facespace CONRAD BLACK is.... feeling imprisoned, yet free

[Joe Chi Minh]

is the headline of a hilariously satirical item in the (UK) Mail on Sunday, written by a Sinclair mcKay (who also apparently writes for 'thefirstpost.co.uk'.

Here are three paragraphs:

"10.13am
The 'crimes' I am supposed to have committed - trifling subjects for debate among junior accountants - would, in Britain, be regarded as amusing fripperies. But bitterness, as Montaigne once averred, can be an insidious canker if it invades the soul. I must instead endure.

11.45am
And as Montesquieux once wrote, and I quote loosely:'Reap and ye shall whirl.' So I am now throwing myself into bettering the lives of my new companions. I am in the prison library, teaching French to some less fortunate fellows. The zeal of their concentration - eyes half-closed, heads inclining to one side - is humbling.

1.15pm
In the exercise yard, one of the larger fellows - his name, I think, is Puffer D - asks how I am coping after what he terms my life of bling. I take issue with this jackanapes. He does not realise that, away from the public gaze, Barbara and I led a life of intense frugality. An average evening would see us enjoying a television-centred supper of Chateaubriand with a blithe Petrus '61. The same as everyone else."

And so it goes on. Absolutely hlarious!

At the foot of the article, are a few more snippets, including:

"BARBARA AMIEL: I'm kind of thinking that I shouldn't wear that Marie Antoinette fancy dress costume to your appeal."

and

"GEORGE W BUSH: Hang in there, big fella, ah'm a-gonna get you a pardon as soon as I can."

Couldn't find the article on the Mail website.

[barbtries]

1. that was good

wish there was a link.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. Glad you liked it. The funny thing is, at first, I really thought it was Black

and he just had a great sense of humour!

My favourite lines were the Montesquieux one, "reap and ye shall whirl...", and the one where Puffer D "asks how I am coping after what he terms myy life of bling."!!!! "I take issue with this jackanapes", etc, etc.