Oh how embarrassing- not that Condi Rice has found some protesters meeting her in Blackburn and elsewhere, but that she was forced to sit through a Liverpool Harmonic concert featuring a performance of the Beatles' dirge 'Imagine'. I think today's pols often find themselves forced to pay homage to near worthless pop-culture junk (which is not to say that pop music hasn't got some positives, just that I'd never want it to be mistaken for serious entertainment, and anthems or event marking are not its strong suit).

But the really embarrassing thing was that with almost mind-blowing predictability 'concert singer Jennifer John' slipped from 'Imagine' to 'Give Peace a Chance'. I'm sure Condi wasn't surprised, but I could cringe that the anti-war populists couldn't come up with a more original stunt than that. Another embarrassing thing is that the BBC considered it worth reporting, rather like those parish magazines that insist on informing you that the triangle in the Christmas children's show was pinged by little Johnny so-and-so. That's cute, where appropriate...

> Oh, and I meant to add that I can't stand the fact that the 'performers' freely consented to their profile raising reception of Condi, yet treated a guest like an enemy. It's against humanity.