Either I picked up a very old newspaper the other day, I've had a déjà vu moment where the original moment never happened or there's some other explanation as yet to be discovered for why I believe I saw an article the other day in a proper paper newspaper on the subject of nicknames of Prime Ministers (here's some helpful pictures) but cannot find any trace of it online.
This is relevant, or would have been had I actually read/seen it, because today I found this one for Nick Clegg so funny (a reference to this story for those who don't follow these things) that I wanted to mention it.
Also lately, some people have taken to calling Harriet Harman, 'Harriet Harperson' (see what they did there). Good for her for working hard for women and families.
Now there's nothing wrong with taking a bit of humour with our politics and having a healthy scepticism -in the true sense of 'to examine' - but many commentators have noticed the increasingly toxic tone of media commentary which casts all politicians as corrupt, dishonest etc and also a rise in the politics of personality both of which diminish and harm our politics and democracy.
So we have a recent poll which finds David Cameron 'lightweight but likeable' and yet at the same moment he is the next Prime Minister.
The Hansard Society's Audit of Public Engagement in 2007 found that when people were asked how well MPs do their job they have a far higher satisfaction level with their own individual MP than when asked about MPs in general, the national media informing the public's view of the national picture.
How welcome then David Miliband's comments today that politics and the media should focus on the issues and the arguments not the 'cult of personality'. And he's quite handsome too.
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