Can't polish a turd

So within a week of Gordon Brown making his weird video message to announce his flawed plans on MPs expenses they look dead in the water.

This attempt at using new media was clearly an attempt to follow the lead of Barack Obama who was so adept at using these methods to talk directly to voters in his election campaign. New Labour was always more about style and substance and while many commentators insist the Budget has marked its end, this episode illustrates that in one aspect - the obsession with presentation - it survives.

The Government still hasn't grasped that, in the end, it's what you're saying rather than how you say it that matters. Obama had a message that appealed to the voters. Brown's proposals on MPs expenses were garbage.

Or to put it another way, you can't polish a turd.