SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS

I attended the YouGovStone talk on how and if the American elections will have an impact on the UK. Very interesting it was, and the speakers were excellent, each giving an insight into the American political psych. In short, it won't have much. And further more our special relationship isn't very special and will be even less so now we plan to reduce our defence budget. Obama mentioned 85 other countries in his first six months of presidency (according to the research), mentioning China the most, then India,then a host of other countries leaving UK with only 8 mentions, marginally higher than Kenya. The States look East and South these days, and they are not looking at us. There were many astute insights, but the quote of the evening must be 'you don't have to be human to make a good president." Actually, I think if you weren't human, dependent on what you were, it could actually be an advantage. Aliens (not illegal aliens) would suffer no emotional backlash, guilt, guile, feelings of remorse for any political mistake. There would be no signs or need for emotional depth or intelligence. Thinking about it, I sense we have had a few non human prime ministers this side of the pond as well.