I see wandering minstrel Ed Sheehan has run into a spot of bother. I’m not a fan of the Ginger One – I can only name about three of his songs – but I do have some sympathy for him as he finds himself embroiled in a decidedly no-win situation.  

Apparently one of his support acts on his current world tour, a rapper with only a passing acquaintance with talent, an individual by the name of Macklemore, decided to use the platform Sheeran had provided him with to make pro-Palestine and borderline anti-Semitic pronouncements. The promoters of the tour decided this was potentially damaging especially during its American leg, and Macklemore was subsequently dropped from the roster.  

Other of Ed’s support acts decided then that they too would jump ship in support of Macklemore and abandon the musician who was paying them for their ( musical) support. Ed then issued a statement to say he didn’t have a view about Gaza and that all he wanted to do was perform his songs for the people who’d paid to hear them, while making lots of money for himself. Which seems reasonable enough. It’s what pop stars do. His fans hadn’t, presumably, handed over their hard-earned cash to hear him pontificate on matters he knows, like his detractors, little about.

This proved to be not good enough for those who demanded he must have a view and that that view should be the same as theirs – ie: that he too should firmly come down on the pro-Palestine side of the argument. Naturally, Ed immediately capitulated and did just this, issuing a tearful apology to fans and the rest of the world during one of his concerts in Philadelphia.

This pantomime was not enough for those who claim to promote hope against ‘hate’. Too much, too little, too late seemed to be their verdict. The situation in Gaza that Ed had described as complicated (he’s right, it is) was, they declared, nothing of the sort. They insisted and continue to insist that morally one can only come down on the Free Palestine side of ‘history’; no other option is possible.

None of these people, it seems to me, are possessed of any self-awareness. None of them ask themselves –

Why does it matter what a pop singer thinks about an issue as complex as Gaza?

Is Sheeran not entitled to maintain a silence over an issue he knows, by his own admission, little about? Sheeran is neither a philosopher nor a diplomat; why must he use his celebrity status to pontificate on the state of the world?

How much do declarations by public figures change situations on the ground? Not at all, I wouldn’t have thought.

If it wasn’t okay for Sheeran to remain silent about Palestine – there are no neutral positions, remember – why is it okay that those who badger him remain silent about the Islamist massacre of Christians in Nigeria (25,250 men, women and children) and the displacement of 2 million others? Why aren’t those who’ve got it in for Sheeran protesting and making public declarations about this particular appalling situation?

What if Ed had arrived at a different position from the one his detractors expected of him? His fellow pop star, the songstress P!NK did precisely this and is now being faced with attempts to hound her out of her position as a Unicef ambassador.

What does Free Palestine actually mean? Hamas has said frequently that the only way Palestine can be free is if the Jews either leave the area (not going to happen) or are exterminated. Is this the solution the Free Palestiners are demanding? Or have they something else in mind? If so what?

Does sloganeering and virtue signalling ever achieve anything? Has bullying a lightweight pop star into submission changed the situation in Palestine one little bit? Did Netanyahu take notice of Macklemore’s and Ed’s eventual declaration and decide because two pop stars he’s never heard of have called him out on the severity of his retaliation for the 7th October 2023 massacre of Israelis, he should maybe ease up a bit?

Was Christopher Hitchens right when he said religion poisons everything? If Judaism, Christianity and Islam were to disappear overnight, would the world not be a whole lot better off?

Answers on a postcard, please. Not that anyone’s listening to anything we say either, but…