I have been fooled indeed. Safe in the knowledge that it was the first of April I assumed that the story concerning ex-chancellor Schröder's dubiously lucrative dealings with the Russian Gazprom was a joke. Not so, it would appear! I am shocked and appalled, Mr. Schröder, and you such a grandfatherly looking type. On the other hand perhaps it was to be expected, a cursory look at the governments of the world will reveal that there is a flourishing symbiosis between power of any kind and the middle-aged man. They cling to each other like limpets in a snowstorm and are rarely seen apart.
When Schröder finally faced the fact that he had LOST THE ELECTION ( these are words that need to be spelled out with care to this m.-a.m. who will otherwise remain blissfully unaware of what they might mean) there was no question of a relaxing retirement. Instead he spent the first weeks creating more news than the new chancellor. We were all informed in great detail of the English course he attended, although by this time it was already far too late for him to pretend to understand the americans. His business plans, accounted under the dodgy title of 'consultant' were given similarly enthusiastic press coverage, while in the middle of it all sat this slightly tubby m.-a. m. who clearly couldn't bear to relinquish an ounce of the attention going.
Speaking of corruption, Malaysia are apparently clamping down on the kind of public activities that are likely to corrupt the moral fibre of passers-by. Interestingly the couple accused of passionate kissing on a public bench explained that she was playing the violin while he was reading her a letter. Given the extent of the misunderstanding that must have taken place I imagine that the passers-by were more endangered by possible breaks in the space-time continuum inhabited by the bench at the time than in their worldly values. But of course that's just a subjective point....
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