Well, I hadn’t planned to write an editorial about how important satire is in 2025, but then I watched the latest episode (warning – flickering images) of “The Daily Show” from the US. Oh my God, it felt like sanity! It felt like I’d jumped into a time-machine and found myself back in 2017 again, a time when the US was still unfortunately ruled by… that man… but it still mostly seemed like – from afar at least – a free country. A country where people could laugh and joke, when everything in the US seemed like more of a joke than a dystopian movie.
(For readers in the future – first of all, thank goodness there is still a future – this “Daily Show” episode was released shortly after the Trump administration got Jimmy Kimmel fired from his TV show and threatened other TV stations with censorship if they said too many bad things about the current US Government).
And, after the sheer level of misery and fear that I’ve felt this year – not just US politics, but also British politics as well – whether it was everything following the discriminatory Supreme Court ruling in April, or the “This looks like the subtle foreshadowing in the flashback scenes from a dystopian TV show” England flags that have started showing up on lamp-posts everywhere or, more recently, the fact that a large number of 1950s enthusiasts decided to pay tribute to the classic 1958 sci-fi horror movie “The Blob” by filling the streets of London with – what looks like, from the aerial footage halfway through this article – a giant pink bio-mass from outer space. Clearly no echoes of the 1930s there, of Oswald Mosel…. No, just vintage sci-fi fans wanting to get together and cosplay en masse as a bizarre space-creature. Nothing frightening or ominous there! – After all of that, this “Daily Show” episode felt like sanity!
It felt like something from a more free time, one where everyone could laugh and joke about politics without a hint of fear. And it is a masterpiece of satire as well – with the episode being an “administration-compliant” version of the show, with a gold-plated set and a very nervous-looking Jon Stewart being cartoonishly obsequious towards Trump. Where the show’s title sequence has been replaced by marching music and pictures of the American flag, saluting soldiers etc… Where the panel of other presenters all speak in perfect, controlled unison. Watching this hilarious episode felt like FREEDOM.
Again, it felt like I’d jumped into a time-machine and gone back to 2017, when – despite its government – the US still appeared to be a free country. The one proper democracy in a world where the other two super-powers are both dictatorships. Of course, in 2025, it feels like all three super-powers… aren’t exactly free countries… and I would say “Thank goodness I’m in Britain” but the press here loves to keep reminding everyone of the supposed popularity of the Reform Party. Giving this tiny ultra-conservative party, with fewer than ten MPs, the level of coverage usually reserved for the actual opposition party. And our allegedly “left-wing” Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, seems to be more interested in appeasing the political right – with transphobia, with lavish dinners for Trump etc… – than in actually having any sort of principles or integrity.
“Oh, but he needs to win over conservative voters!” No, he doesn’t! Not only are there three or four years until the next election in 2029, but there are also no less than TWO other parties – the Tories (anyone remember them?) and the Reform Party – which will provide these voters with much more xenophobia, transphobia, authoritarianism, cruelty and 1950s nostalgia than even the most mean-spirited version of the Labour party could ever provide. For goodness sake! You’re supposed to be leading a left-wing party, Kier!
Sorry, I got a bit side-tracked there…
Anyway, satire matters more than ever in 2025, not because it can “change the world” but because it gives everyone a safe outlet and a glimpse of better times. When people could laugh at and ridicule those in power without even a hint of fear. When those in power were kept in check by everyone being cheeky or irreverent about them. Because satire is a virtal part of any democracy. It prevents people from fearing their governments too much and, for politicians, it also helps to keep things stable by giving everyone a safe outlet for anger, dissent and criticism.
Seriously, there’s a reason why democracies like Britain and America have lasted for several centuries… whilst dictatorships never make it past the one-century mark. And part of that is because everyone has the freedom to laugh and joke and criticise politicians without fearing a knock on the door or a letter in the post or whatever. Yes, everyone gets angry at politicians but – in free countries – people let that anger out safely with crude jokes, witty satire, irreverent humour, insulting cartoons and/or cynical remarks. It keeps democracy safe! And it keeps everyone feeling a bit more balanced emotionally as well. Satire matters.
Whew! Rant over! I never thought that I’d miss the 2010s, but here I am…..
