Wednesday 12

First Eliot Spitzer,now Michael Todd, then that Bishop who's ditching his wife, and whatabout old Bill Deedes, who was revealed this week in a new biography to have cherished an unrequited (well we hope against hope that it was requited, but she denies it) passion for a blonde hack called Victoria fifty years his junior. Proof that top men have needs. Even Bill "Needs" Deedes. Even when they're ancient. Even when they're married. Make that especially when they're married. For what unites all the above men is not the fact that they are sinners (OK, even if Bill Deedes only lusted, like Jimmy Carter, in his heart). It's not even the fact that they were looked up to as leaders of men, as moral crusaders, as icons in their professions. It's that they were married. The message of the week, like the thought for the day, is a grim one for the missus. And it's this. If you're married to a super chap, the sort of chap who everyone else finds marvellous, I'm afraid that the chances are that he has needs (see yesterday's post), and they are of the quality (dark, driven, shameful, bad) that wives don't supply.