Goodnight!
I didn't even mean to watch it, as Parkinson just makes me sad these days in its soulless dotage, but I switched the TV on and there he was: Ben Elton. I know, nothing unusual there, he's always on. He's the new Billy Connolly. He writes a novel a week and these books needs promoting. He's written a new one called - wait for it! - Chart Throb, which is a satire on the X-Factor, and he was duly wheeled on to talk it up. This is not a crime. He doesn't seem to be very funny or original any more, but that's been the case for a while. (I can pinpoint the death of his stand-up: it was on an edition of The Man From Auntie when he did a routine about how the chocolate vending machines don't work on the London Underground. The only problem was: the chocolate machines did work on the London Underground as they'd been replaced. Ben's man-of-the-people persona was revealed to be a case of the emperor's new suit.) What really depressed me about his appearance was the fact that I used to worship him.

I'm sure I can't be the only one of my generation to have regarded Ben Elton as a guiding light in the mid- to late-80s. His anti-Thatcher, anti-sexism, anti-racism, anti-homophobia schtick captivated me when I was at college, and afterwards, and I considered him a beacon of good, socialist sense. Whether this schtick was sincere or not, I don't know, but with age and success, Ben's edge was blunted, and once he'd sat in for Wogan on Wogan, it was all over.

So when I heard Ben Elton say to Parkinson last night that he supported the war in Iraq, I shouldn't have been shocked, or betrayed, but I felt both. Ben Elton? My Ben Elton? Supporting an illegal war? Part of me died. Many of you will be reading this and saying: what did you expect? He writes West End musicals. He was happy to have a bit of that football one he wrote (The Beautiful Game) performed at George W Bush's inauguration. He sold out long ago. But to know that Ben Elton is actually pro-war is just too much. It was like finding out that Billy Bragg has shares in Esso. He's actually gone across to the dark side.

Is this the fate of all idealists?