IT is academic whether disgraced former Tory MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine put themselves on display and talk for their supper out of necessity after the bankruptcy that followed his failed attempts in the courts to clear his name over the cash-for-questions scandal or whether the pair are simply drunk on publicity.

But as they turn up in Rossendale next Friday to "tell their fantastic story" at a £45-a-head black tie/evening dress dinner and disco one cannot but feel sorry for the downfallen who willingly or out of hardship turn themselves into a modern-day freak show.

Yet, what does this say of the people who dress up and pay such amounts to see them perform while they scoff down a four-course dinner and jig about to music afterwards and, quite probably, imagine they are taking part in a posh and cerebral night out?

Begging either sympathy or ridicule, the Hamiltons find themselves a long way from the Ritz in Paris as they parade themselves for public amusement in Rawtenstall, but what excuse have the hundred or so patronising this shabby show -- other than pandering to their own prurience... which, to me, ranks even lower than the position in which this sorry couple find themselves.