Tackling the Legacy of Phony Tony

I found Michael Parkinson's attack on Jade Goody shortly after her death not only in rather bad taste, but demonstrating a callous lack of concern for people close to her. Although I didn't follow Jade's story closely - and I'm proud to say have never watched an episode of Big Brother - both are ultimately the creations of media people like Mr Parkinson, for whom I've never had much time anyway. Indeed, I can't recollect a memorable incident involving him, save for his recent comments on Ms Goody which did bring him a lot of media attention.

In fact, "Parky" has always struck me as something of a "Phony". I'm using this word as it first came to my attention in the film "American Beauty", when the central character describes her friend's mother as "such as phony", and promptly sets about disrupting the domestic scene. From my recollection, the "Mom" works in the real estate business and conducts her family life in what might be described as "Scenes from a Show Home". In short, she is a shallow but also smart (in the sense recently used by Michelle Obama ie intelligent and elegant) and plausible lady.

Now whilst none of these descriptions could fairly be applied to Jade Goody, they could with the exception of "lady" and, possibly, "intelligent" be applied to Tony Blair, with Cherie providing the missing qualities. However, Mr Blair does seem to share some qualities with Jade Goody, namely a certain opportunism, ability to create significant problems in international relations, love of celebrity status and its rewards, and religious consolation in distress, all of which qualities he shares with his wife, who, over time, appears to have aspired to be more and more like Jade.

So before venting their spleen on the sadly deceased Ms Goody, I would suggest that people like Michael Parkinson look more closely at the political and media castes in this country. I use the term caste rather than just class, because many people in Britain now feel that the barriers to social mobility go beyond those that existed before the advent of New Labour. Moreover, unlike Michelle Obama, many people over here also suspect that "being smart" may not get them very far, but "being phony" might just get them somewhere, even if it's over there.