I’ll always treasure the walks of life with my friend Robbie
property and subvert elections we would go deal with him but because it is some tech billionaire we are like, ‘ Well it’s going to be able to write a new Beatles song isn’t that great?’ – F***.
“Forget AI! It’s AS – our own Authentic Stupidity we need to be worrying about.”
“In the 80s, I did two hours of knob gags and gave Margaret Thatcher a few mentions and suddenly I was known as this ‘ Thatch’-bashing comedian.
“The only good thing I can say about Rishi Sunak, who I don’t loathe as much as Boris Johnson but who I do hold in pretty deep contempt, is that he chose to hold the election early.
“This means when my 65-date tour kicks off in August it will all be over and there will be no need to harp on about it.
“And when I come to Scotland I am not going to spend the whole night talking abut the travails of the SNP. I might have to mention it as it’s mad that this iconic figure has fallen so swiftly and the monolithic powerhouse that was the SNP at Holyrood now appears to be a house of cards but quite frankly I have more interesting things to talk about.”
Ben, married to Australian saxophone player Sophie Gare, admitted his relationship with Scotland goes right back to the late 70s.
He said: “My first memory of loving the Highlands was going on holiday with Scottish friends to Rhum.
“Then there were the two seasons I had at the Edinburgh Fringe as a student playwright in 1979 and 1980.
“These were the biggest events of my life until things started to kick off professionally. I loved it. “
And then there is the bizzare matter of having a hernia fixed at a hospital in Fort William.
He said: “It was during the great days of Thatcher’s efforts to disguise the speedy diminution of the NHS when they got patients to go elsewhere for procedures.
“I was writing Filthy Rich and Catflap, and I remember talking to Rik Mayall on the phone about jokes from this tiny hospital. My hernia op was very well done and it hasn’t given me a hint of trouble since.”
Humanity is thick. We’ve invented AI which is going to replace us
BEN ELTON ON THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS