Struggling to cope with the all-female list of candidates for the presidential election, the British media - or at least one influential arm of it - has decided to dub the contest between the four declared contenders the Spice Girls Election. According to the Press Association news service, from which all British provincial newspapers and most national papers take their cue, the all-female cast is made up of:
Charity Spice - Adi Roche: so called because of her efforts on behalf of the victims of Chernobyl;
Northern Spice - Mary McAleese: so called because of her birthplace in Northern Ireland (the Ardoyne estate) and current employer, Queen's University, Belfast;
Euro Spice - Mary Banotti: so called because of her membership of the European Parliament; and finally
All Kinds of Every Spice - Dana: for reasons that need no elaboration.
An election report by the service last night did not make clear which of the four presidential hopefuls was felt to look and dress most like Geri, Emma, Victoria, Mel B and Mel C.