Baroness Brinton

Baroness Brinton is a Liberal Democrat Member of the House of Lords.

Parody

While debating the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, Baroness Brinton used a contemporary example to illustrate why acknowledgement of all copyrighted material would prove problematic;

"There has been a traditional and proud history in this country of parody and caricature...Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis did a wonderful sketch a fortnight ago on UKIP and the referendum of Europe using the theme of Gollum in the film of Lord of the Rights. I do not know whether noble Lords heard it, but the theme of the programme was “We wants referendumses.” It was very effective. The problem is that proposed new subsection (3)(b) in Amendment 28DZA would mean that every sketch like that in a fast moving half hour show would have to stop to acknowledge that it was taking both a piece from Peter Jackson's original film and the style of the actor. Therefore, frankly, it would be unworkable. I apologise, but I am afraid that the stage manager in me immediately thought, “oh my goodness: this will kill comedy and light entertainment of the spontaneous type that this country excels in.”