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Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.
Being a politician is a tricky life. When the telephone rings it’s seemingly both your boss (dangerous), the press (worse), or a disgruntled member of the general public (unthinkable).
So it’s comprehensible that when an precise celeb comes a-calling, you concentrate. That occurred within the United Kingdom when Taylor Swift’s mom (who’s no less than a celeb by affiliation) acquired London police to present her daughter the complete blue-lights-flashing-get-out-of-the-way remedy normally reserved for members of the royal household (when, for instance, King Charles has run out of natural muesli or Prince Andrew wants escorting to a PizzaExpress) on the best way to her Eras Tour reveals.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have been concerned in talks with the police, and Cooper warned that cancellation of the Swift gigs “can be economically damaging and embarrassing,” The Sun reported — presumably as a result of Keir Starmer had free tickets and couldn’t cancel the babysitter at such quick discover.
Swift is undoubtedly a political determine. She wields an excessive amount of energy to not be and naturally has backed Kamala Harris within the United States election. Donald Trump has celeb backers too, akin to Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock, which might be nice if the election have been being held in 1999.
Perhaps the Swift impact even helped propel Liz Truss to the heights of British PM (there have to be a motive!) as a result of Truss posed for an image with Tay Tay at an awards ceremony in 2019 when she was chief secretary to the Treasury (Truss, not Swift, who has by no means, so far as I can inform, held any senior roles within the British Treasury).
The lure of the celeb is irresistible. In 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted a photograph subsequent to Dua Lipa whereas on the Atlantic Council Leadership Awards — they have been nominated for finest duet!
Von der Leyen was maybe desirous about what might have been. You might recall the footage of von der Leyen’s father, former Minister-President of Lower Saxony Ernst Albrecht, introducing his singing household on the present “Die aktuelle Schaubude” (there’s no date on the footage however the hair suggests late Nineteen Seventies).
There’s additionally a single by Die Albrecht Familie (sadly not out there on Spotify) relationship from 1978 known as “Wohlauf in Gottes schöne Welt” (Well in God’s lovely world) with B-sides of “Alle Birken grünen in Moor und Heid” (All birches blossom within the moor and heath) and “Ich kann Charles Michel nicht ausstehen.”
CAPTION COMPETITION
“A tense second within the grand closing of the European Staring Championships.”
Can you do higher? Email [email protected] or on Twitter/X @pdallisonesque
Last time we gave you this photograph:
Thanks for all of the entries. Here’s the most effective from our postbag — there’s no prize aside from the reward of laughter, which I believe we will all agree is way extra priceless than money or booze.
“German chancellor ensures that Berlin stays free from high-speed web connectivity,” by Matthew Barnard
Paul Dallison is POLITICO’s deputy EU editor.
