Angelina Jolie on Bosnia, Sean Penn on the Falkland Islands/Las Malvinas, following in the wake of George Clooney on Darfur, Richard Gere and Tibet -on the one hand, free speech; on the other hand are people alienated when someone whose work they admire, adopts a cause they don't believe in, or think the person concerned would be better off keeping ther mouth shut?

There are ways of doing it: Reagan, Eastwood and Schwarzenegger got elected; Glenda Jackson is committed to being an MP; but should film stars take the risky option?