From Gerry Adams to David Baddiel

FROM POLITICIAN TO FUNNY MAN?

Twenty years ago today I climbed the front steps of the offices where I worked, walked across the foyer and through the security doors into the lobby.  There to be faced with two photos of two different but similar people.  Underneath them a piece of paper which read "What's the difference between these two men?  Gerry isn't 40 today."

The picture on the left showed Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, with myself on the right.  And physically there was a close resemblance between us.  Much the same hairstyle, beard and glasses.  Now, two decades on, I have found myself being told, three times in the past couple of months, that I look very much like David Baddiel.  If you check out 2016 Gerry he still has much the same style he did back in the nineties, albeit much, much greyer.  So at least I've moved on.

I'm not sure if this tells me much.  It's not as if I have much else in common with these gentlemen.  Unlike Mr A I was no supporter of the "armed struggle", aka terrorism, but would agree with him the that creation of the so called Northern Ireland was a political error that has resulted in years and years of unnecessary problems.

Whilst the ostensible reason for partition was to reflect the interests of the Protestant majority in Ulster, the actual motivation was less moved by democratic sentiment and more an exercise in cynical realpolitik by the British Establishment.  The government of the day, and the Admiralty especially, had identified the Belfast Shipyards as a key strategic asset in maintaining The Empire.  Few now recognise the tragic irony whereby the iconic Harland and Wolff cranes have become little more than landmarks on the tourist trail, and the most populous remaining chunk of the once-global imperial reach is that selfsame chunk of the Emerald Isle.

There we are.  Maybe that's the connection between us - the ability to go off on political rants from the flimsiest of starting points!  But my Gerry lookalike days are long behind me and now it's David who's my man.  Politically he's a man I probably have even more in common with than the Irishman.  But, sadly, without the same level of funny bone or writing talent, and if I were to crack a joke about football it would more likely be acerbic than affectionate.

So I'll grasp what I can from the comparison.  Adams was, is, several years my senior, Baddiel the best part of a decade younger.  Which feels like an improvement.  Perhaps a stress free retirement has rejuvenating benefits?

Or maybe I've just got funnier?  I wish....