There's nothing worse than when you think you have something glorious and someone pricks the pin into your political vow.
So: Gordon Brown must've felt his stock was high, it was all coming together, and then pop all the glory turns to dust.
One week he's the toast of the UK, the saviour of the universe, one cartoonist had his face on Arthur's Seat, like Mount Rushmore, now he's back to gormless Gordo, Gordon is a moron jilted by the electorate and his Westminster colleagues as he pleads with people to sign a petition.
This on top of claims from a UK minister that the promised Holyrood powers are some three years away.
Normal service has resumed for Brown, idiocy is order of the day, the camera crews have moved on and he can go back to semi-retirement and capturing his downbeat muse with a final chapter called Glory Then Despair in his memoirs.
I've always been a huge fan of Banksy. Not just his humour, satirical epigrams and his unique stencilling skill but his PR skill. All his work packs a punch but his eye for a story and a hook into it are masterful. This week a mural depicting racist pigeons has been painted over after one complaint to the council that it was 'racist'
The 'new' Banksy hastily appeared on a seafront building in Clacton-on-Sea this week following the defection of local MP Douglas Carswell to UKIP. A by- election will be held here on Thursday.
High profile by-elections bring no end of press, news, TV and media outlets. You can't let the dog take you for a walk in your gimp suit without being accosted by a news crew.
Tendring Council painted over the £400,000 art. Officials are now as sick as a parrot or an exotic African migratory tetrapod.
Meanwhile for Bansky it was job done, loads of publicity. It wouldn't surprise me if the complaint came from the mystery man himself. Genius.
The Larry Sanders Show was an American sitcom, based around a late-night talk show, which ran from 1992 to 1998. It starred Gary Shandling as a needy, narcissistic host who watched himself in bed at night.
I imagine David Cameron would be the same. He strikes me as someone who would enjoy watching himself on TV all the time. He has that look about him.
When Larry's wife would want to carry out more carnal pursuits in bed, Sanders himself would be looking over her shoulder to see himself on TV. I bet when Samantha gets frisky the only buttons Dave presses are the remote to see himself on Newsnight.
So, it was in this frame of mind that I made myself watch the keynote speeches from the Conservative conference on TV. I had a pen, a notebook and a sick-bag.
Monday saw Osborne, sleazy slimy George keeping the poor in their place.They love that.Tuesday saw buffoonery from Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, holding a brick and slagging off Ed Miliband and of course Wednesday brought the Prime Minister.
Modern politics is about image and trying to manipulate and control how that image is perceived. I worked briefly on the photo desk of a major Sunday newspaper after a friend left, to see if I could angle for a comedy column. I know how photographs are used by editors to tell the story.
That's why Cameron is Messianic in The Torygraph, The Daily Diana (Express) have him eulogising and thoughtful. The Daily Thatch (Mail) a noble and dignified world leader.
The Rest: a photo of him looking fat, untrustworthy, with dyed hair. I watched on HD and it honestly looked like he had too much make-up. Was he wearing black contact lenses? He also looked like he was wearing black lipstick. Kind of a posh-goth look.
After he spoke at Birmingham, there was a brilliant heckle opportunity. It's now part of the conference ritual to invite the reluctant, bashful, wife on stage. It's all very stage managed, very US politics, almost evangelical and false. I'm not sure of the purpose other than to say 'yes, I may seem like a creepy weirdo but look I have a wife'. The combined effect is no less convincing, they both just end up looking like creepy weirdos.
My heckle would have been…'Samantha!!!! He'll cheat on you…He doesn't keep his vows!!!'
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