Controversial comedy – Or political correctness gone mad? Ex-Veritas columnist in discrimination row

 

 

Photo: Will Andrews

 

 

In a case of preaching to the unconverted, Scottish comedian The Reverend Obadian Steppenwolfe III has been accused of “grossly crossing a line of decency and respect” by the Stirling University Students Association (SUSA), who are campaigning to have him banned from 16 student unions

The Reverend, real name Jim Muir, joked about the appearance of a transvestite student sitting in the front row of a recent student union gig in Stirling.

Mark Cullen, Vice President Services and Treasurer of SUSA, said: “There is nothing that the student movement takes more seriously than equality and he was essentially a bully. We all accept that comedy will often be cutting edge and controversial but there is a line of decency and respect that was grossly crossed.”

Tommy Shepard: A profile

 

Photo: Wikicommons

Many of the registered voters in Scotland are hoping the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections signal a sea change for Scottish politics. They envisage an empowered, confident Parliament ready to take Westminster to task. However, low voter registration and turnout at elections will make this empowerment difficult. Comparing Scotland’s 46% turnout at its last election to France’s recent 80% shows that something must be done to engage the public. The Stand Comedy Club’s co-founder and Managing Director Tommy Shepard may have the answer.

Shepard’s new project, YouScotland.com, is a collectively owned membership website supporting direct citizen action. A ‘coalition of the disappointed’, it has no secret backers or institutional donors, and is attempting to use the web to pull together like-minded people in an attempt to reclaim Scotland’s political agenda.

“One of the remarkable things about Scotland is the contrast between the hope, ambition and pride people have in their country, and their embarrassment at the people who run it. Scotland is poorly served in terms of politicians and politics, and it could be an awful lot better. The key to that is trying to energize individual people and saying to them rather than elect someone else to go away and do this on your behalf every four years, think about taking control over your own lives and engaging in direct political action to achieve the changes you want to achieve,” says Shepard.