Anyone still somehow doubting the folly of UKIP and the stupidity of it’s members should have been watching the tv again last night. ‘The Great European Disaster Film’ was another excellent piece of television by the bbc. Authored documentary by Italian director Annalisa Piras and former editor of The Economist Bill Emmott, it is an eighty minute piece which explores the crisis facing Europe through framing documentary and interview footage with allegorical cut-aways to a fictional crashing plane. Structurally it struck me as a novel and inventive way of handling the subject, although the plane-crash metaphor may have been a touch on the severe side. It presented both arguments, outlining both the advantages and disadvantages of being in the European Union, explaining too why it was founded and why it is still necessary. Mind you, the segment involving the snobbish old biddy from UKIP had me once again shouting at the screen – her backwards and inwardslooking attitudes tell us all we need to know about this ‘party’.

However, more screen-shouting was yet to come. After the show, there was a debate between Emmott and various people supporting or attacking his film – mostly, it seemed, the latter. The last two of these were Mark Reckless and Daily Fail writer Peter Hitchens; and I must say the stupidity of the pair astounded me. Even if I disagree profoundly with what they were saying, it was very clear they did not understand the debate, or what the film was trying to get at. I was stunned by their lack of any sort of grasp of the relevant artistic or political vocabularies. For example, when people talk about art on any sort of level, it is not uncommon to allude to any kind of thing in order to clarify or contextualise their arguments; these allusions can go anywhere. Thus at one point Emmott referenced football culture. His point struck me as perfectly valid, but to my utter astonishment it went straight over the top of Reckless’ and Hitchens’ head, who then inanely said their opponent was being trivial. They assumed they were in a position to govern what was or was not relevant to the conversation, but instead made their stupidity even more evident. How can we possibly take such people seriously when they are so demonstrably moronic? It now baffles me that Hitchens can write his name, let alone a newspaper column. Yet they speak as if they regard themselves as learned authorities. I was stunned, and felt sorry for Emmott, who had to deal with these cretins and their quibbles.

Last night, then, was fun. A night of yet more yelling at the tv; but a night when the folly and stupidity of UKIP and those who support it was revealed for all to see yet again.

Programme website