young politician on Big Brother

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Oh Brother, I hope this isn't going to be a big mistake
By MARTIN MCLAUGHLIN
www.scotsman.com

POLITICS and young people. Since time immemorial, they have been as ill-fitting a match as a mini chiffon dress and bright red wellies. John Loughton, however, is a man on a mission to change that. At the tender age of 20, the Scot is one a dozen hopefuls on the new offshoot of Big Brother, where he hopes to show the world "that being intelligent and politically active doesn't mean you have to be boring and geeky". And stem the tide of abuse against the red-haired among us. Yes, that's right, he's one of them.

Mr Loughton, who is chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, and a politics and sociology student at Stirling University, is playing a dangerous game. His turn on Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, pits him alongside a raft of young talent: the likes of an Olympic boxing hopeful, a classical musician and an internet entrepreneur.

Unlike them, Mr Loughton has no outstanding natural ability. Besides his election to the youth parliament, the former Craigroyston High pupil is best known, in his home city at least, for winning the Youngedinburgh Community Involvement award in 2004 for working with the elderly in Muirhouse and Pilton.

It is modest, but commendable work, and evidently, he is smitten with the political bug. But while such a desire to exert change for the better is to be lauded, his attempt to present himself as a cool, young politician on a show like Big Brother is a folly of Big Daddy proportions. There are few other programmes as vindictive, exploitative and embarrassing, and if Mr Loughton is not conscious of that fact, his finger is not on the pulse of his brethren.

He need, too, be reminded of George Galloway's ill-fated appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, the highlights of which (in no particular order) brought a row with Michael Barrymore; George dressing up like Dracula; dancing with a transvestite; and lest we forget, pretending to be a little pussycat licking pretend cream from the cupped hands of actress Rula Lenska.

The decision to appear, claimed the Respect flag-bearer, allowed his party a platform to communicate the wider electorate. In reality, Mr Galloway walked out of the Big Brother house with all the credibility of an 11-year-old schoolgirl's Wikipedia entry on Creationism. In Mr Galloway's case, of course, egotism was a factor in his appearance, and though he is a young man, we cannot rule out the possibility that Mr Loughton is suffering from a similar affliction. His Bebo page, for example, is not named simply John Loughton, but "Chair John Loughton MSYP." He's a politician even when he's on the toilet, you see.

Whatever transpires – and given Channel 4's rapped knuckles over the Shilpa Shetty furore, the broadcaster may favour a more gentle show this time around – I hope Mr Loughton escapes with a semblance on dignity intact. The makers of Big Brother describe the current crop of contestants as "pure prodigies". Mr Loughton is no such thing. He is simply a young man who appears to want to make a difference. It would be a great loss were that modest track record to be undone by Matt Lucas ordering him to shower in cold water.

Unless he steels himself, Mr Loughton's reaction to such incidents could be disastrous. A possible future First Minister forever known in the national psyche as the Weeping Genga Who Swore At Matt Lucas.

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I think this guy will get away with all the stuff that could be thrown at him because he's young, so it's not really a fair comparison to make with Galloway in that sense. The main difference being that people don't have preconceptions about this guy, so he can do a lot more - and it will probably be to his benefit in the end.

[Salim201]

in the words of andy milman "are you avin' a laff, is he avin' a laff?"

Why would you go on a show where you have to hand your dignity in at the door?

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I reckon he's played a blinder, but who knows what else they'll throw at him. If we check on him in say 10 years and see what he's made of things I'd guess he'll have done well, politically or otherwise.