Remember when Noel Gallagher was embroiled in a scandal so sordid that it threatened to end his career?
The Oasis guitarist had politicians and campaigners in a froth after an interview at the 1997 MTV awards.
The tabloids seemed to turn on him overnight, and there were even calls for a criminal investigation.
So what did he say to invoke such furious rage and righteous anger? He said that, for many people in Britain, taking drugs was the same as having a cup of tea.
I’ll give you a second to pick yourself up off the floor.
It may seem inconsequential now, but at the time this was all taken very seriously.
But Noel powered on to his next battle. That temporary blip didn’t stop his career from flourishing, leading to a packed solo show in the grounds of Scone Palace this time last year.
Now, the Fair City is getting ready to welcome its next big-name guest to rock our summer. If rumours are correct, Boris Johnson will be in Perth on Friday, to spar off against Tory leadership rival Jeremy Hunt.
Okay, he might not generate the same levels of excitement, but Johnson does appear to have an unwavering legion of supporters.
This might be baffling to some. How can politicians leap from scandal to scandal – in this case, from the Brexit bus to the police house call – and emerge seemingly unscathed?
For example, around the same time Noel Gallagher was swaggering through his own storm in a teacup, Secretary of State for Wales Ronald Davies was forced to resign after getting robbed by a man on Clapham Common and then lying about it.
It seems that politicians, particularly the populist ones, get away with a lot more than they used to without fear of jeopardising their own careers.
The simplified reason is that, for most of their supporters, they just don’t care about those kind of trivialities. In their eyes, these men can do no wrong and will ultimately lead them through the squabbling and point-scoring to a better political world.
This was shown at a recent Sky News interview, when Johnson was asked in front of an audience about the recent police incident.
“I don’t think these people want to hear about that,” he said, prompting a round of applause.
Noel Gallagher survived his trial because he’s a musician, and rock and roll by its very nature should be offensive and challenging.
What has changed in the last 30 years, is that we are now holding our politicians to the same not-very-lofty standards as our pop stars and celebrities.
Demands for MPs and MSPs to behave on a higher plane now seems unrealistic.
