In Zimbabwe democracy is fast succumbing to the buffoonish dictatorship of Robert Mugabe, prime stuff for artists and comedians.

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The result can be a pomposity that is almost buffoonish in a world where France is no longer a front-rank power.

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Populists, of both the buffoonish and the sinister variety, have done alarmingly well in elections across the new member countries since 2004.

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But Moscow still sees him as useful, however buffoonish and nasty.

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Yet whereas Mr Cheney was seen as the grey eminence behind the sometimes buffoonish Mr Bush, Mr Biden seems a cheery backslapper compared to the professorial Mr Obama.

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Truth is, America's tax burden--after you add up state and local and pile on the cost of complying with our buffoonish 54, 000-page tax code--is not much less than Europe's.

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In what was dubbed the "carnival court", a center stage box filled with a mock-buffoonish royal entourage sat taking it all in, a gentle nudge at the sides of the VIP delegates present.

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At some point in time we have to wonder whether Al is really this buffoonish, or whether he is a paid mole of the fossil fuel industry, cleverly taking on the role of Most Visible Global Warming Opponent only to purposefully sabotage the green agenda by offending absolutely everybody with his appalling hypocrisy.

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