The deputy prime minister's default expression was on show again as he and David Cameron renewed their vows
After close study I've decided Nick Clegg always looks sad. It's his default expression. I bet he looked sad on his wedding day. If someone rang up and said: "We've found your missing puppy," he'd look even sadder. Visit nickclegglookingsad.tumblr.com if you don't believe me.
Yesterday we had the chance to view him at close range. He and David Cameron were, so to speak, renewing their vows after the wedding in the Downing Street garden one year ago.
They had travelled together out to the Olympic Park, where gleaming finished buildings are set amid what still looks like a Mad Max, post-nuclear winter wasteland. They were in the impressive handball arena, which seats 7,000. For handball!
After the Olympics it will be used for more popular events, such as, I hope, pro-am cage fighting – Katie Price versus Wolverine, perhaps.
The prime minister and his deputy were launching another campaign to get young people into work. Around 40 young persons were ranged behind them.
The two men walked in, Cameron beaming, Clegg's face apparently thrashed into what his personal face-trainer has taught him is a smile. But then he sat, the mouth turned down, and his eyes spoke of an immemorial sorrow, as one who has learned that Tesco is out of Crunchy Nut flakes, that the dry cleaners have ruined his favourite tie, or that his party has just been humiliated in the local elections.
Cameron was being upbeat but cautious. The "scourge" of youth unemployment had to be tackled. "With the economy recovering, it is a big problem," he said, and we reflected that it will be an even bigger problem if the economy isn't recovering, as so many economists believe.
Meanwhile his deputy looked as if he'd asked the prettiest girl in the class to the dance, and she had laughed so much she sprayed crisp particles in his face.
He sketched out the government's strategy: apprenticeships, assistance for people who've already failed to find work. "We want to help the people who fall between the cracks, who are forgotten and ignored," he said, and it sounded like a threnody for his own party.
They answered questions about David Laws. Clearly both of them want him back in the government. Nick Clegg kept saying that he had fiddled his expenses purely to protect his privacy. (I wonder if a masked mugger would be able to make the same claim.)
There was a not very amusing confusion between the two Davids, and they both cracked up at that. The Clegg even managed a smile.
Then, almost instantly, his face fell back into "I'm sure I had the winning numbers, but my ticket went into the washing machine" mode.
Tommy Cooper joke: "Horse walks into a bar. Barman asks: Why the long face? Horse: I've just been chatting to Nick Clegg."
Even the prime minister's fierce assertion that the coalition would last the full five years, come what may, failed to make him look any happier. Older readers may remember Mona Lott in ITMA. It's being so cheerful that keeps him going.