There were remarkable scenes at Gaddafi’s home when marauding bands of feral youths ransacked and looted the compound. David Cameron issued an impassioned plea for the looters to be punished for hooliganism and urging that they also lose their benefits and be evicted from their homes. He said that bad parenting was the root cause of the unrest. Or rather, he didn’t. He just hasn’t got a good enough sense of humour for it.

But, when mobs start displaying the contents of your knicker drawer to satellite TV crews, it is a sign that your time is up. Another was when the news crews reported that the despot “still controls the area around the Rixos Hotel”. This gives him a territory that makes San Marino look like a vast wilderness.

There are other lessons for would be underlings to evil. Firstly, when your evil boss is spending all his time in a bunker, it’s the beginning of the end. While we might all have a sneaky regard for the impressive work rate and attention to detail that a Stalin had, today’s despots just don’t have the same dedication and all too often find themselves pining for the easy life.

Attention has turned to where he might flee to, but as his preferred mode of transport appears to be a golf cart, the options must be limited, unless he plans an unorthodox entry in the Paris Dakar Rally. But this is not a great option. The Nigerians promised former Liberian President, Charles Taylor sanctuary and shopped him as soon as possible.

Few dictators have the essential sense of humility, a prerequisite for suicide, so it’s often left to a firing squad, such as in the case of the Ceausescus.

Others are crated up and sent to The Hague, where they are put on trial until they die of boredom. Some of the defendants don’t let the prospect of a lengthy trial detract them. Jean-Pierre Bemba, from Congo’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo is sitting in the dock, charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes… and preparing a run for President of the Congo. Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Vojislav Seselj also ran for President while in prison.

We’re missing a trick.  We need to work on the karmic balance here. The arrested authoritarian needs to be punished and there also needs to be some act of contrition for the long suffering citizens.

Here’s one solution that not only does this, it also makes money. We need to find a small island – Greece is selling them off cheap – and we can ship out the toppled tyrants there and make a new reality TV show, “I’m a dictator, get me out of here!” 

This could provide a source for entertainment, especially for nations going through austerity. Whose day would not be brightened by, for example, watching the former fuhrers feast on a diet of kangaroo genitalia or being punished for rule breaking by being waterboarded live on TV. Now, we must maintain some civilized values, so the waterboarding would have to be done with something else, say foamy water or perhaps we can get a soft drink manufacturer on board as a sponsor.

Pepsi challenge anyone?
 ACarling@NEurope.eu