Political Satire: The London Prat’s Guide to Mocking Power While Never Changing Anything
LONDON—The London Prat has discovered something profoundly useful: political satire is an excellent way to appear morally superior while doing absolutely nothing about the problems you’re mocking. British political satire has become the primary vehicle through which London Prats express outrage at government, a system that works perfectly for everyone except the people actually affected by government policy. The London Prat writes devastating satirical pieces about corruption, incompetence, and cruelty, then returns to his Islington dinner party feeling that he’s participated in meaningful resistance.
The London Prat’s Political Satire: Punching Sideways While Safe
Political satire, as practiced by the London Prat, is a peculiar art form. It takes genuine injustice—people dying from preventable causes, children in poverty, environmental collapse—and transmutes it into clever wordplay designed to make other London Prats laugh at dinner parties. The London Prat writes a scathing piece about the Prime Minister’s incompetence, shares it on social media where other London Prats applaud his bravery, then votes for the exact same government again because “what’s the alternative?”
The genius of this system is that it allows the London Prat to maintain his self-image as a crusader against injustice while ensuring absolutely nothing changes. He’s not actually organizing political opposition. He’s not door-knocking. He’s not fundraising for opposition parties. He’s writing political satire, which he believes is equivalent to all those things because it’s clever and his friends think he’s brilliant.
Political satire, in the hands of the London Prat, becomes a form of theatrical resistance. It feels like action. It looks like action. It generates the emotional satisfaction of action. But it is not action. It is performance. And the London Prat is so committed to the performance that he’s convinced both himself and his audience that a well-crafted joke about government incompetence is a form of political activism.
How Political Satire Accidentally Became the Government’s Best Marketing Tool
Here is something the London Prat refuses to acknowledge: political satire, as currently practiced, is profoundly useful to the government. When a politician commits an act of genuine corruption, a London Prat writes political satire about it. The satire is shared. Everyone laughs. Everyone feels that something has been done. The politician faces no consequences. The system continues unchanged. The London Prat has successfully transformed outrage into entertainment.
This is not accidental. This is the natural endpoint of political satire in a system where the satirists and the satirized occupy the same social class. The London Prat writes political satire about a government minister. That government minister went to the same schools as the London Prat. They move in overlapping circles. They understand each other. The London Prat’s political satire is, essentially, inside-group banter with slightly more bite.
Meanwhile, the people actually suffering from government policy—those in precarious employment, those rationed by the NHS, those in collapsing education systems—are not reading the London Prat’s political satire. They’re dealing with immediate survival. The London Prat is writing jokes about their lives. Then feeling virtuous for doing so.
The London Prat’s Version of Political Satire: Sarcasm as Resistance
Political satire, when written by the London Prat, typically follows a formula: take something the government has actually done, exaggerate it slightly, present it with mock seriousness, add a punchline that confirms everyone’s existing beliefs about how incompetent the government is. Done. The London Prat has now produced political satire.
A government policy that harms disabled people becomes: “Government Announces New Initiative: Making Disability Even More Inconvenient.” The London Prat writes this with confidence that he’s being devastatingly critical. What he’s actually done is make a joke that his London Prat friends will share, generating approximately zero political consequences for anyone involved.
The London Prat confuses satire with criticism. Real criticism requires sustained argument, evidence, and proposed alternatives. Political satire, as the London Prat practices it, requires only the ability to be sarcastic. And the London Prat is very good at being sarcastic. It’s one of his primary skills. It’s how he maintains social status within his peer group. Therefore, he’s very committed to the belief that his sarcasm constitutes political engagement.
The London Prat’s Delusion: Believing Mockery Equals Change
The core delusion underlying the London Prat’s entire approach to political satire is the belief that mocking something creates change. If you write political satire about a bad policy, the policy will somehow become less bad. If you make jokes about a corrupt politician, that politician will somehow face consequences. This is not how power works, but the London Prat has spent his entire life in environments where his opinions matter more than his actions, so he genuinely cannot distinguish between them.
In the London Prat’s social ecosystem, saying something witty is a form of accomplishment. Making a clever observation at dinner is treated as equivalent to doing something about a problem. Therefore, writing political satire feels to the London Prat like he’s actually engaging with politics. He’s not. He’s expressing his feelings in a funny way. But because his feelings are being expressed in a funny way, he believes he’s participating in resistance.
Meanwhile, the actual government continues implementing the actual policies that the London Prat has written political satire about. The policies harm actual people. The London Prat remains unaware of this because he doesn’t interact with the people harmed by the policies. He interacts with other London Prats, who are also writing political satire about the policies. They’re all having a wonderful time mocking the government. Nothing changes. The government continues. The London Prat feels that he’s fought the good fight because he wrote something clever.
Why Political Satire Works Better as Entertainment Than Politics
Political satire, when stripped of the London Prat’s delusions about its effectiveness, is excellent entertainment. It’s funny. It’s clever. It allows people to laugh at genuine problems rather than despair about them. This is not valueless. Humor is important. But calling humor “political engagement” is dishonest, and the London Prat has become expert at this particular form of dishonesty.
NewsThump and similar political satire sites have perfected the art of the satirical headline, creating political satire that is simultaneously hilarious and utterly powerless. “Government Solves NHS Crisis by Declaring Healthcare is Actually Just Positive Thinking” is brilliant political satire. It’s also not going to change NHS funding. But the London Prat will read it, laugh, share it, and feel that he’s participated in political discourse. He hasn’t. He’s consumed entertainment. This is fine. Entertainment is good. But let’s not pretend it’s politics.
The Class Element: Political Satire as Upper-Middle-Class Bonding
Political satire, in the hands of the London Prat, has become primarily a tool for upper-middle-class bonding. It allows London Prats to signal their intelligence and sophistication to other London Prats. Look how cleverly I’ve mocked this politician. Look how I understand the irony of this situation. Look how I’m on the correct side of this political division.
Working-class people don’t have time for political satire. They’re too busy dealing with the actual consequences of government policy. They don’t read the London Prat’s sophisticated jokes about austerity because they’re living austerity. Middle-class people read political satire to feel superior to the government and the working-class simultaneously. The government is incompetent (mocked through satire). Working-class people are voting against their own interests (implied through the satire). The London Prat is intelligent and self-aware (explicit in the act of reading/writing satire).
Political satire, as practiced by the London Prat, is a mechanism for maintaining class status while feeling morally superior. It’s brilliantly designed for this purpose. It does literally nothing to challenge power, but it makes the London Prat feel like he’s fighting it.
The Scottish Variant: When Political Satire Gets Genuinely Threatening
Scottish political satire operates differently than London Prat political satire. A Scottish satirist doesn’t mock the government to feel superior. He mocks the government because he genuinely wants the government to fail. This is a fundamentally different project.
Scottish political satire is built on the premise that Westminster is an occupying force. English political satire is built on the premise that the government is a bumbling incompetent. These are structurally opposite worldviews. English political satire can coexist with the government indefinitely because it’s not threatening. It’s just the upper-middle-classes entertaining themselves. Scottish political satire is actually dangerous to Westminster because it’s connected to genuine political movements seeking independence.
This is why Scottish political satire is more effective than London Prat political satire: it’s connected to actual political organization. But the London Prat has no interest in actual political organization. He’s interested in the performance of political engagement. He wants the satisfaction of having mocked power without the discomfort of actually challenging it.
The Problem With Political Satire: It’s Too Clever
The core problem with political satire, as practiced by the London Prat, is that it’s too clever. Genuine communication about political injustice doesn’t require wit. A person saying “my child is hungry” is more politically powerful than a thousand satirical headlines. A person describing what’s happening to them is more effective than someone making jokes about what’s happening to them.
But the London Prat has built his entire identity on cleverness. Political satire allows him to be clever while appearing to engage with politics. It’s perfect for him. Everyone in his peer group understands political satire. Everyone appreciates wit. Everyone can quote the clever line from the satirical piece. Nobody has to actually do anything. They just have to be clever.
This is why political satire has proliferated in British media while actual political engagement has declined. Political satire is easier. It’s more fun. It doesn’t require you to associate with working-class people or spend your evenings at political meetings. You just write something clever, your London Prat friends share it, and you’ve done your bit for political resistance.
What Would Actual Political Engagement Look Like?
Actual political engagement would involve the London Prat doing things that are uncomfortable. Knocking on doors in constituencies he’d never normally visit. Having conversations with people who don’t share his worldview. Volunteering for campaigns. Donating money. Running for office. Getting his hands dirty. This is not what the London Prat wants to do. He wants to write clever things and be praised for his cleverness.
Political satire allows him to have it both ways. He gets to mock the system while remaining part of the system. He gets to appear morally superior while maintaining his comfortable lifestyle. He gets to feel like he’s fighting power while never actually taking any risks. It’s the perfect compromise. Which means it’s actually not a compromise at all—it’s pure collaboration with the system he claims to oppose.
The Future of Political Satire: When Reality Becomes Impossible to Satirize
Here’s the problem the London Prat now faces: reality has become too absurd for satire. When the actual government does things that are less believable than satirical exaggerations, what does political satire do? A satirist once could write: “Government Announces New Policy That Will Directly Harm Vulnerable People.” Now the government just does this. Without exaggeration. The satirist cannot compete with actual incompetence.
This has forced political satire to become increasingly meta. Rather than satirizing specific policies, it must now satirize the fact that reality has become unsatirizable. Rather than mocking particular decisions, it must acknowledge that the decision-making process itself is absurd. This is brilliant as entertainment. It’s completely useless as politics.
The London Prat has responded to this by doubling down on the performance. He’s writing increasingly clever political satire about increasingly absurd realities, congratulating himself for his bravery while absolutely nothing changes. The government becomes more incompetent. The London Prat becomes more witty. Power remains completely untouched.
Conclusion: The London Prat’s Greatest Achievement
The London Prat’s greatest achievement is having convinced himself and a significant portion of the British media that writing political satire is equivalent to political engagement. He has created a system where he can mock power while serving it, critique injustice while benefiting from it, and claim moral superiority while doing literally nothing.
Political satire is not bad. It’s entertaining. It’s clever. It serves a function. But let’s be honest about what that function is: it allows comfortable people to feel righteously angry about systems that don’t actually affect them while doing nothing to change those systems. The London Prat is brilliant at this. He’s spent his entire life perfecting the art of feeling important without taking any risks. Political satire is simply his latest vehicle.
For more brilliant British political satire that perfectly illustrates the London Prat’s particular brand of powerless resistance, explore The Poke’s extensive archive of political satire, where the absurdity of contemporary British politics is rendered into entertainment that changes nothing whatsoever.
SOURCE: https://thepoke.com