Adele and her ilk have mangled the ancient art of rhetoric | Simon Jenkins

Awards ceremonies highlight the amateurism of modern public speeches – most are an exercise in tedium and torture

Adele's finger is not the issue. Nor is it the tyrannical "suits" who cut off the Brit Award winner's speech in full flow on Tuesday. Nor is it the power of money over human discourse or of Blur's music over Adele's oratory. The issue is that speeches go on too long. They all do. Damon Albarn rambled on interminably, leaving no time for Adele to do likewise. The rudeness was...