It was Saturday night. The venue was Birmingham Symphony Hall. The world's great movers and shakers were there, and they were out for a good time..

Move and shake they did - to Jools Holland, Chris Rea, Mick Hucknall, All Saints, Sam Brown and the Voice of Gospel. Boris Yeltsin stayed at home - he stayed at home last year in Denver too - pleading then like now that he was too old to boogie.

Cherie Blair QC, Britain's leading lady, was the star of the line-up of dignitaries. A vision in a white trouser suit she looked great, knew the words and when it came to moving and shaking was in a class of her own.

She was itching to boogie but etiquette prevailed. Not until the nod came from a Downing Street aide did her husband get to his feet, and then she and their guests could get to theirs.

What followed was the only unsynchronised moment of the G8 summit. Try as they might the Prime Minister and the President could not quite get it right. It mattered not, the crowd, by this time were dancing in the aisles, loved them and were happy to let them know it.

Each leader was cheered to their seat. There was an especially warm welcome for Tony and Cherie Blair but when Bill and Hillary Clinton took their seats the cacophony of noise was as extraordinary as it was tremendous. Birmingham too demonstrated it was in thrall to the President's magic.

Cool Britannia was stamped all over the G8, and it worked. No stuffiness, very little ceremony and as much as it was possible a people's summit. New Labour was stamped all over the concert, it was about modern Britain, youth and making people feel better.

The glorious weather helped and the Brummies turned out in force to see for themselves eight of the most influential men in the world. They were encouraged and certainly not ignored - there was unprecedented access and a second ''People's concert''. While the leaders were in the Symphony Hall, 35,000 others were in a Birmingham park enjoying a line up of some of the biggest names in pop.

The choice of Birmingham, for which the Government must credit their predecessors, was inspirational. It is a monument now to manufacturing might and visionary municipal planning with fine buildings, museums, and pubs along the canals. The leaders took notice and paid tribute to the city's hospitality. Well they might.

And they did not leave empty handed. Asked what they would like for a souvenir Mrs Hashimoto and Mrs Prodi chose framed prints of Shakespearian characters drawn by the Royal Shakespeare Company's artist.

For America's first lady there was a costume of Hymen, the Goddess of Marriage in As You Like It, and for Mr Yeltsin there was Tinky Winky, La La, Dipsy and Po. Mr Yeltsin may have missed the concert but he had heard the message.Whoever would have thought the President of the Russian Federation wanted nothing other than a set of talking Teletubbies?