More US political psychodrama

Didn't see all of BP CEO Hayward's grilling by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but noted that somehow a fat, dishevelled and oil-daubed woman was let in to add drama to the proceedings. That and the demagoguery ('take your golden parachute back to England') of rat-faced Henry Waxman, congressman for the ritziest district in California, made me ill.

What a farce. Almost made me sympathize with Hayward; but then I recalled that under his leadership the company chose the slogan 'Beyond Petroleum' and wrapped itself in pseudo-greenery.

Needless to say, given that The One had already decreed that BP acted recklessly, Hayward had lawyered up and coolly refused to take personal responsibility. The cool bit was unwise. He could have done the same while weeping, or staging a seizure - anything other than displaying the qualities that presumably got him the CEO's job in the first place. That's what these American judicial circuses are all about.

Not that anyone in the States gives a damn, but Waxman-style grandstanding plays very badly over here. The political fortunes of the shameless George Galloway, leader of the hilariously misnamed Respect Party, were rescued when he took on a Senate committee investigating his dealings with Saddam Hussein, and shoved their hypocrisy down their throats.