The Gift Of Sloppy Journalism

"His son is working for the Daily Mail; it's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer"

-The Beatles

The Daily Mail's Ian Drury (not to be confused with the deceased Stiff Records sensation) covered Prime Minister Gordon Brown's recent visit to Washington. Mr. Drury isn't thrilled with the Obama administration's choice of ceremonial gifts.

As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.

Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films - a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.

...Perhaps pertinently, given Britain is floundering in an economic slump, the DVD collection was thought to feature the movie of John Steinbeck's Great Depression novel, 'The Grapes Of Wrath'.

The gift also included the Oscar-winning boxing biopic 'Raging Bull' starring Robert Di Nero and Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho - maybe a comment on the PM's notorious short fuse?

And he will hope that at a General Election the British public do not shun his imploration for another term in office by thinking at the ballot box of the famous line from another of the movies, Casblanca: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'

I bow to no one in my love of snark, but this is just inaccurate snark. Even Amish babies know that "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn" is from GONE WITH THE WIND, not CASABLANCA. The quotable line from that Humphrey Bogart classic that applies here is "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Below, Drury's best guess at the contents of the DVD extravaganza. I have seen 21 of 'em, which is probably about 20 more than Drury.