Why don't we like politicians? In The Political Animal, Jeremy Paxman takes a look at why governments and politicians so often fail to live up to expectations. It can be an unforgiving business for MPs - caricatured as either power-hungry hypocrites or hopeless idealists - years of effort can lead only to defeat, disgrace or obscurity. What sort of person likes having his or her business or family affairs all over the news, or mistakes trumpeted and triumphs belittled? What drives people to go into it - and what do they get from it all? Jeremy Paxman sets out to explore this strange world - and on the way gives us an unsparing, but essentially sympathetic portrait of modern politicians.