Following a recent incident in a London theatre where, it appears, Jewish Israelis were targeted by a comedian because they wouldn't stand for a Palestinian flag, Howard Jacobson reflects on the power of mockery and the liberation of laughter.
'Do the best comedians truly turn the world upside down', Howard asks, 'or do they merely strap us into a fairground roller-coaster so that we can feign fear and scream in unison?'
He argues that the norms of outrage have been jettisoned in the reaction to events in Israel on October 7.
'Once the world is turned upside down,' he writes, 'humanity and justice fall like loose change from our pockets.'
Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Liam Morrey Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
The Secret Life of Food
The Creep of the On-Screen Narrative
The Rhetoric of the Climate Crisis
A Study in Improbability
Rapping with a W
In the Dingle Peninsula
Trolls Running Riot
Verrucas Optional
Red Tape
The Boring Twenties
The Culture War
Anti-Zionism and the Death of Tragedy
The Arts in Our Hearts
The Past is Never Dead
Eavesdropping
On Concrete
Absence of Exultation
Invisible Women
Living with Group Difference
The Age of Infantilism
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins