However, the drug taking admissions are not on. He's an astute and media savvy business man so this was no accidental slip. Let's hope he's not trying to be down with the kids in an effort to prove that yes, he might have a knighthood and yes, he has his own private island but back in the day, he was a bit of a mad yoke. If this is his goal, it's not going to work.

Drugs are boring; drug confessions more so. Can you bear to hear about Mark Cagney's cocaine hell or Colin Farrell misspent youth of getting loaded on whatever illegal substance was doing the rounds?

Thought not. Sharing a drugs CV achieves nothing except to make the general public question as to why these people are making their confessions in the first place. This is especially true in the case of politicians . . . take nine cabinet ministers in the UK for starters. Are they sharing in order to stop the press revealing them first and to preempt any further revelations or give them some kudos with a certain demographic? At home we had Brian Cowen confessing to his own druggie past. "Anyone who went to the UCD bar in the '70s that didn't get a whiff of marijuana would be telling you a lie, " the Tanaiste said. "There were a couple of occasions when it was passed around and unlike President Clinton, I did inhale." Apart from a minor outcry from certain quarter, did this scupper his chances as the likely successor to Bertie's throne? No. Did it get a load of early-20s stoners thinking, "Hey, he's a bit cool, let's go vote." Not a chance. Like the Branson revelation, it was pointless and dull. There are enough proper messers out there already . . . Lindsay Lohan, Pete Doherty et al . . . with prodigious narcotic appetites without pillars of establishment getting in on the act. They should really just stick to running the country and making billions.