Well, it was the G2 really, wasn't it? The Gord'n'Barry show. One of the smartest bits of media manipulation I've seen. Even Gordon came across as charming. And the Franco-Prussian axis got totalled. The few clips Sarkozy got made him look like a petulant marginalised cheese-eating foreigner.
There's a splendid photo in today's Guardian, a smiling star line-up, captioned 'David Miliband, Hillary Clinton, Gordon Brown, Barack Obama, Tim Geithner and Alistair Darling' - but there are only five people in the picture. Guess who's missing? (Hint: it's not the Chancellor of the World Exchequer ...)
And of course Michelle. How did she find the time, energy, charm and composure to fit all those gigs so brilliantly in between her dress-changing commitments? What a woman!
I heard Nick Robinson explain on the radio that the trick was going to be to bundle together a load of disparate and, in themselves, not wholly viable measures into a single, convincing, saleable package that everyone could safely buy ... Hang on, does this ring a bell?
Anyway, at last I know how many zeroes there are in a trillion (twelve). (Couldn't read those Zimbabwean banknotes.)
Finally, I wonder how it played in Ethiopia? They were there too, you know.
PS Strange vehicle update: white van present, bike absent. All conspiracy theories null and void.
Soar quiz questions:
ReplyDelete1. What is the first name of the wife of the Ethiopian prime minister?
2. In what year did the UK government officially change from "echelle longue" to "echelle courte"?
3. Contrary to Julia Roberts' contention in Notting Hill that "whoops-a-daisy" is a foppish english phrase used only by school girls who have tripped over their lacrosse sticks & Hugh Grant, the phrase was used in a memorable song which became the artist's first posthumous hit almost exactly 50 years ago. Who wrote the song?
Extra brownie for how many noughts in a sexillion (as distinct from a sextillion)?
Well, I don't want to spoil it for others, so I won't give all the definitive answers, but:
ReplyDelete1. She hasn't got a wife. (BTW, I'm now not convinced Ethiopia was actually there, contrary to what I read - certainly weren't in the photocall)
2. Haven't a clue.
3. Paul Anka
Extra: 21. They're the same thing. (There are some interesting domain names for sale I notice)