| Holding true to their promise to
bring much needed zaniness to the Scottish Parliament, the new intake of SSP MSPs got
‘round the tricky royal oath business with a display of glove-puppetry. SSP
leader Tommy Sheridan got proceedings off to a rib-tickling start when he insisted on
crouching below the podium and engaging in a hilarious exchange between Punch and Judy.
Not to be outdone, his party brothers and sisters lined up to entertain a
frankly entranced assembly with "guest turns" from Sooty and Sweep, the gay one
out of Rainbow and classic vent doll, Lenny the Lion.
A SSP spokestornface told The JT: "We wanted to show that it was possible
to get around swearing |
fealty to her Majesticness by
combining Trotskyite rigour with an affectionate tribute to the long tradition of hand
manipulated puppets in British light entertainment." Mr Sheridan
was originally billed to re-enact Sooty and Sweep’s hilarious encounter with the
female panda thing that nobody can remember the name of. But Mr Sheridan insisted on a
Punch and Judy based skit with Punch thwacking the shit out of a new character "Mr
Bill, the poll tax bailiff."
Proceedings in the first day of the new session were brought to a hurried halt
before, in a spirit of fun, Mr Sheridan could regale the assembled MSPs with a spirited
rendition of the SSP anthem, "Comrades, we must sweep away the forces of reaction
with the iron broom of revolutionary practise." A real treat sadly foregone. |
