Aaron DeOliveira points us to a wonderful "letters of note" entry to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 's in 1962 as a reaction to the news that his former Postmaster General Reginald Bevins, had declared that he going "to do something "show the new late-night political satire That Was The Week That Was. Despite regular target of the show, Bevin Macmillan sent the following letter tells him nothing about the show, and (effectively) to relax and enjoy, being laughed at:

Broadcasting (Gen.)
Urgent

Admiralty House
Whitehall. SW1

Postmaster General

I hope you will not repeat not take any action about "That was the week that was" without consulting me.

It's a good thing to be laughed at.

It is better than to be ignored.

HM

10.12.62

The last two lines are wonderful: "It's a good thing to be laughed at, it's better than being ignored \ .." Of course one could argue that statement was somewhat derivative of Mahatma Gandhi 's famous quote: ". First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" Either way, it seems pretty accurate , and picks something that so many people miss. All too often we hear of people - politicians, companies, celebrities, etc. - trying to identify criticism or satire, rather than to stifle it a lot worse things in the world as totally irrelevant.

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