Mr McCartney goes to the White House

To pick up his Gershwin Award, Paul McCartney has made a trip to Washington:

"For an English kid growing up in Liverpool, the White House — that's pretty special," he said.

In a way that, you understand, the White House means bugger all to kids who grew up in Manchester or Ormskirk.

Still, having a gig at the seat of American power and getting a prize from Obama - that's quite a heady position. McCartney believes in all sort of things, and so surely will use this platform to share some insight about the challenges facing the President?

"He's a great guy," McCartney said of Obama, "so lay off him."

Good lord, that's worse than the way he used to pat Ringo on the head between sets. The rather bland statement is thrown into a bit more relief by the citation for the prize he's getting:

Librarian of Congress James Billington credited McCartney for "symbolizing and humanizing the global soundscape," with his music and his activism around the world.

Yes. The famous activist cry of 'oh, don't be too beastly to the President'.