R.M. VAUGHAN
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
November 20, 2008 at 5:32 PM EST

Should I ever earn the privilege of interviewing the Prime Minister (and I’ve got some choice questions for him), I doubt he will be as difficult to access as the young British actor Robert Pattinson.

In exchange for eight precious minutes with Pattinson, the former Harry Potter regular and current star of the tween vampire movie Twilight (which opens today), I not only faced the usual flotilla of handlers, but also several layers of boutique hotel security, followed by a Get Smart-like series of locked double doors leading to a secret penthouse loft. Once inside, I was stared down by two burly, very still men I assume were bodyguards. I wonder where the panic room was located?

In fairness, the Prime Minister is only a leader of the country. He’s never been swarmed by thousands of insane, screaming tweenage girls, as Pattinson was a mere hour before we met. And tweenage girls, not boring old prime ministers, are running the cultural show today — because they’re the only people with any money. Maybe our auto plants should start making Hannah Montana and High School Musical gimcracks.

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