I've just read that the economist J.K.Galbraith has died. Not only was he a great Canadian (and him to your list) but he was the guv'na when it came to liberal political economy so I can't help thinking the good guys are a man down as of today. I've never read The Affluent Scoiety but I did read The Culture of Contentment and I remember thinking that here was a man who was telling it like it is. Or rather, I suppose, telling it convincingly like I wanted to hear it.

And I'll always remember Ali G's interview with him as providing, what was to me at the time, an all time TV low-point. There's Ali G asking this great, great man (who must have already been in his late 80s) a series of inane questions:

Ali: "What is supply and demand? Is it like with me Julie? I supply it
and she demand it."
JKG: "Supply and demand is an old economic expression..."
Ali: "Is it like in me school? Everyone was well into Tashid Vegi
because she was all well fit and had nice skin and whatever and
you had to spend 75p even for a touch and Zoe Lewis who was a
bit dodgy, looked a bit rough, she was 25p for fingers and
thumbs."

Ali: "So what notes do you have here?"
JKG: "Dollars, five dollars, ten dollars."
Ali: "Would it not be more convienient if instead of having like just
a ten dollar bill and a twenty dollar bill you had like a five
dollar nineteen cents bill or like a twelve dollar forty-eight
cents bill or like a forty-eight dollar five cents bill or like
a seventy-eight dollar three cents bill or like a two hundred
and sixty-seven dollar fifty-four cents bill or like a three
hundred and eighteen dollar nine cents bill, then you could pay
for everything with one note, innit?"
JKG: "I have no hesitation in saying that would be so complicated that
only you and a few other people would understand it."

Ali: "I has got an idea and I want to run it by you, Professor
Galbraith. What has everyone in the world got...? Feet, right?
And what do they want their feet to become...? Comfy. How do
they make their feet comfy? One word..."
JKG: "Shoes."
Ali: "Slippers! Me idea is to make... slippers."
JKG: "Well, ah, um... you're not the only person with that idea."
Ali: "Yeah? Well, check this. I is going to use the intranet, and I is
going to do it on wwf.slippers.com. What do you think about
that?"
JKG: "I would point out that you will only become a millionaire making
slippers, internet or not, if you make them cheaper than anybody
else..."
Ali: "What happen if I use the intranet and I do it instead of that
address, on wwf.swedishfanny.com, 'cos then everyone would think
that they is going over to some nice girls or whatever, and what
would they see? Me slippers!"
JKG: "Okay, uh, that's your risk, fortunately, and not mine."
Ali: "Do you want to invest some money in it?"
JKG: "Certainly not."

What the hell was the point of that? He's J.K.Galbraith! He's not some wannabe pop-star or self-important celebrity who deserves to have their pomposity punctured. He's one of the greatest liberal thinkers of the century who just happens to be a bit old. And JKG patiently tries to find some sense in these fatuous questions, not getting angry or riled. He just remained polite as people of my father's generation were want to do.

I hope Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) feels ashamed today and for the rest of his life, for wasting that man's time.