Jayne Dowle: Step in the right direction for political engagement

YOU can just imagine the Chancellor of the Exchequer sitting there surrounded by his red Budget boxes, glasses on the end of his nose, a Wagner opera on in the background preparing him for the battle on Wednesday.

A call comes through. It’s Harry Styles from boy band One Direction desperate to share his latest theory on interest rates. It’s not as barmy as it sounds. Harry and his bandmates have written to George Osborne ahead of the Budget to urge him to preserve foreign aid and take steps to reduce tax avoidance.

You would think they had enough to keep them busy already, what with washing their hair and raking in millions of pounds a year making young girls scream, but nevertheless Harry and his pals have signed up to Global Citizen, an international organisation which promotes political engagement and social activism.

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Haven’t we heard it all before though? Isn’t Sting as famous for saving the rainforests as he is for having a few hit singles? Can’t U2 frontman Bono start a political fight in an empty room? Wasn’t Bob Dylan marching and protesting before Harry Styles’ mother was even born? And has it ever really made a difference? Did the world stop turning on its political axis when Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe admitted that he had a “good chat” with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg? I don’t think it has, do you?

The problem is, as soon as these entertainers get a bit of fame, they start taking themselves far too seriously. 
They think that because they write a few songs they can preach to a nation. They believe their own publicity, in 
other words. And to be blunt, some of them develop something of a Messiah complex.

How long do you think you could be alone in a room with Sir Bob Geldof before you wanted to run screaming from it with your hands over your ears?

Another problem is that we live in a culture obsessed with celebrities. Certain aspects of the media pander to this. More often than not, the outcome proves nothing except that there is a divide between pop and politics for a reason.

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You can just imagine the editorial meetings: “How do we make quantative easing sound interesting?” – “I know, we’ll get Pitbull on to tell us how he affords all that gold jewellery.”

You think I’m joking? I wish I was. I mean, did we really need that Dizzee Rascal appearance on Newsnight? The details of the debate escape me now. All I can remember is Jeremy Paxman saying: “Dizzee Rascal, Mr Rascal, do you feel yourself to be British?” The nuances of how to address a hip-hop star correctly clearly hadn’t made it to the BBC style book.

Still, I’ll say this in One Direction’s favour. Global Citizen, whose celebrity supporters already include the illustrious ranks of Katy Perry, Bastille and er, McBusted (a “supergroup” comprised of former members of Busted and McFly), at least urges supporters to take direct action themselves.

Music fans can acquire points towards concert tickets by completing tasks such as sending a pre-written letter to George Osborne. Two extra points are up for grabs if they write their own. Some of 
you might be thinking that you’re prepared to write six letters to George Osborne if it means you never have to accompany your teenagers to a One Direction concert again, but that’s not the point.

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At least it’s encouraging young people to take an active role in political issues. It requires them to think and actually do something rather than sitting in front of the telly firing off a quick text to Comic Relief. And it represents a total sign of the times. Unaligned with any party and focused very much on individuals coming together collectively, it tells us something about changing attitudes to the political process.

Let’s see it for what it is, though, and accept that pop culture, by its very nature, is ephemeral. I know protesting is all very worthwhile, but I’m afraid I’m tempted to side with Noel Gallagher. At the height of Britpop fever he took the Downing Street shilling when he turned up for champers with Tony Blair. It was a foray into politics he came to regret as the heady days of Cool Britannia faded to a distant memory in the shadow of the Iraq conflict.

In 2005 he refused to perform at the Live8 concert organised by Sir Bob Geldof to protest against poverty in Africa, a drum the former Boomtown Rats singer has been beating since the early 1980s when he organised Live Aid.

Gallagher dismissed the worthy event with all the charm and tact for which he has become famous. Yet he made a very good point. “Are they hoping one of these guys from the G8 sees Annie Lennox singing Sweet Dreams and thinks, ‘She might have a point there?’” he pondered. “It’s not going to happen, is it?” No Noel, it’s not. It never has.

And unless there is a revolution and Russell Brand is made king, it never will.