World leader super-selfie at a memorial service: am I the only grown up left?

I blame Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt for the shameful picture

Obama and Cameron cosy up for ‘inappropriate’ selfie with Danish PM at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service (Getty)

Despite my self-appointed role as The Independent's moral arbiter, I have completely bloody lost control of this “selfie” situation. Et tu, Obama? Really, Cameron? At a memorial ceremony? Where are all the grown-ups? It's almost as if I fire off these very vital columns about modern social etiquette into thin air and everyone mutters, “Oh shut up you morose old trout”, and carries on regardless.

Incidentally, I blame Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt for the shameful “Woo-hoo - world leaders on the razz!” scenario. She's holding the camera and she's the one hustling Obama into shot. This is a classic power leverage selfie taken to show off to her friends at a later date. Almost every group selfie has a hierarchy of who really wants the photo for their own purposes and who has been coerced under the guise of “Let's capture this moment for posterity!”

Thank heavens for the cold icy barely tolerant gaze of Michelle Obama, the only adult present, who managed to stay out of the shot, tempting though it must have been to throw two wacky madcap thumbs aloft in respect of the recently deceased. If I must accept that selfies in a funeral atmosphere are acceptable, can we please stay strong on rejecting “selfies during pet euthanasia” and “selfies while informing your wife of divorce plans?” I am just one little woman. I can’t be a grown up for all of us.