The Ministry of Silly Talks?

Hugo has a terrific lead item in his Times column: namely that John Cleese is offering his speech-writing services to Barack Obama. Having had the amazing opportunity to co-write a short script with the great man years ago, I can heartily recommend him to the Senator for Illinois. And one can only wonder where such a collaboration might lead.

Imagine how Basily Fawlty would have dealt with the Jeremiah Wright furore: “Don’t mention the pastor – I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it!” Or, more probably, a discourse on the Audacity of Despair. And is it too much to ask that the Democrat contender would offer to set up a Federal Bureau of Silly Walks? Or that he might refer to Hillary as an ex-candidate – she has ceased to be?