Unless you're the White House spokesman, opining daily on matters of war and peace, a press secretary normally doesn't become a public figure in a button-downed place like Washington, drenched in political correctness. The exception was Tony Blankley. For seven momentous years in the 1990s he was spokesman for Newt Gingrich, as the Georgia Congressman led the "Republican Revolution" that in 1994 gave the party control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. The turbulent and swaggering Speaker-to-be and his somewhat rotund, heavy-smoking aide with a British accent, a gift for soundbites and an unashamed taste for the good things of life, were made for each other.

Todd Haynes's first, hugely successful Hangover caper was innovative, crude and funny, the lead characters – decent Doug (Justin Bartha), indecent Phil (Bradley Cooper), unhinged Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and neurotic Stu (Ed Helms) – were obnoxious but still endearing, particularly Helms's bullied dentist.

A one-time aide to the former US president Bill Clinton is being nominated to be the Haitian Prime Minister.

Outlook Even former President Bill Clinton is worried about the parlous state of the British economy, it seems. Wading into the debate about US debt yesterday, Mr Clinton cited the UK as an example of how an austerity drive might do more damage than good to an economy, if undertaken too quickly and dramatically.

On 26 June 2000, Bill Clinton acknowledged one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in human history - the mapping of the human genome.

So, Norris Mailer has gone. She died of gastrointestinal cancer at the age of 61 last month in the Brooklyn Heights apartment she once shared with her husband Norman. She had been battling with the disease for over a decade, and she fought it with much grace.

The top military commander in the United States told Congress yesterday that not only is it time to review the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays serving in the military instituted by former President Bill Clinton but that getting rid of it entirely would be the "right thing to do".

Inconveniently, historical eras do not exactly follow the calendar. In reality, the 20th century ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, while the 21st century did not truly begin until two hijacked planes smashed into the World Trade Center on 11 September, 2001. In the intervening years, still mostly untroubled by the "war on terror", America moved from superpower victorious in the Cold War to unchallenged hyper-puissance, in the phrase of a French Foreign Minister.

Any presidential campaign takes decades - it's noted that by the time Bill Clinton graduated he was storing business cards on a vast rolodex which was cherished and grown with every year until his election.

He came on to the strains of "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow," the anthem of his victorious campaigns of 1992 and 1996. But when the delirious applause that greeted him finally subsided, Bill Clinton made clear that tomorrow – and the Democratic party – now belongs to Barack Obama.

It'll be terrific on the night. With Bill Clinton it always is. Far less certain is whether his convention speech tonight will lay to rest the lingering uncertainties about his involvement in the Obama campaign this autumn, his role in the party and – not least – his peace with himself.