Haggard Hillary Clinton needs gran plan for retirement as she looks shadow of former self just days after Donald Trump defeat
Americans don’t react well to losers and they must now realise that any other candidate put forward would have skelped Trump into second place and left him ranting in empty room
IF you want to see what defeat looks like then just stare into the hollow eyes of an exhausted and shattered Hillary Clinton.
She made her first appearance in public this week since her crushing defeat in the US presidential elections and quite frankly the poor woman looked bloody awful.
The perfectly made up face and immaculate hairdo which were part of her armour while she fought on the campaign trial had disappeared . . . perhaps the expensive team that powdered, primped and preened her for all those TV appearances and countless speeches had been fired.
What we saw was a very haggard and vulnerable woman.
She looked completely bone weary and in need of a good night’s sleep.
The pomp and ceremony of a president in waiting were also long gone.
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There was no motorcade to take her to speak to the Children’s Defence Fund charity in Washington and just the bare minimum security.
Instead of a big self-important bustle of secret service agents and serious-faced aides carrying clipboards while talking earnestly on their mobiles, she was simply accompanied by a few trusted members of staff.
Hillary is going to have to get used to that lack of fuss and overcome that sense of entitlement that inevitably engulfs those on the verge of massive power.
I admired the way she was honest enough to say that after her defeat all she wanted to do was curl up with a good book and her dogs and never leave the house again.
I don’t blame her.
She’s been though a hideously long and horribly bruising campaign that saw her being vilified and even threatened with imprisonment.
I honestly don’t know why she put herself through it all in the first place.
She is a 69-year-old grandmother with health problems and she has decades of public service under her belt.
She must have known that her husband’s past infidelities and their seemingly dodgy-looking deals would be seized upon by whoever the Republican Party chose as their candidate and, of course, the vitriol was cranked up as soon as Trump emerged as her opposition.
Why go through all the stress, anxiety and suffering during that overlong campaign?
She could have been at home with her aforementioned books and dogs, and spending time with her grandchildren, maybe just stepping out for the occasional lucrative public speaking gig.
She could also have been the respected elder stateswoman of her party but instead she will be forever known as a loser and doomed to think of what might have been.
How it must stick in her craw to have been so narrowly defeated by a man like Donald Trump, with no experience in government and who is her polar opposite.
I’m not sure what Hillary is going to do with herself now.
I imagine in the next few weeks and months there will be a lot of embarrassed shuffling and nervous coughing whenever she attends any Party functions as her fellow Democrats won’t know what to say to her.
Americans don’t react well to losers and they must now realise that any other candidate they put forward would have skelped Trump into second place and left him ranting in an empty room.
Hillary has had her time.
She played her hand, but was trumped.
Time to retire and smell the roses.
And, at the risk of endlessly repeating myself, let’s hope the US finally gets its first female president when Michelle Obama stands in four years’ time.
Sally's Genesis support
CORRIE’S Sally Dynevor credits the soap with saving her life.
She shines as the Street’s snobbish social climber but when her character was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2009, Sally noticed a lump in her breast in real life.
She had been doing research into the disease and knew all about the importance of self-examination and went straight to her doctor.
Sally was given immediate treatment and is now fully recovered but realises she is one of the lucky ones.
That’s why she has given her support to the remarkable Genesis, being shown in London tonight and then around the country.
It’s a highly intelligent and thought-provoking story about the effects of new technology that identifies the gene mutations that can lead to cancer.
This knowledge gives people the choice of having treatment to prevent the disease before it actually manifests.
It’s well documented that this is something Angelina Jolie had to face up to, and she opted to have a double mastectomy.
The play, written by Frazer Flintham, has provoked strong emotions and debate and Sally has thrown her weight firmly behind it.
On Corrie her character has two daughters and the eldest, Rosie, is about to make a comeback just before Christmas.
It gives us the chance to see Helen Flanagan again as the bubble-headed, wannabe super model.
We know how good Coronation Street writers and actors are at mixing comedy with drama so I’m sure there will be funny scenes between Sally, Rosie and her sister Sophie.
But perhaps there’s also scope for exploring the message of Genesis with them too, and showing the anxieties that mothers who have had breast cancer often feel about their daughters, and the often tough decisions that sometimes have to be made.
It would certainly raise awareness of cancer in a way that could save lives.
She's just fishing for attention
I’M not in the least bit surprised that the teenage Carrie Fisher was swept off her feet by Harrison Ford while pretending to be in a galaxy far far away on the set of Star Wars.
At 33, Harrison Ford was at the height of his movie-star handsomeness and some actors can’t help continuing in their respective roles even after the director calls “cut”.
The simmering romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia obviously spilt over into real life.
I don’t blame the naive 19-year-old Carrie for believing she was in love and wanting more than just a fling.
But Ford should be ashamed of himself.
He was older, more experienced and, more importantly, married with two children.
Carrie has denied that she ever said Harrison was dull in bed (having met him I can attest that he is exceedingly dull out of bed).
But you do wonder why she is kissing and telling in her new book, 40 years after the event – other than plain and simple attention seeking.
Nation having a Balls
HAVE you all got your beer, wine, crisps and snacks ready for possibly the greatest TV moment of the year?
I’m talking of course about the sheer joy of watching Ed Balls twinkle-toeing on Strictly Come Dancing and cheering up the spirits of this entire nation.
I’m not quite sure how a portly ex-politician has wormed his way so securely into our affections.
But I adore watching Ed on this show and cannot contain my glee at the prospect of seeing him perform Great Balls Of Fire tonight live in Blackpool.
A warning to producers.
If there aren’t flaming pyrotechnics flying out of Ed’s (ahem) balls, I am going to be very cross indeed.
Sting is king of shoe biz
I HAD a good chat with Sting this week and he was in really good spirits.
He has a reputation for being a bit intense but we had a laugh about the sexiness of a Geordie accent and his rather fabulous (albeit very loud) comfy shoes.
He also told me how moved and humbled he was to play at the Bataclan in Paris a year after the terrorist attack.
Sting had played the venue back in his days with The Police and felt extremely honoured to be invited back to remember the past and look forward to the future.
People are inevitably envious about his New York apartment, large country estate and vineyard in France, but at heart he’s a hard-working Newcastle boy who is living the dream.
Good luck to him.
MORE OF THE MISSING
I’M hook, line and sinker glued to The Missing.
It is one of the best dramas of the year with impeccable performances from all concerned, especially Tcheky Karyo as the terminally-ill Julien Baptiste.
In these days of binge viewing and downloading entire box sets, it’s highly frustrating to have to wait a whole week for the next instalment.
But somehow the anticipation makes it even more rewarding.