The Utterly Unserious David Aaronovitch

Thus begins a superb piece by Martin Kelly:

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who believed in the overthrow of the British government and the imposition of Marxism-Leninism on its unwilling people.

Maybe the little boy maybe didn't know any better; you see, he had the misfortune of being a cradle Communist.

The toxic nonsense that infested the little boy's head didn't stop him from being ambitious; no, not at all. He became President of the National Union of Students and sought a media career. He might have done this to gain exposure for, and help spread, his political beliefs. He even became a producer with the BBC.

Then one day the little boy said 'I am not a Communist anymore', and everyone believed him. He wasn't shunned, and was always able to find better jobs than working as a streetsweeper in Doncaster; the sort of punishment he might have doled out to his opponents if he'd ever gained power. He wasn't forced to give up the media access he sought to gain while a Communist; quite the reverse. Somebody even gave him a column in 'The Times', where he became the voice of liberal reason, and lived happily ever after.

Alas, there are a lot of them about, Martin. An awful, awful, awful lot of them about...