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There are some who fulminate against our elected representatives commenting on the trivial issues of the day, whether it be the death of Sinatra, the imprisonment of a soap opera character, feckless quad-biking rock stars, mucky phone calls to Andrew Sachs, the benefits of television talent shows, or John Sergeant’s decision to hang up his cummerbund.

I am/was one of them but today I find I disagree. Firstly because, while they’re talking rot about the bread and circuses of modern life, they’re not giving thought to how they can continue poking their grubby fingers into our everyday lives in unpleasant ways. (The disenfranchising distraction cuts both ways).

When Tony Blair went out of his way to say of the dead Sinatra, ‘I have never met him or seen him perform, but I have seen many of his films and heard his songs,’ at least he wasn’t planning how to cluster-bomb brown kids. When Peter Mandelson’s partying with Russian oligarchs he’s not dreaming up new ways of screwing the low-paid.

Secondly, they talk about these things because they need to. They’re attempting to make common cause with an electorate who doesn’t particularly like or trust them. It’s the equivalent of the square geography teacher trying to impress surly students with his knowledge of Phil Collins’ back catalogue. It’s desperation.

Plus politicians have much less power than they used to and therefore less important things to talk about. Trivia and bullshit has been sucked into that void – they become important by default. All the stuff that really matters is now in the hands of the private sector with the rest heading in that direction. Dull stuff like making sure the poor don’t starve? Nobody finds that remotely interesting and it doesn’t win votes. Quite the opposite in some quarters.

Politicians are becoming as much bystanders as the rest of us. Look at the banks ignoring pleas and threats from ministers. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling start to resemble the chav scum of popular legend who can’t control their feral offspring.

So, far from being undignified, these exchanges on popular culture are an attempt at salvaging some dignity, a role, something to do. Anything to fill the long hours of being despised. Please listen to me, they say, I’m just like you – I can do The Twist – watch me.