Don't blame Palin - it's McCain who has blown it

THE backbiting has already begun. As the prospects for the Republicans look worse by the day, I suppose it was inevitable that members of John McCain's team would start blaming his running mate, Sarah Palin, for losing next week's US election.

It's only a few weeks since McCain was being congratulated for a brilliant piece of political theatre when he chose the obscure governor of Alaska as vice-presidential candidate. But the Republicans have been hugely damaged by McCain's inept response to the financial crisis and Palin is being set up as the perfect scapegoat.

I can think of dozens of reasons to dislike her but the old-fashioned sexism of McCain's people is not pleasant to behold. The things they're muttering about Palin that she's spent too much money and is too independent are very obviously distractions from McCain's poor showing. So what if she's blown $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe? I'm sure the Republicans can afford it. Like any woman who finds herself propelled onto the world stage, Palin knows that what she wears will be discussed in minute detail.

If she'd turned up in outfits bought in the Wasilla branch of Walmart, she'd have been mocked. Instead she went to Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus and the fact that we know it speaks volumes about the sexism female politicians have to put up with. No one asks where McCain and Barack Obama get their clothes, or how much they've spent on suits and haircuts.

When will a woman be able to make a bid for one of the top jobs in politics without attracting this kind of snide running commentary? It happens here as well, to Theresa May and Harriet Harman, for instance and it's a ludicrous diversion from much more important matters. Palin is dreadful on abortion, sex education, religion, green issues and foreign affairs. But McCain's people are desperate and they're appealing to the visceral misogyny of American politics.

My guess is that Palin's campaign has been shaped by the barrage of sexist abuse faced by Hillary Clinton as she tried to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. I was never a great fan of Hillary but I was outraged by the sheer, unbridled nastiness of the campaign against her. Palin's team has avoided the pantsuits which didn't do Clinton any favours, going instead for a contemporary version of a 1950s look glasses, beehive, pencil skirts which sends subliminal messages about efficiency and femininity.

Even so, the anti-Palin campaign merchandise available on the internet includes slogans such as "a pitbull in lipstick is still a bitch" and "Bros before Hos". It's bad enough that her opponents have stooped to such tactics, without her own party getting personal as well. But I guess that's the advantage of having a woman on the ticket there's always someone to take the blame if things go pear-shaped.

The crunch is biting

RECESSION, what recession? Walking down Oxford Street last Saturday evening, I couldn't move for shoppers who seemed to be spending as though the credit crunch was just an unpleasant dream. Bond Street Tube station was packed, and I couldn't see any shortage of people arriving for a night in the West End.

The previous week, in Newcastle, shops and restaurants were visibly emptier and I began to wonder why London seemed to be immune from all those dire headlines.

Then I talked to a friend who runs a popular neighbourhood restaurant in west London, and he shook his head. People are still eating out, he said, but they are choosing cheaper dishes from the menu. Meanwhile, the cost of food has shot up but he can't increase his prices. The effects of the international financial crisis are already becoming local, even if we can't see them yet.