It’s easy to assume that all the comedy is going on at the Cabaret Marquee, but Glastonbury has various venues for all kinds of spoken-word performances.

The Left Field tent today played host to Marcus Brigstocke, the unapologetic leftie and all-round middle-class non-threatening nice boy.

While it was a comic set, it was a comic set with a clear message, talking about Brigstocke’s recent trip north to the Arctic Circle, observing the loss of sea ice from climate change.

While his impassioned pleas at the end to take climate change seriously seemed more than a little superfluous – this is Glastonbury, after all; it’s rather like the Catholic church sending a mission to Vatican City – his message was overall both well-judged and funny.

Noting that it took the vicissitudes of the credit crunch to bring fuel efficiency to the attention of Middle England (“‘Oh, I can’t afford to fill up my enormous car’. Grow up! Fuck off! The Taxpayers’ Alliance can suck my balls”), Brigstocke’s obvious anger, delivered in the sort of nice well-spoken tones that one would feel comfortable introducing to one’s mum, carried the set wonderfully.

Back at the Cabaret, Andy Parsons’ set must have been good, because it was so well-attended we couldn’t get in. Clearly appearing on QI is good for one’s career.

Tom Chivers