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Tossing Tories
Britain's Conservative Party has revealed its latest scheme to get down with the kids: A perma-tanned Silvio Berlusconi lookalike, described as the "Inner Tosser", who encourages youngsters to rack up huge debts in pursuit of expensive clothes and jewellery.
The "Inner Tosser", thankfully, won't be sitting on the opposition benches in the near future. Instead, he appears on an online movie, tempting a gormless yoof with store cards, gold chains and fancy cars.
The site, which the Tories have named Sort-it, includes debt counselling and advice for credit-card happy teens and twentysomethings, a voting market the Conservatives are eager to attract. Tory leder David Cameron says that the campaign is meant to encourage young people to think about their social responsibilities. Racism and homelessness will feature in future episodes.
It's meant to be viral - that is, users are encouraged to send the clip, or the amusing Tosser Test, on to friends in one of those circular emails we all know and love. Unfortunately, though, it just ain't that funny.
Inexplicably, the Inner Tosser has an American accent - not that the Brits need any help from the Yanks, they've run up Europe's biggest credit card debt by far. But perhaps it's a reference to a US Republican's 2004 description of the Conservatives as a "bunch of wankers."
Traditional Tories are likely to be perplexed by central office's latest creation. That said, the Inner Tosser is a more likely addition to the Conservative campaign than yesterday's big idea, Polly Toynbee.
