The Manifesto

One of the strangest programmes on Radio 4 is Mark Thomas' 'The Manifesto' usually broadcast in the Thursday 18:30/19:00 comedy slot..

The premise behind this show is that the presenter gets various members of the audience to propose various laws they would like to see voted in. These tend to run from the deadly serious to the arcane (abolish Wednesdays anyone?) and with some of the most likely Thomas will take the proposal to an expert to get an opinion.

Given the political apathy shown by most people at actual elections the enthusiasm of the audience is rather startling and rather uplifting - perhaps it's (cynically) because these particular proposals have no chance of actually being enacted or (less cynically) because here the people are actually putting forward their own ideas rather than selecting from a set of canned party proposals that almost inevitably suffer from the exigencies of office should the Party in question actually get into power.

Although I doubt I fully share Thomas's sense of humour the zaniness of the show raises it to a whole new level!