Tales of Flab and Frailty
By Graham Davies

Great news from Hawaii in the shape of a top pecs pic of president elect Barack Obama. He looks a hell of a lot hotter than Flabby Clinton did when he was similarly pictured some time back. I always thought Bill had let himself go ever since he and Hilary opened that chain of card shops.

Obama must be packing in one hour a day minimum to keep in this kind of shape. Credit crunch or stomach crunch: which comes first on the soon-to-be-presidential agenda? It must be quite a close run thing.

No problem in wanting to be physically fit, and working out hard to achieve it. In which case, it might also be a good idea for Obama to give up smoking. He is clearly addicted to nicotine as well as exercise. This does not present the strength of mind he will need in his new job.

Of course, you could say Obama's smoking makes him one of us - just an ordinary guy, susceptible to the same old human frailties. Then again human frailty is what got all of us into this mess in the first place.