i Editor's Letter: Photos from the G20

I can hardly type. The gym! What fresh hell is that? But I won’t (to quote i reader Steve Commons who wrote in to ask me not to) “bang on” about it – yet.

But, I don’t know why I didn’t just get that bad photo airbrushed. As I said, the camera doesn’t lie. Which is a scary thought for all of us if we care to study the images emerging from the G20 Summit in Cannes. Only one conclusion is to be drawn from the furrowed brows, sad expressions, sideways glances and miserable body language: we are all in the s*@#.

For a bunch of middle-aged, mostly unattractive, largely male politicians this week the crisis has provided many an excellent photo, from Sarkozy and Merkel hugging repeatedly in a very “we are the club” manner, to Merkel pointing accusingly at poor old Papandreou with Sarko hovering. Then, there was the revealing body language of Sarko who was “fed up” with David Cameron in Brussels. Back in Cannes, there’s an eager Merkel trying to get all hugger mugger with President Obama, who is wary of being seen to be too intimate with any of this potential bunch of losers.

How about Sarkozy waiting a tad forlornly for the late-running President Hu (and if you don’t think that tardiness of the Chinese was deliberate … ) or a teary-eyed Papandreou? And what of Silvio? It’s true that the ex-cruise-ship singer is not noted for his tact and diplomacy, but although he was pictured alongside his musical partner and ex-parking attendant Mariano Apicella, with whom he has written two albums of love ballads, he at last acknowledged the depth of the crisis, deciding to postpone the launch of the fifth (see page 6). See you tomorrow!