Just to cheer you all up, here's the latest Address To The Nation (well, Clacton, anyway) by the one-and-only serious candidate in the upcoming by-election:
I have read them all and there's only one sensible one.
Tony Francis independent -lives in Clacton. In a post on social media he says he is standing to put local people before party interests, practical solutions before political games, and service before ego.
He wants to protect the Clacton coastline and open spaces, support older residents and vulnerable people and improve local transport infrastructure.
Gosh, @Boogie that seems to go well beyond the call of duty seeing as you don't actually live in Clacton. I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
He said something. This is where things have started to unravel for Zack Polanski and Andy Burnham (and others too). I’m sure it’s best to have a position and leave communication to others more skilled in that dark art.
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
He said something. This is where things have started to unravel for Zack Polanski and Andy Burnham (and others too). I’m sure it’s best to have a position and leave communication to others more skilled in that dark art.
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that Binface, Polanski, and Burnham should only set policy, not communicate to the public?
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
He said something. This is where things have started to unravel for Zack Polanski and Andy Burnham (and others too). I’m sure it’s best to have a position and leave communication to others more skilled in that dark art.
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that Binface, Polanski, and Burnham should only set policy, not communicate to the public?
Not quite. They should leave communications to the experts as far as possible, and get professionals in to write their speeches to minimise damage.
That leaves the Q & A format, like Question Time, and that demands planted questions and sticking to your chosen material. Don’t go off-piste.
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
I think starting off quoting a whole load of Homer in Ancient Greek was not necessarily a great idea. I think he was torn between being the comedy candidate and actually taking the idea seriously and coming up with a workable manifesto. Also I didn't like the artificial voice.
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
I think starting off quoting a whole load of Homer in Ancient Greek was not necessarily a great idea. I think he was torn between being the comedy candidate and actually taking the idea seriously and coming up with a workable manifesto. Also I didn't like the artificial voice.
Thanks.
I've been giving myself a crash-course on Binface's interviews, and am not excessively impressed. But I'm probably the wrong person to judge, because, as a rule, I find joke candidates tiresome. The novelty wears off pretty quickly, after you've seen one or two doing their schtick.
I get more of a kick outta the unintentionally comic fringe candidates who take themselves seriously, eg. the perennial candidate in my hometown's civic elections, who once campaigned on opposing the publically accessible computers at the downtown library, on the grounds that they could be used by drug dealers to conduct business via email(*).
(*) I knew him personally. Quite a nice guy, but tended to ride some odd hobby horses.
If he's not promoting racism, xenophobia, misogyny, transphobia and attacks on disabled people (or any permutation thereof), then he could recite the entire Odyssey in Ancient Greek, throw in a few hymns of Enheduanna in the original Sumerian for good measure, all the while doing a vocal imitation of Wee Jimmy Krankie and having a major identity crisis on air as to whether he's joke or serious and he'd still be a massive advance on Nigel Farage.
Having just seen a bit more of what Scottish Labour have been getting elected and putting forward for leadership I'm afraid he'd be an advance on a lot of them too.
Some people seem to be taking His Excellency the Count rather too seriously - after all, he's just passing through on his way back to Sigma IX - but O! what a lark if he does by some strange chance actually win !
Whatever transpires, of course, and I don't doubt that Farage will come first, he (Farage) will have succeeded in making himself look like a total Twit. Moreover, he'll still have to face more parliamentary scrutiny of his *ahem* finances.
I've gone rather off Binface after hearing him onThe Rest is Politics. He came across as rather arrogant and too clever by half.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
I think starting off quoting a whole load of Homer in Ancient Greek was not necessarily a great idea. I think he was torn between being the comedy candidate and actually taking the idea seriously and coming up with a workable manifesto. Also I didn't like the artificial voice.
The man's name is Count Binface, and he wears a large bin on his head. He's not going to get away from an element of being the comedy candidate.
As a piece of electoral calculus, this by-election is irrelevant. Labour will still have a huge majority after the election, and Farage almost never shows up in the commons anyway. A comedy bin can hardly do worse. This is all about political stuntery, and Binface is absolutely mocking Farage.
As far as the Greek goes, perhaps Binface decided to quote the Iliad in response to a light-hearted Odyssey film intro because he doesn't know the Odyssey by heart. I don't think it's an attempt to cast Farage in the role of Achilles. Absurd, perhaps, but Messrs Campbell and Stewart were engaged in conversation with a man with a bin on his head, so ...
Perhaps there was an opportunity for a Martin Bell moment here, but I don't think that works in a byelection generated by Farage playing his own political games. Mockery seems like the only reasonable response.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfn6tqgUno
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/03/clacton-byelection-independent-candidates-nigel-farage-count-binface
Clacton deserves better than Farage, or at least those do who didn't vote for him in 2024,,,
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/count-binface-gets-a-comic-by-dave-mckean-martin-rowson-and-me/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU-AJqOKM8E
O! Clacton! Just make us all happy, and people (except Reform diehards) will love you for ever...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlw69p6lyeo
Tony Francis independent -lives in Clacton. In a post on social media he says he is standing to put local people before party interests, practical solutions before political games, and service before ego.
He wants to protect the Clacton coastline and open spaces, support older residents and vulnerable people and improve local transport infrastructure.
What did he say that gave you that impression?
He said something. This is where things have started to unravel for Zack Polanski and Andy Burnham (and others too). I’m sure it’s best to have a position and leave communication to others more skilled in that dark art.
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that Binface, Polanski, and Burnham should only set policy, not communicate to the public?
Not quite. They should leave communications to the experts as far as possible, and get professionals in to write their speeches to minimise damage.
That leaves the Q & A format, like Question Time, and that demands planted questions and sticking to your chosen material. Don’t go off-piste.
A pilot has used their GPS to draw out a giant bin in the sky just off the coast of Clacton.
Source
I think starting off quoting a whole load of Homer in Ancient Greek was not necessarily a great idea. I think he was torn between being the comedy candidate and actually taking the idea seriously and coming up with a workable manifesto. Also I didn't like the artificial voice.
Thanks.
I've been giving myself a crash-course on Binface's interviews, and am not excessively impressed. But I'm probably the wrong person to judge, because, as a rule, I find joke candidates tiresome. The novelty wears off pretty quickly, after you've seen one or two doing their schtick.
I get more of a kick outta the unintentionally comic fringe candidates who take themselves seriously, eg. the perennial candidate in my hometown's civic elections, who once campaigned on opposing the publically accessible computers at the downtown library, on the grounds that they could be used by drug dealers to conduct business via email(*).
(*) I knew him personally. Quite a nice guy, but tended to ride some odd hobby horses.
Having just seen a bit more of what Scottish Labour have been getting elected and putting forward for leadership I'm afraid he'd be an advance on a lot of them too.
Some people seem to be taking His Excellency the Count rather too seriously - after all, he's just passing through on his way back to Sigma IX - but O! what a lark if he does by some strange chance actually win !
Whatever transpires, of course, and I don't doubt that Farage will come first, he (Farage) will have succeeded in making himself look like a total Twit. Moreover, he'll still have to face more parliamentary scrutiny of his *ahem* finances.
The man's name is Count Binface, and he wears a large bin on his head. He's not going to get away from an element of being the comedy candidate.
As a piece of electoral calculus, this by-election is irrelevant. Labour will still have a huge majority after the election, and Farage almost never shows up in the commons anyway. A comedy bin can hardly do worse. This is all about political stuntery, and Binface is absolutely mocking Farage.
As far as the Greek goes, perhaps Binface decided to quote the Iliad in response to a light-hearted Odyssey film intro because he doesn't know the Odyssey by heart. I don't think it's an attempt to cast Farage in the role of Achilles. Absurd, perhaps, but Messrs Campbell and Stewart were engaged in conversation with a man with a bin on his head, so ...
Perhaps there was an opportunity for a Martin Bell moment here, but I don't think that works in a byelection generated by Farage playing his own political games. Mockery seems like the only reasonable response.