Look at this man

This is Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as pictured in today's Times.

Do you look well, Gordon? Are you enjoying the job you've schemed and plotted your whole life for, Gordon? Do you realise we all hate you, Gordon?

The answer to all three must be a resounding "no", although in time, once he's left office in the most complete misery, me may realise that we all do hate him.

Yet looking at that, I almost feel sorry for him. Yes, he's a hateful, vengeful socialist whose ideals would impoverish us all, shackling us to his nightmarish vision of a Big Brother surveillance society where only officially authorised behaviour is permitted, and only when people like him say so, economically and emotionally tied to the state.

But...the sun is shining, my workload for the day is pleasingly modest, and looking at this shattered image of a man facing ruin and derision for centuries to come, I almost - I said almost - feel for him.

Just go, Gordon. Go now, for "health reasons", and while we'll all know you went because you couldn't stomach an electoral apocalypse in 2010, at least we might feel a bit sorry for you, rather than dancing on your political grave in a couple of years.