Narcissism seems to be flavour of the day. Anna Raccoon has outlined perfectly my views on Assange. He could have been useful, could have done some good, but he’s clearly got a very inflated opinion of himself, and as far as I’m concerned as soon as you reveal your sources and abandon them to their fate, you’re finished, both ethically and operationally. Who in their right mind would leak to Assange now?

But of course that isn’t the only exhibition of narcissism we’ve seen today, and perhaps I’m an old cynic, but I can see a small group of people making a very nice living, once they’ve had an uncomfortable few months.

I’m talking about one of the most famous bands in the world, ‘Pussy Riot‘, pretty much everyone has heard of them, pretty much no-one is able to name or hum one of their tunes.

Firstly, the charges to me, coming from a (properly) liberal point of view, anchored in Anglo Saxon cultural wossname seems a little on the trumped up side, the verdict seemed inevitable (Bystander has a most enlightening stat about the judge in the case) and the sentence unduly harsh.

It’s a put-up job, but there’s something ironic about the former head of the KGB, part of a mechanism that banned the observance of religion, using a law to protect the sensibilities of the congregation of an orthodox church after they were obviously and mortally offended by the actions of these hooligans as they protested against Putin in the run-up to the election.

It’s a monstrous over-reaction from a vain and insecure man, who I believe will find some way of altering the Russian constitution to remove the limit on Presidential terms, stuffing the ballot box is a doddle.

But hey! This is Russia, what did these people expect to happen? I’ll tell you; exactly what has happened.

There’s a very nice trade off here. Pussy Riot have gone from being an anonymous band to one of the most famous names in the world. It doesn’t matter that there’s the prospect of two years in jail, (I’m making the assumption that two years in a Russian jail is actually two years) as when they get out they’ll have all the big names out in support of them.

Old Turkey Neck herself has already shown her support, in between getting booed off stage. The Russian Deputy PM’s response was fantastic. All the others will come out as well, they’ll be fêted across the western world, there will be television appearances, festivals, tours, merchandise, and it doesn’t matter if their music is any good, because they stood up to the man by being a bit potty mouthed in a church.

If you’re a little band trying to make it big in the west, it is mission accomplished.