THE Prime Minister's wife is in need of a make-over, apparently. New lipstick may come into it somewhere, although I'm not an expert. Strangely enough, the PR man tipped for the job once stepped in to give this fine old city a boost.

York was in a damp way at the time, after the deluge of 2000. National news reports had given the impression that this city had more or less been submerged. At the height of the floods, television reporters wearing waders fought for the best and wettest locations. Any shot with Clifford's Tower in the background was a favourite, as the reporter frowned into the camera lens from the depths of the inundated pavement, before wandering off to find a perfectly dry pub, of which there remained many.

So by the following summer, with fears that York was in danger of being mistaken for Amsterdam, York Tourism Bureau hired in Shimon Cohen, the chief executive of Bell Pottinger Public Relations. The imported spin-meister got to work with the bureau, and soon non-drip images of York were appearing all over the place.

Mr Cohen spent six weeks drying out York and the bureau expressed itself pleased with the results, which included an item on the BBC1 programme, Holiday On A Shoestring.

As this is the column written on a shoestring, a pleasing symmetry suggested itself. So what would be Mr Cohen's toughest job - wringing out soggy old York or making the Prime Minister's wife presentable?

It should be said that Mr Cohen hasn't confirmed reports that he could be taking over a job previously done by Fiona Millar, partner to Alastair Campbell, the chest-beating king of the spin jungle. But that needn't stop a spot of playfulness.

It seems remarkable that York needs the assistance of spin doctors. After all, haven't quite a few people already heard of this city? But that is nave of me. The spin's the thing these days, when anything from mobile phones with postage-stamp sized video screens to forthcoming wars on middle eastern tyrants employ the manipulative skills of the image maker.

So what is this PR company that re-built York in six weeks and is already rumoured to be measuring Cherie Blair for the erection of scaffolding? Seeking an answer, I searched the Internet and discovered an offshoot, QBO Bell Pottinger. This PR outfit sells itself with assorted examples, including one under the heading "Making news out of nothing". Ah, more happy symmetry. As a long-time practitioner in making columns out of nothing, this appealed to me.

The example given was a piece of fluff about the cost of educating children at a state school - a "story" which the Daily Mail newspaper, that expert knitter of something from nothing, turned into one angry page.

Making something out of not very much can be profitable. The likes of star publicist Max Clifford garner a fortune by shoe-horning the would-be famous into their 15-minute slot, where they can dazzle then fizzle. Either that or the wannabes can bore the pants off the nation on Big Brother, emerge into the daylight of instant publicity, and then diminish to become one of fame's faintest echoes.

As for Cherie Blair, it seems indulgent that she should have her own spin doctor - as well as insulting. The Prime Minister's wife is, after all, highly successful in her own right, so shouldn't she be allowed out unspun?

But there I am, going about being nave again. No public figure gets away without being spun these days.

Updated: 10:37 Thursday, July 17, 2003