by Sam Todd

Created on: December 04, 2007

'Tis the season to be jolly (unless you're Ebenezer Scrooge of course) and with the quality of news provided by the US and their mostly Middle Eastern associates, there's plenty of material to keep us Brits merry during Christmas.

If you happen to be at the BBC, though, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the whole country revolved around "Dubya".

OK, so you'd expect George Bush to be at the heart of things stateside, but if Auntie Beeb is anything to go by, then the President is keeping himself busy in his final year in office.

"Bush says Iran remains a threat" - "Bush urges Columbia trade deal" - "Bush tells Putin of poll concern" - "Bush claims to be the second coming".

Admittedly, I made the last headline up for comic purposes, but the other three occupy the top five headlines in the "Americas" section of the BBC News website.

According to Bush, Iran remains a threat to the world despite new intelligence saying the country may not be building nuclear weapons.

So if that's what intelligence is saying, does that mean 'stupid' is saying that the Iranians are still capable of nuclear warfare?

"Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the know-how to make a nuclear weapon," Mr Bush said.

In case you're wondering, Iran is dangerous, folks.

Whilst he was trying to lecture the US media on the dangers of Iran, Busy Bush still managed to find time to pick a fight with Congress, calling on them to pass a controversial free trade deal with US ally Colombia to help promote regional stability.

So Saddam Hussein wasn't the only leader to make himself available in two places at once!

Some Congress members are opposed, citing concerns over workers' rights.

Ah, our old friend immigration comes out of the cupboard once again.

Mr Bush suggested the deal could help counter the influence of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, with whom both the US and Colombia have difficult relations.

"The Venezuelan people rejected one-man rule. They voted for democracy."

And so did the Americans.

But Bush wasn't done for the day just yet. Good old George was able to find a moment to express concerns about the legitimacy of the Russian elections.

The Russian elections? Illegitimate? Whatever next!

"Dubya" even had the courage to mention this to Russian overlord Vlad Putin in a telephone conversation.

"I said we were sincere in our expressions of concern about the elections," Mr Bush told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

The Bush administration has called on Russia to investigate whether the vote was manipulated.

This, of course, would be like asking Lord Lucan to help organise Christmas this year with nanny-in-tow.

Or as useful as making sure Bush doesn't dominate the news headlines.

You'd honestly think there would be an election going on...

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