Bile and Prime Ministers??

"What to do with the ex-PMs and all that pent-up bile?" – despite my severe and embarrassing lack of knowledge in the politics department, I did in fact find this title rather intriguing. I think it was primarily because of the odd and rather funny attachment of ex-Prime Ministers to pent-up bile – not generally a common association. Bile, in case one was unaware, is "a bitter, yellow or green alkaline fluid secreted by hepatocytes from the liver of most vertebrates. In many species, it is stored in the gallbladder between meals and upon eating is discharged into the duodenum where it excretes waste and aids the process of digestion of lipids" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile). Fortunately, the article itself was just as witty and descriptive as the title that had proceeded it. Because, sadly, the names of the Prime Ministers were pretty much the only things that I really recognized throughout the article, it really helped that the language, diction and syntax provided a bit of humour. I found the elaborate descriptions, metaphors and personifications particularly comical – for example, "Jean Chrétien swills the bile around on his palate like vintage wine", and "Of the 19 prime ministers in the Fifth French Republic, only two managed to climb the extra rung on the greasy pole to become president". In addition, I found it interesting and quite humorous how the author makes it seem as though ex-PMs are like a serious bug or rodent problem, starting off the article with "In the modern world, as we all live longer, here's a new problem. What do we do with ex-prime ministers?". Overall, although I may not have followed all the political technicalities, I did actually enjoy this article – amazing what a few well-phrased metaphors and a little bit of humour can do.