Convention Diary: Even in a classless society... the other half live it up

As tradition dictates, convention delegates were shoehorned on to the arena's floor, while plebs took up plastic chairs in "the Gods". But the most comfortable seats were reserved for Masters of the Universe.

Among the organisations spending big cash on luxury "suites" was Bank of America, which (as those of a cynical disposition may recall) received a $97bn bailout a few years back. Shortly before Obama's big speech, lucky guests in its two corporate boxes took delivery of a trolley-full of fried chicken from junk food chain Bojangles'.

How the other half live!

Presidential entry gives sense of déjà vu

The President's walk-on music was "City of Blinding Lights" by U2. Exactly the same track was used four years ago, when he strode messianically on to the stage of the Mile High Stadium in Denver. Obama's opening line was also near-identical to that of 2008: the words "thank you", repeated five times, and "thank you very much", uttered twice.

Who writes Clint's scripts? Er, no one, actually

And finally, as convention season closes, a lingering postscript from last week's Republican meet in Tampa, where Clint Eastwood stretched his acting skills during an address to an imaginary President Obama, represented on stage by an empty chair. The bemused response has prompted a defence of sorts from the Hollywood star. Speaking to the Carmel Pine Cone newspaper in California, he said Mitt Romney's team had asked for an early peek at his speech. "But I told them, 'You can't do that with me, because I don't know what I'm going to say'," he said. So that explains that, then.