MISTER ED: LABOUR OFF TO THE KNACKER’S YARD

THE CBS TV COMEDY SERIES MISTER ED began its remarkable run of success on US TV from 1961 to 1966 and then was repeated from 1986 to 1993, 1996 to 1998, again from 2003 to 2006 and finally from 2007 until the present day, although now it is only shown on bizarre channels in the USA or the wider world in countries which do not have much television of their own. This achievement is particularly of note when one takes into account that the “plot line” is that of an intelligent horse, “played” by Bamboo Harvester, talking to a less than intelligent human architect called Wilbur Post, involving “Mr Ed” getting Post into trouble with chaotic comic results.

ALL OF THIS INVOLVED FAME for the actor Alan Young, who played Wilbur Post. Young was otherwise successful on radio and in some movies, but these conquests will always be second to his role as the straight man to a horse. When asked why Young was cast in this curious role, the producer, Arthur Lubin, stated that Young "just seemed like the sort of guy a horse would talk to."

EDWARD SAMUEL “MISTER ED” MILIBAND, MATHS GEEK, in his own words, also seems to have the attributes that Young appeared to possess: dumb, quick to get into odd situations and apt to mutter nonsense to himself while trying to get out of them. Having now been elected the leader of the Socialist and Labour Party, one wonders whether the horses are talking to him and what they may be saying. “Get off my back,” perhaps?

YET THOSE WHO ENJOY A GOOD LABOUR GOVERNMENT will probably have to wait some time to see a return of Labour’s success in the polls in the UK. Like Mr Ed itself, after several brief spurts of success, Labour will mainly be playing in theatres in small towns and third world countries for quite a considerable number of years. The burning question is, of course, not whether a horse is a horse, of course, but whether the brains of Labour, Mr Ed’s brother David, will hang around and play second fiddle to a vaudeville act or go off on a different course and make some proper money. Bets are on.