Thursday, December 28, 2006

Would you BeeGee-ieve it?


At what point of the year do you think Cherie Blair comes bounding up the stairs, wide eyed and even wider-mouthed, and with a copy of Who's Who, into Tony Blair's office?

Interupting his work on the situation in Iraq, congestion charging, or perhaps most pressingly, his legacy, do they sit down in front of the fire, open said book and start picking who they should tap up for a holiday?

Or do they have access to ITV's back catalogue of "Through the Keyhole," giving them a 15-minute rundown of the glitzy homes owned by the rich and famous. Presumably, they have access to the American series too, because I don't remember ITV forking out to send its crew round Bee Gee star Robin Gibb's home near Miami.

I mean, it's embarrassing, isn't it? The leader of one of the world's most powerful countries - so we're led to believe - touring the globe and shacking up with the rich and famous for a few weeks.

Cliff Richard has opened up his home to them in the past - but a fat lot of good it did him. He wanted Blair and Co to extend length of time an artist gets royalties on songs. It was announced in November that wasn't going to happen. There's gratitude for you! And it's also presumably the reason Cliff's been out recording festive hits again since. Down to the last few dozen million are we?

Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister who seems to attract trouble wherever he goes, has also opened up his home to Blair. And now the Bee Gees. Who next? And more importantly, why?

Amusingly, Mrs Robin Gibb seems adamant they were just happy to do it, and hadn't received payment - a claim Number 10 disputes. So either Mr Gibb has told Mrs Gibb porkies, or Downing Street is doing some serious festive spinning.

But doesn't it seem odd that just months after arranging the publication of the Stern report -which suggested unless we improve our environmental behaviour, the world is going to die - Blair has jumped on a plane to America for Christmas?

And just weeks after Gordon Brown came up with a new holiday tax.

What's wrong with a long break in the UK? Tourism needs it in this country, thanks to the strong pound against the dollar - great for us, not so good for those relying on Yanks visiting here - and surely he could at last be accused of leading by example.

After all, and this refence is quite seasonal, surely what's good for the goose is good for the gander?

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