-outrage. Everyone was looking for martyrs. Everyone was looking for scapegoats. No one seemed to be in any mood to compromise." I never know when people don't like me, and I never expect them not to. So I've always been surprised when I irritate people This is razor-sharp, relevant and completely on point. From police officers who can't say the right thing when a victim (or is it survivor who died?) is murdered in a park to the hammy old 'lech' of an actor maneuvering to stay relevant (and solvent) as his one man show is vilified... it all hits the mark.

Ben Elton - Wikipedia Ben Elton - Wikipedia

Ben Elton sure has his finger on the pulse You'll laugh, you'll groan, you'll roll your eyes at the people and situations described here. I think we've all either been or know at least one of the types described here. I’ve never given such a low rating to a Ben Elton book but I would’ve given up on it if it wasn’t written by him. I was hoping it was going somewhere, but unfortunately not really. Britain’s most talked-about and much-loved TV show was now linked irrevocably with the enablement of sexual abuse. Whether people agreed with that view or not was irrelevant.” Other satires I've read, by frothing-at-the-mouth reactionaries who are living in a terrifying fantasy world they have built in their heads, have been compelling nightmares where we tear through the wall and peer into the writhing psyche of the racist and/or transphobe. This guy isn't like that. He has some feelings. He has some comedy writing credits. Unfortunately his perspective is just very ordinary and undeveloped and he doesn't really have any jokes. Full disclosure that I read this book because I'm researching reactionary contemporary satire. This book wasn't quite as reactionary as you might anticipate from the book cover, however. It's less Old Man Yells At Cloud and more 'well, isn't this all a bit befuddling?' The focus is very muddled, and the narrative completely loses steam halfway through.

More than that – and greatly to my surprise – he denies any iconoclastic dimension to alternative comedy. "There was no revolutionary intent," he says, of the movement that radicalised a generation, called out racist and sexist humour, and commissioned a nose-pierced punk (Ade Edmondson's Vyvyan) to tear the title sequence of twee sitcom The Good Life to shreds. "No one ever tried to break any boundaries or bust the rules. No one ever said, 'Let's change comedy.' And, if anyone had, they would have been very arrogant and doomed to failure. Everybody was just trying to do their best work."