Comedian-turned-columnist Frankie Boyle has been piled with praise for an outburst censuring the international response to attacks on Paris.
The controversial pundit lambasted Britain's "psychopathic autopilot" reaction to IS militants' latest assault, likening attempts to push for air-strikes in Syria to a fighter in a pub carpark standing back and "randomly lobbing in fireworks".
In a blistering takedown of the lack of scrutiny being afforded to fresh bombing campaigns, Boyle wrote in his weekly Guardian column: "Of course, no one wants to believe that our government isn’t interested in our safety, just like everyone really wanted to believe that Jimmy Savile cared about whether kids got to meet Duran Duran."
He went on to call for an urgent debate on how to make vulnerable groups less prone to radicalisation, rather than what knee-jerk military action should be sanctioned.
"It’s not an insult to the dead to wonder why France, a $2tn economy, couldn’t make a better offer to its disenfranchised youth than a bunch of sick bullies grooming them on the internet," Boyle explained.
"Do you honestly feel safer with a debate centred around when we can turn some desert town 3,000 miles away into a sheet of glass? Of course, it’s not as if the west hasn’t learned any lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan."
His comments were lauded on social media, with one user hailing Boyle "the best columnist in British newspapers".
Boyle is an outspoken critic of airstrikes in Syria, having previously described them as a plan "to kill its way to a peaceful solution".
He insisted there were no plans to "bounce" MPs into backing the move, but that the vote would take place after a briefing from the Ministry for Defence after Wednesday next week.
This week's column is not the first time Boyle has spoken out on domestic political affairs...
The Best Frankie Boyle Quotes
Lambasting Labour's leadership hopefuls(01 of09)
Open Image ModalBoyle had a few choice words for those running to be Ed Miliband's successor. He accused Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper of giving interviews "with the halting, guarded intonation of a hostage". He blasted Liz Kendall for having the "alarming air of an Apprentice candidate" but saved rare praise for Jeremy Corbyn, calling him "one of the few decent politicians remaining in the Labour party". (credit: PA/GETTY/REX)
Blistering battering of Branson(02 of09)
Open Image ModalClegg's cutting castigation (03 of09)
Open Image ModalFuming at Farage(04 of09)
Open Image ModalExpletives for X Factor star(05 of09)
Open Image ModalMusings on the media(06 of09)
Open Image ModalBoyle was an unapologetic independence supporter in the run-up to last year's referendum in Scotland. In the aftermath of the result he criticised the media, accusing outlets of carrying a pro-Union bias in their reporting. On independence, he said: "I'm all for it. It won't happen. One of the reasons it won't happen is the media is just completely against it. There's a huge level of media bias." He also said that broadcast bosses were censoring comedy, and observed that current TV guides look like "the entertainment programme on a f****** cruise ship". (credit:JUAN MABROMATA via Getty Images)
Thundering thumping of two million Scots(07 of09)
Open Image ModalThe c-bomb is a certain favourite of Boyle's. But in a world first he used it to decry 2 million people, rather than just a choice selection of victims. Following Scotland's delivery of a slim 'no' majority in last year's independence referendum, Boyle blasted the two million Union supporters "c*nts". In a post on Twitter, he wrote: "I should have expected this, because if you'd asked me to estimate how many c*nts there were in Scotland I'd have said about 2 million." (credit:Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images)
Censure of Clarkson(08 of09)
Open Image ModalOusted Top Gear frontman Jeremy Clarkson didn't escape Boyle's firing line, after the motoring show presenter was revealed to have mumbled the N-word singing a nursery rhyme in an outtake. Boyle called for Clarkson to be sacked from his top position because he was a "cultural tumour". (credit:Brian Lawless/PA Wire)
Saving sweet words for Sturgeon(09 of09)
Open Image ModalThere is one person for whom Boyle has some rare praise, though. SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was the subject of "muted horror" in the English media, he claimed. "People feel much more comfortable with the Fifty Shades of Grey version of women’s liberation: possibly feeling life would be much simpler if the suffragettes hadn’t wanted the vote and just really enjoyed chaining themselves to railings," Boyle said. "It feels almost as if the establishment is still assessing her. Which of the traditional tactics to employ: scorn or vilification? Do you call her the most dangerous woman in Britain or stage a smear where she’s a gossipy woman? Decisions, decisions." (credit:ANDY BUCHANAN via Getty Images)