The Thick of It… come to life

I may have mentioned in passing that my complaint about HowToCorp's shady business practices (pseudonymic business gurus, testimonials from - ahem - elusive customers of rather unethical products)  has hit the national press, due to Conservative MP and party chairman Grant Shapps' involvement.

Imagine my delight when the indefatigable Michael Crick of Channel 4 News pursued Mr Shapps through a rabbit warren of corridors, all the while asking Shapps about his happy customers. The answer is, I suspect, that none of them are real: I spent a happy few hours trying to track them down, and came up with precisely NO actual people.

I love this clip: it's straight out of The Thick Of It, particularly Shapps' increasingly demented hope that the next door will be the one that gets him away from Mr Crick. At one point, we glimpse the backstage fruit machine room - no doubt where Mr Osborne tries to reduce the deficit.




I'm profoundly depressed by the calibre of politicians we have now. In a functioning democracy we'd be able to respect even those whose policies repulse us. No longer: cynicism, individualism and careerism have combined to ensure that only the selfish, spineless, unthinking and vicious rise to the top, with a few exceptions. Idealism, altruism and public service are alien concepts to such a large contingent of our politicians.

I find myself thinking that even I could do it better, which is a terrible thought. We're really in trouble.