The Beeb’s Oxbridge Tories: our verdict
By Isaac Delestre
Joe Cooke and his screen saver
And so it has passed. BBC 2s ‘Young Bright and on the Right’, quite possibly the most significant cultural event of the decade, is finally over. Indeed, reports have been coming in from across the nation of viewers abandoning BBC 1s simultaneous coverage of Usain Bolt’s historic 200m Olympic victory, and migrating in droves to follow the trials and tribulations of Oxford’s own Joe Cooke.
Ok, so that last bit isn’t strictly true. But to be fair to Joe he did come out of the documentary looking rather good. Or at least, by placing him next to someone who could only be truthfully called an abhorrent little shit, the BBCs filmmakers succeeded in placing Joe firmly in the lesser of two evils category.
In fact, let’s just take a few moments to think about why Cooke’s co-star Chris Monk deserves the not lightly bestowed title of ‘abhorrent little shit’. While the vast catalogue of his dubious moral character traits and offensive faux pas are available on iPlayer for all to peruse, I think it’s worth taking a quick glance at a couple of the highlights.
Firstly let’s consider one of his earliest idiotic comments: “It’s easier to come out in Cambridge as being gay than as being a Tory”. Yes Chris, because sexuality and political affiliation are definitely directly comparable. And for those of you who were tripped up by my web of clever sarcasm there, what I’m trying to say to Chris is: ‘being gay is not an ideology, you complete and utter fucking moron’.
Look carefully to the right of Chris’ head for the subliminal messaging
I was also a fan of Chris’ take on the ‘dashing through the Reich’ fiasco. “No proper right thinking Conservative starts singing racist songs, let alone poorly composed and frankly musically valueless racist songs”. God damn it Chis, you were so close to being a feeble approximation of a human being! But you just had to go and blow it didn’t you? You see Chris, it doesn’t matter if a racist chant is scored by Wagner, it’s still a racist chant.
To be fair to the BBC documentary team however, they did do their best to subliminally distance themselves from Chris. Indeed, while being interviewed in his bedroom it’s notable that the person filming has made quite sure to include the numerous biographies of Hitler on Chirs’ bookshelf in practically every shot.
So there we go, I’m done. Joe may have been absurd and affected, but he was at least likeable and relatively inoffensive. I think what I’m saying is that in a world where elections are with worrying frequency a search for the lesser evil, I know who I’d be voting for.
Michael
10/08/2012 at 12:59
You’ve not mentioned the doc’s breakout star!? The gritty and determined student journalist tirelessly struggling on behalf of morality to selflessly pick the strips of meaty truth from the carcass that is OCA…
aminriadh
11/08/2012 at 04:15
” BBC 1s simultaneous “, “the BBCs”, “in the lesser of two evils category.”, ” lets”, “on Chirs’”.
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Dearie . . . calling someone “absurd and affected” without any supporting evidence is more indicative of you. Daily Mail awaits you.
Boz
11/08/2012 at 08:30
Any wanker with a TV set can see what he means by absurd and affected.
As for that student journo, it’s a shame the News of the World closed down; he’d be right at home over there.
Graham
11/08/2012 at 17:08
I just read this and wondered if you’re not being a little unfair to the young Chris. He just struck me as extremely naive and immature, seeking an identity without recognising how unpleasant a perception it created for the audience. And now millions have seen that too. What chance he’ll live that down in a hurry? I think this was less a documentary about politics and more just about people who fail to conform. It is inconceivable to me that I could ever vote Tory, but clearly a lot of people must. The weird thing to me is that anyone under the age of 55 would want to identify with them – it was Chris in the show who partly highlighted why that might be. Tory philosophy would tend to appeal to older people with assets to protect.
Philip
12/08/2012 at 05:34
Chris struck me as having Aspergers.
matty
13/08/2012 at 21:54
He never said that being gay is an ideology, He was comparing the difficulty of both acts.
He never said that a racist chant wasn’t a racist chant, he was talking about how he thought Conservatives should conduct themselves.
This whole logic thing is not working out for you, is it? Is being an antagonistic prick required to be an edgy journalist?
Still, Chris sho’ didn’t belong (on TV).
methionine
14/08/2012 at 14:12
I’ve only watched the first 15 minutes so far (focussing mostly on Joe), before being forced to pause while my sanity was regained.
If he came across as the lesser of two evils… I REALLY don’t want to watch the rest.
Anonymous
14/08/2012 at 22:59
what perhaps you don’t realise is that Wagner is very likely to have scored a racist chant…
jackalors
14/08/2012 at 23:01
OxStu, do you actually edit your articles for publishing? I’m not particularly encouraged to entertain your writers’ heavy-handed views and arguments when there is an utter disregard for communication. Spelling and grammar can be useful if you’re a journalist, or a newspaper editor.
Former Editor
17/08/2012 at 14:05
Actually, what we do is shit on a giant piece of paper and then scrawl the words on this auspicious tableau with our fingers, in the shit. It’s'a bit like calligraphy, you see, but with shit.
Wait, what were you saying, again?
Dave Wilson
30/10/2012 at 09:11
chris went to my school, the show didnt do justice as to how big a bellend he is, he’s arrogant, and only got into cambridge because his father and grandfather went to the same college, he got a B in his a-levels!