This version of the Chuckle Brothers just isn’t funny

When Willie Rennie compared his political opponents to the Chuckle Brothers, it was perhaps one of the high points of his career.

Mr Rennie is a principled politician who has scored some remarkable successes, not least his own election as a west Fife MP in a by-election 11 years ago. So it’s probably unkind to single out for praise his reference to the moustachioed icons of children’s television, but bear with me.

As reported in The Courier, the leading Lib Dem said the SNP and Labour were passing the buck back and forth on plans for a Levenmouth rail link, just like Barry and Paul Chuckle as they team up to carry things with the classic lines: “To me”, “To you.”

This comment was a very palpable hit, not because it was particularly clever but because it delivered the intended message instantly and compellingly.

That, right there, is the power of a cultural reference. You can make any number of claims that a politician isn’t worth electing but people really sit up and take notice when you point out that Danny Alexander looks like Beaker from The Muppet Show. Cruel, but it works.

Admittedly, people in the media are too quick with a low-brow reference. One of the great tragedies of news reporting is that, in transmitting important information, it’s tempting to reduce it to a soundbite, generalisation or simple mistake. But without puns, references and a dumbing-down of reporting, would we have had the classic headline that was “Super Caley go ballistic Celtic are atrocious”? I think not.

That’s why I want to single out Willie Rennie and his reference to the Chuckle Brothers, because he was doing his job well, and the angry replies from his targets proved it.

He’s right, too. It’s about time Labour and the SNP stopped chucking custard pies at each other. If anywhere needs investment, it’s Levenmouth.

It’s about time Labour and the SNP stopped chucking custard pies at each other