Delusion Of The Flannelled Fool

[Update at end of post]

Some bloggers are honest enough to admit that that is all they are. Others, though, attempt to inflate their presence into “online journalism” and thereby justify describing themselves as journalists, when they do not merit the term. One blogger who features regularly on Zelo Street has taken this art to new heights, calling himself a “contributing editor” and even a “columnist”.

But I am important, cos I'm on telly!

No prizes for guessing that the blogger in question is the flannelled fool Henry Cole, tame gofer to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog. And no prizes for noticing that Cole’s pretentiousness extends beyond mere titles and into the world of Twitter, where until recently he was pushing the idea that he was some kind of sought-after media personality.

See, I'm on telly lots and lots!

Yes, the old Cole Twitter background left no-one in any doubt that he was on telly, well, lots and lots (a style also used by the ubiquitous Emma Boon of the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance). He was on Sky News (first for breaking wind)! He was on the BBC! And he was on Sky News again! Was there no end to this narcissism? Well, no there wasn’t, as a recent change to that Twitter background has shown.

Where did he get the idea for that background?

It was clearly time for a makeover, so out went lots of small images of Himself Personally Now to make way for two far larger images of, well, Himself Personally Now. But this was then changed to just one large image, with the right-hand side of the background in a plain pastel colour. Surely this was a move towards greater modesty, wasn’t it? Well, no it wasn’t.

From her, that's where

Because some of us had seen that background style before. Yes, the single large image at left with plain pastel infill at right is the trademark of none other than Arianna Huffington herself. Master Cole is truly suffering delusions of grandeur to try and put himself in such company. As if. But it raises all kinds of interesting possibilities for the party conference season.

Rumours that he may try and appear incognito at the Labour and Lib Dem meets wearing a blonde wig and under the assumed name of Arianna Huffing-Cole have yet to be confirmed. Another fine mess, once again.

[UPDATE 31 August 1440 hours: Master Cole has posted this Tweet about this post, which is as close as he gets to agreeing with it:

So that's a positively benign response on the subjects of vanity, delusion, and plagiarism. Good to get that one cleared up. I'll post an equally positive Tweet to acknowledge the update]