So George Michael is currently carting John Lennon’s old piano round America, placing it in scenes of historic violence, in a kind of symbolic pacifist road trip. The piano in question is the one on which Lennon wrote Imagine. Locations visited so far include the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and the Lorraine motel in Memphis, site of Martin Luther King’s death. A trip to Auschwitz is planned for later in the year.

Is anyone else utterly baffled by this? Apparently at each stop on the tour the piano has been attracting large crowds. What do they do once they get there, other than mill around thinking, ‘Hmmm, peace…’?

"By taking the piano to all these sites, we are reminded that violence has long been a part of our history," Michael said. Well, yes… but we kind of already knew that. It doesn’t take a piano to convince us that violence is wrong. And isn’t the idea of hauling a £1.5 million piece of rock memorabilia up to the gates of Auschwitz just ever so slightly distasteful?

Perhaps it all depends on your opinion of Imagine itself. To many it’s a universal hymn to peace and brotherhood. Others regard it as a rather mawkish song, whose sentiments wouldn’t sound out of a place on a Hallmark greetings card. One might also question whether the notion of such a fabulously wealthy man imagining “no possessions” isn’t somewhat laughable. And wasn’t it always alleged that Lennon gave financial support to the IRA - a rumour that, if true, would rather sully his reputation as a pacifist?

Perhaps we’re being needlessly cynical – but there’s something maddeningly woolly-minded about a rock artefact being used as a substitute for genuine political debate. Surely it would be better to protest against the root causes of violence today, rather than indulging in lazy historical tourism? Or maybe George Michael should just lay off the weed and start writing decent songs again. Imagine that.