Mark Thomas - The Manifesto

Mark Thomas: The People's Manifesto

Comedian Mark Thomas's latest work, 'The People's Manifesto', is a touring stage show cum Radio 4 series cum book, in which he canvasses the opinions of ordinary Britons, he tells Neil Tweedie.

Why Britain should declare war on Jersey

If we can attack Iraq, why can't we invade - sorry, liberate - this 21st century pirate cove?

Mark Thomas, a man revered among the smart right-on, as his thing is politics, with jokes, done very forcefully. He bashes you around the head with his beliefs, then busts your gut with a bon mot. When the balance is right, it's very entertaining; when it's not, you feel like you've been beaten up and you're not sure to what purpose. Not everything in life is as simple as "working class = good", "posh = bad". We're not in the 80s any more, Toto.

Still, I like his returning Radio 4 series, Mark Thomas: The Manifesto, mostly because the ideas come from the audience. On Thursday, suggestions included: if you see a balding man with a ponytail, you are legally required to cut it off; you also have to push over anyone who dithers on a pavement; 4x4 cars should be transparent. (You'll know about these because they've been heavily trailed on R4, thereby killing the joke, hey ho.) One of the more popular ideas, though, was less of a laugh: that prime ministers should only be allowed to serve two terms. Thomas had some fun with this, telling us just how much Clement Attlee managed to get done in his short office of five years: Attlee established the National Health Service and the welfare state, he nationalised water, gas, coal and steel and he "de-Empired Britain".

All very interesting, but ruined for me by Thomas's laughable (in the wrong way) punch-line: "Let's look at our three termers - Thatcher and Blair." Stop it! Knee-jerk smugness is horrible, no matter which flag it's wrapped up in.

Review: Mark Thomas Presents The People's Manifesto

In this election year, here's the one manifesto that's sure to be popular with the people... because it was written by the people.

Campaigning comic Mark Thomas struck on the inspired idea of asking audiences on his last tour for suggestions for new laws; then voting on the best of that gig. This pocket-sized book details 40 of Thomas's - and the audience's - favourites, and provides a more fascinating snapshot of what's on the nation's mind than any YouGov poll.

The People's Manifesto - Mark Thomas interview

After Coca-Cola and the International Arms Trade, Mark Thomas delivers his solutions to the current state of British politics, with a little help from the British people.

Doth I protest too much?

When police admit you could be put on a secret database for being at a demo, it's time to worry.

Exclusive hug visualisation

If you were listening to the first part of Mark Thomas: The Manifesto last night, you will have heard a hug being deployed. Here's a video of the event.

Mark Thomas is an activist comedian, someone who wears his social consciousness on his very best T-shirt. We're adrift, he says, economically, politically, philosophically. His new stage act invites audience members to help him draw up a manifesto which could begin to remedy this sense of drift. Now he gets Radio 4's constituency into his tent, asking for their suggestions for manifesto items, having a bit of fun with them but also promising to take the best and actually run for election on them. So they might, just, end up as law.