YOU MAY HAVE heard the line “If you don’t get politics, politics will get you.” It is often a hard-learned lesson.

Ed Sheeran is learning it. RTÉ is trying to navigate it. And the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is still struggling with it. They all have one thing in common: they thought they could stay away from politics.

Eventually, it catches up. RTÉ has taken a “safety in numbers” approach, but in some ways that only highlights the problems still to come.

Let’s step back a little. Rapper Macklemore was supporting Ed Sheeran in the United States and made a strong statement about Gaza and Palestine. This resulted in US billionaire Robert Kraft saying further shows would not be allowed at his venue.

The promoter capitulated and removed Macklemore. Other artists, including Irish bands, pulled out as a result. Ed Sheeran, fearing the whole tour would collapse and people would not get paid, tried for a compromise, could not find one, and then, in an effort to be non-political, became the political story of the week.

Anyone who grew up in the punk era could have told him: music is always political. An artist is always in conversation. An audience always has a right of reply. If they do not like what an artist says,........

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