{The diplomatic secrets of Madeleine Albright's coded jewellery}

Picture above: For the Middle-East peace talks in 1999, Albright would occasionally wear a wasp for her meetings with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "I wore wasps on tough days when I wanted to do a little stinging and deliver a tough message."

The diplomatic secrets of Madeleine Albright's coded jewellery. The former secretary of state's brooches have hidden meanings. 
By John Crace (The Guardian, Tuesday 6 October 2009) 

Forget "read my lips". When doing business with Madeleine Albright, former US ambassador to the UN and Bill Clinton's secretary of state, you're better off with "read my brooch". In her new book, just published in the US, Albright reveals that the brooch she chose to wear on her left lapel was determined by the state of play in ongoing diplomatic negotiations. So while Yasser Arafat was treated to a wasp, the South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, got a more welcoming sun.

The fad kicked off after the Gulf war in 1994 when the Iraqi press referred to her as an "unparalleled serpent" and she decided to wear a coiled snake to her next meeting with Saddam Hussein. By the time she left office she had a collection of more than 300 brooches – most of them picked up for next to nothing at flea markets – including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a gold UFO with three aliens – presumably for meetings with the Taliban and David Icke respectively.

Sadly we never got to find out what she would choose for a meeting with Gordon Brown – a dead man walking? - but her brooch idea has already broached the Labour stronghold. When Hazel Blears resigned from the cabinet in June, she wore a sinking ship – with the message, "Rocking the boat".