Self Esteem and Nemesis

Sorry, idle readers. Filling the expense form for the Riviera trip took a whole month.

I have been meaning to blog about the ridiculous woman who wrote in the Mail that she had no female friends because she was so attractive to men, yadda yadda. We searched the article in vain for some note of irony or april-fool leg-pull, but there were no signs. Truly, she rated herself 10/10 and was pretty smug about it. One suspected that, on balance, she was content to have no sheila mates because of her drop dead gorgeousness.

Trouble was, and you probably guessed this, she was a dog. Not a minger, perhaps, nor even a munter, but no great shakes. One would need beer goggles, I think. The comments on the Mail website ran to thousands and were not, it must be said, kind. She became, by stages, less of a looker than Clare Short, than Cherie Blair, than Angela Dworkin. It was cruel stuff.

So why did she invite this shitstorm, one wonders? I was pondering just that question when I read this:

http://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/news/2166149/forex-trader-arrested-fsa-named?wt.mc_ev=click&WT.tsrc=Email&utm_term=&utm_content=FSA%20arrests%20champagne-swilling%20forex%20trader&utm_campaign=5.4.AM&utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Email

This tosser, I allow, has not suggested that he is Errol Flynn, or George Clooney. But he doesn't half fancy himself! Utterly brilliant, he is. No short run of luck in the FX markets for him - this is just the start of something BIG. We "can't help but respect and admire" him, his independent and objective website says. Alex Hope may only be 23 but, by crikey, we're all going to hear about him! There's Hope for the UK economy, one might pun.

How did we get to this? What makes these people of boundless self-confidence turn into monstrous egotistical numpties and invite scorn and derision upon themselves?

Is it:

A. Britain's Got Talent

B. The X Factor

C. The Voice

D. All of the above