March 30, 2008

Vroom vroom


The delight of the Eliot Spitzer story was seeing a Malvolioesque hypocrite get his comeuppance. The actual sex was banal as far as we know, lacking the absurd details that take the farce to another plane. British politicians have little quirks like toe-sucking or wearing a Chelsea soccer shirt - apologies if these are standard practices in northern Utah, no offence.

But, lo.. there comes a sex scandal worthy of the highest comic imagination. South Park, eat your heart out. It's this (do not open at work!)...

I'd say this is pretty good, but what takes it to comedy heaven is that Max Mosley is the son of Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists whose blackshirts my grandfather fought in the East End of London in the 1930's. Mosley père was immortalised by P.G.Wodehouse as Sir Roderick Spode, leader of The Black Shorts, amateur dictator and designer of women's undergarments. Max Mosley's parents were married in Goebbels' home, A.Hitler in attendance. That gives a twist to the headline "F1 boss Max Mosley has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers."

Another teensy detail is that The News of the World (aka The News of the Screws) is owned by one Rupert Murdoch who also happens to own The Times which happens to be the subject of an unrelated libel suit by the FIA, run by....Max Mosley. The ss Mosley is holed below the waterline, but I hope she goes down all guns blazing. To adapt Wodehouse: You can be the boss of Formula 1 motor racing or you can star in a 5 hour video of a sadomasochistic Nazi sex orgy, but not both.