The arrival of two Hollywood heavyweights in our fair city has given the local media the perfect opportunity to do what they do best: namely, sneer at the lady while swooning over the gent.
Renee Zellweger and George Clooney have been in town this week for the UK premier of the Clooney-directed film, Leatherheads. And the differing reactions to the pair from the ranks of Fleet Street's finest couldn't be more illustrative.
Gushing journalists anointed Gorgeous George as the "handsome hero of Hollywood". He was afforded a meeting with Gordon Brown to discuss serious manly things of import, and in general treated as a genuine slab of Californian royalty. Poor Renee, on the other hand, has the usual suspects (hello, Daily Mail!) snickering over her "tanning disaster" and scoffing at her apparent inebriation by showcasing an entire gallery of the Bridget Jones star three sheets to the wind.
Clooney? Why, he gets a photo spread all of his own - showing him lined up with a bevy of beautiful women. What a man, what a mighty good man. So much more worthy of respect than silly Renee with her wanton partying - she'll be needing one of those handy tube guides for women to help her survive the trip.
Honestly, is it too much to ask that the hacks and hackettes at our august organs could actually report these stories in a vaguely balanced and non-patronising way?
We thought as much too.
Image of George Clooney's Madame Tussauds doppelganger from mharrsch's Flickrstream
