Look at moi, look at moi

It seems our furry-eyebrowed former prime minister is getting into all sorts of trouble in the US at the moment.

Last week a story hit the papers that Mr Howard had booked himself and Janette into Blair House in Washington, which is apparently the house all the presidents-in-waiting stay at just before, you know, becoming full-on presidents.

And yesterday a Qantas flight was delayed for an hour while extra security checks were carried out because Mr Howard was on the flight.

A relative waiting in the terminal for one of the 'normal' passengers stuck on the delayed flight commented:

"They were all saying that the flight was delayed because Qantas had decided to check everyone's bags because Mr Howard was on board and they were concerned about security. You've got to wonder what's going on when they decided to step up security just because there's a prominent person on board."

Excellent point, Relative Waiting in the Terminal: why step up security just because there's a prominent person on board? A few suggestions:

1. Because, as Lisa Simpson suggests, "The rich people are different from you and me". "Yes," says Marge, "they're better".

2. Mr Howard suffers from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (or MSbP), whereby the sufferer (Monsieur H) inflicts pain on others in order to gain attention: booking the president-to-be's house and causing flight delays in order to get your name in the paper are textbook examples.

3. The security checks were actually for the benefit of the rest of the passengers. You wouldn't want a furry-eyebrowed former prime minister escaping from first class and running amok amongst the normal passengers; he might bore you to death with anecdotes or try to have you deported.

My money's on number three.