Gordon Brown strikes back..

All the madness engendered by the slumping, declining, crashing money markets has thrown up some interesting residue. One of the most immediate changes is the way that Gordon Brown seems to have reverted to his ruffled, dishevelled old skool persona and has dumped the carefully spun version like so much laundry – and I think he seems more real now than the neat persona his behind the scenes people created for him.

Every time Brown has taken centre stage since the crisis began, he has had the look of a world leader struggling long into the night, the captain at the helm, trying to stop the Titanic from sinking. This demonstrates that the meltdown is allowing Brown to save his own political bacon by showing the great unwashed that he really can be a leader who doesn’t need meaningless conversations about what he looks like or how he reconnects to his audiences.

If he does have impact during these times – and today’s headline in the Guardian telling us that “Eurozone countries agree on Brown rescue plan” suggests that he does – then he might just overshadow the presence of David Cameron and provide the necessary collateral to stop a humiliating electoral defeat, which would make for an astonishing reversal of fortune.

On a more surprising note, is Jade Goody becoming a martyr? Because of the widespread reporting of her cervical cancer, it would appear that more and more women are going to have scans because of Jade’s situation – certainly, recent figures suggest this is the case. Could Goody be doing some good, trading in her rent-a-gob low ranking celebrity status for a more iconic persona that could help many more people keep their health in check? Could a clever publicist give some much-needed substance to the Jade Goody persona? These are strange times indeed, but fear gives gravitas to many things…