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As relationships go in the wired world, it’s been a weird week.

Real-life husband and wife, Dave Pollard and Amy Taylor, of Newquay, Cornwall - who originally met in virtual online world, Second Life - divorced after Mr Pollard was caught having cyber sex (to be precise, his Second Life persona and avatar, Dave Barmy, was) with another virtual person. For those who haven’t experienced Second Life, divorce might seem a bit extreme, as amorous avatar-ing is about as physical as a saucy text message, if not less so.

As a reader of the story comments: “This has got to be the dumbest thing I have read in a long time.”

But activities in virtual worlds, like Second Life, are becoming increasingly a part of people’s lives. Think 3-D chatroom, which allows you to bump into a myriad of other virtual people seeking virtual fun. I tried it myself; got an avatar and wandered around trippy-looking animations wondering what on earth to do.

And- literally - whatever you want to do, you can in Second Life, without suffering any of the ill after-effects of First Life hedonism (or so Mr Pollard thought). But after a while, it just became boring as well as having some glitch causing my avatar to continually morph into a facsimile of Bee Gee, Barry Gibb. Suddenly, it seemed like hard work which had no link with First Life - and everyone needs a screen break sometime. 

But Victor Keegan writing in The Observer is clearly an advocate, having bought land in Second Life, launching a book of poetry there as well as an art gallery. What’s interesting in his analysis is that the adults of tomorrow now provide millions of participants to various virtual worlds. So, as weird as it might seem to the mainstream today, it could well be our mainstream future. And people such as online entrepreneur, Jon Jacobs are making real life money out of it.

Clearly doing business in Second Life has been a success story for some, but is it really a place for larger companies? There has to be a note of caution when companies are thinking of ways to engage with social media. Just because it’s there doesn’t automatically mean you should be in it. For it to stand a chance, there has to be a meaningful and relevant connection between the organisation, the social medium and that medium’s users. A survey into the better performing larger companies on Second Life suggests it can be done, but (and I apologise for this) the data on these developments are now so old it’s difficult to tell whether a. corporations in SL are quietly getting on with the business of making money or b. it’s such a flop, everyone’s keeping their virtual mouths shut.

A fellow blogger from PR Media Blog has, in the past, suggested I am unrepentant in using sex to sell this site.

Not wishing to disappoint, today’s Sex Uncovered supplement in The Observer is the perfect excuse to blend media talk and sex. But forgive me if I fall asleep somewhere in the middle. The British media (and overseas, but more of that later) are no strangers to sex surveys, and these often make for light reading over a cup of tea. But sex supplements???

Are they a way of winning the Sunday circulation war by getting Times and Telegraph readers to shelve their usual politics for a spot of salacious reading and persuading News of the World followers to feel they’re getting some sophisticated sex talk for a change?

After an exhaustive “history of British sex” introduction from chief leader writer, Rafael Behr - recyling the usual suspects of Philip Larkin and 1963; the Lady Chatterley case; the issue of sex = commerce and scaring us to death with the “tyranny of the ultra-sexual market” - the Observer supplement tries to prove its sheer stamina with several interminable features and pages of results from an ICM poll.

What these results tell us is a combination of the bleeding obvious (people aged 65+ are least promiscuous) and the completely inexplicable (people living in Wales and the South West have most sexual partners). The poll’s results are then trashed by some of the feature writers, in one case deriding the finding that men tend to have a higher sex drive by suggesting that everyone who took the poll is probably lying. So much for what our survey says.

Wondering whether sex surveys are a peculiarly British media phenomenon, a quickie search proved otherwise. But at least what’s out there in the overseas media is either funny or amusingly nationalistic. A survey of Italian men from the country’s edition of Cosmopolitan found the majority were turned off in bed by “vulgar language”, while another magazine flew the flag with a cover story about impotence problems under the title, ”Males of Italy - better than the Americans.”

The Germans are happy to make similar claims, care of a survey from “prophylactic giant, Durex”, which claims the Germans have “extended their Teutonic efficiency to the bedroom.” Not to be outdone, the International Herald Tribune brings in mathematicians to deal with the inexact science of sex surveys, debunking the “men have higher sex drive myth” with the ultimate passion killer - logic. But all very, very funny.

As an Observer reader it pains me to be hard on their supplement and one part of the poll did raise a smile: Is it typically British for 40% of people to rate their sexual performance as just “average”? How would that translate to a pre-coital conversation in the bedroom (or, in the workplace,  as 17% claim)? Might it go something like “Listen, don’t expect fireworks or any of that Latin lover nonsense, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Interesting times for the UK and US’s leaders and leaders in waiting.

As Gordon Brown and the UK government is bailing out the banks, it leaves the Opposition with little to do apart from offer their (grudging) support. Anything else would look churlish and fly against the need for the public to see something done.

But while unable to attack Gordon Brown’s sudden decisiveness on the economic crisis, Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, has felt the need to prick the way he claims Brown is coming across - as “triumphal”. Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer sees it differently, sketching the Prime Minister as lifted from his trademark moroseness by the current challenges. So, image goes a long way in politics.

And in the US, as election day approaches, poor John McCain looks like he might be his own worst enemy, becoming better known for his “short fuse” and “erratic leadership” than the statesmanship Barrack Obama is adopting, even referencing the great FDR’s “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” quote in his current speeches. Obama is calmer while McCain hopes the final presidential debate will enable him to “whip Mr Obama’s you know what” (his words, apparently).

With image counting for so much in politics, I wouldn’t stake a half dollar on it.

As I write, the House of Lords is debating the 42-day detention amendment to the Goverment’s counter-terrorism bill, which - if passed - would increase from 28 to 42 days the amount of time a terrorist suspect could be held without charge.

To support opposition to the bill, campaign group Liberty has orchestrated 42 UK writers to publish work tackling the implications of the legislation head on, with the results posted on a special section of Liberty’s website. 

The Liberty campaign is a brilliant piece of PR: securing 42 high profile writers to contribute their own words on the subject; designing the web site as a 42-day calendar and gaining press coverage such as that in yesterday’s Observer (half an early news page), aimed at precisely the left-leaning libertarian reader who is more likely to rattle his MP’s cage on the matter.

But the key element here is the writers. Whether or not they could be deemed “celebrities”, their profile raises that of the campaign.

Choosing the right, high profile people to associate with your campaign is a sticky business: finding someone who has sufficient profile and resonance with your chosen audience and who will reflect the brand values of your product or cause. Some choices are clear cut in their brilliance while others seem to work in spite of themselves. 1960’s model and icon, Twiggy’s association with M&S just works. Ironically, so does M&S and Mylene Klass, despite the latter being not really a model nor a pop star, but somehow right for the brand.

Here is a selection of brands that had an association with a star, with a suitable clip to refresh your memory. Can you name the star before clicking on the brand? For those readers under 30, you might need to ask a grown up.

Curly Wurly; Campari; Cinzano Bianco; Boddingtons; Memorex; Fosters; Teach your kids to swim (public information film); Olympus Trip; National Westminster Bank