06:23

Obama cool

 As Obama's presidency slides into interregnum we  are reminded daily just what a class act he is. I admit it; I have a man-crush on him. How couldn't you? He is witty, dignified and moves around with the lithe spring of man half his age. He has a first class intellect and while he does righteous anger he is never anything except cool and measured. In the nearly ten years he has been in our daily consciousness there has never been a moment when I have thought him anything other than a star turn, speaking and acting as the epitome of all that is great in America and an adornment of the highest office. 

In th ten years I watched and listened to George Bush Jnr I can't remember once thinking the same. And that has nothing to do with their politics.

And yet so many Americans just simply don't see it that way, which I suppose is only normal in politics and illustrates again a cultural disonance that is as wide as the Atlantic. Actually, that's not quite true as that gap is not that big between the our continent and either coast of the US. But the South and the Mid-West? We might as well be on different planets. Guess where the bulk of Trump's supporters come from. 

I have never met or heard one European (except Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage - but maybe I need to get out more) who thinks Trump is anything other than the epitome of gross.  And also anyone on this side of the Atlantic who really understands the hatred that Hilary engenders. She is, after all, the most qualified person, outside the Founding Fathers, ever to aspire to the presidency. Charles Moore put his finger on it when he suggested  (and he qualified this by saying that it was an imperfect analogy) that the UK equivalent would be Cherie Blair standing for Prime Minister. Nothing to do with her intelligence or experience - but something about an unwelcome return to a forgotten era and a sneaking sense of nepotism and corruption.

Let's enjoy Obama while we can.


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10:40

William Hague on central bankers

William Hague on central bankers
William Hague was the best prime minister we never had - and nearly always talks sense; never more than here... "I  am not an economist...
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