In his speech last Friday to Labour's Scottish conference in Dundee, Gordon made a toe-curling and very laboured joke:
"As you know I'm not long back from Washington DC and I said the people there that I couldn't stay long because I was off to Dundee, They asked, Dundee Michigan, Dundee Illinois or Dundee Oregon? I said the original Dundee. They asked what state was it in? It's in a great state, I replied. It's got a Labour council."
On the other hand, Dundee's woes worsened this week in that Gordon's visit was followed by local job losses at NCR and Texol. The accursed one-eyed son of the manse strikes again...