Happy Halloween

An inordinate amount of attention has already been lavished on 'Sachsgate' so I'll try to keep this short in the interest of common sanity.

This, but for the media, wouldn't be a big deal. Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross crossed the line; they apologised. The end? Of course not. You could almost here the stampede as the politically correct brigade made for their keyboards in a state of almost frenetic sexual ecstasy. Some members of Comment is Free on the Guardian's website drew some inspired comparison's, like: 'I work in the NHS, another service paid for by the public, and if I made comments like this to someone I would lose my job.' Does it get any more irrelevant than that?

The vitriol and self-righteousness being drummed up by the Daily Mail and sanctimonious airheads alike is far more detestable than Brand and Ross egging each other on until they overstepped the mark and offended one old, unfunny slapstick comedian.

This is just another case of manufactured outrage, as pointed out by Peter Tatchell  and most annoyingly, it's another example of the increasing weight society gives the notion of something being 'offensive'. Brand's jokes were juvenile and embarrassing but claiming they offended you as an average Radio 2 listener is a little far fetched. Sachs may have been offended to hear his Satanic Slut granddaughter had got off with Brand, and at the manner in which he was told, but can anybody else really be offended by the whole thing? The fact that Gordon Brown felt the need to comment is laughable; I guess he'll be wanting to table a motion relating to Gordon Ramsay's treatment of others at the next G8 summit. Then there's boring know-it-alls like Paul Gambaccini; with men like him on the Radio 2 roster, they needn't worry about the ratings now Brand's left.

People love a witch-hunt and they love feeling indignant. Acting offended is one of the easiest routes to both these things. As Stephen Fry points out, if you hear someone say 'I'm a bit offended by that' often enough the response should be 'so fucking what?'.