The long and the short of it

President Nicolas Sarkozy should be calling in our very own little leader Bob Hawke for lessons. The French leader is apparently very sensitive about his height or rather the lack of it and has left himself open to plenty of guffawing by his latest attempt to disguise it. At a Normandy factory he visited last week instructions were given to find the shortest workers possible to be in the welcoming committee.

So it was that workers were especially bussed in for the occasion and placed on the podium behind him. Unfortunately a Belgian television cameraman twigged that something was up and one of the little women was interviewed and confirmed that she had been chosen because of her size. “You must not be bigger than the president?” the journalist asked. “That’s right” the woman said and the exchange has now become a hit on the French internet.

At 5ft 5in the President is conscious that he is overshadowed by his wife Bruni at 5ft 9in. The couple go some way to solving the imbalance by him wearing high heels and her flat soled shoes as in this picture taken on a recent visit to England.

Australia’s Bob Hawke, himself about Sarkozy size, nevertheless anormally appeared to be quite a tall fellow by clever subterfuges like his bouffant hair style and an uncanny ability to always be half a pace in front of anyone else when walking up stairs.