Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:51 AM 9/16/04 +0100, Beddoe, Neil wrote: >How many Americans can tell me who Michael Howard is? Be real, Neil. Anyone who regularly reads the ECONOMIST or the like knows that he is the Leader of the Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons. And many USians also listen to BBC either directly or on the Web or on cable TV. And I suspect that the Americans who live north of their border with this Great Republic, the denizens of the Dominion of Canada, will be even more familiar with Howard's name, as the Canadian press gives more coverage to the Old Country than does the US media (ours tends to concentrate on hi-jinks by the junior members of the Royal Family and the like). I am embarrassed to admit that the only former British PM I have ever met in person is my least-favorite, at least since Gladstone, Lord Wilson. We did have a wonderful 15-minute chat about Earl Halifax, for whom Wilson worked in Washington during the War Years, all the while me biting my lip to keep from asking him the killing questions about his repetitive and many failures as the leder of a great nation. (My Significant Other of the time had been one of the folks hosting Lord Wilson and I certainly did not wish to embarass her by asking Wilson the sort of probing questions I could have asked ... My own feeling is that Howard is not the man for the moment, though he has proven himself most capable at damage control. (I understand that the Tory website discusses him in their "About Michael" section. I retch. Such fawning for a "common touch" is inappropriate and banal. I could not imagine Churchill authorizing the publication of a pamphlet entitled "About Winnie". And what of Lord Salisbury, the last Peer to hold the seals as Prime Minister? Gads! The "Common Touch" of former PM's was to actually activate their bodies in depressed areas: think of Churchill's visits to the bombed sections of London and many other British cities or the like.) Put money on it: Blair will win the impending next election and will then resign. If he chooses not to do so, the Tories will sweep all in the NEXT election, as the Socialists will implode -- a favored US political image is that of the "Democrat Party Firing Squad", with all armed figures aiming inwards at their own people. The Tories did this a decade back, as Labour did in the '80's. British politics are vital to the US: normally, we get far more out of Socialist governments than we do from the Tories, but, then, Thatcher and Reagam proved that evem those who spoke for the soul of their respective nations could get along. And, for those who have been spared the embarrassment, Senator John Kerry from the Sovereign State of Massachussets (the first Colony in these hustings to actively shoot back at the British in 1775 with that "shot heard round the world") is the Candidate for the office of President of the Democrat Party. He is running against George Bush, the Republican incumbent. At the moment, the polls show Bush comfortably ahead in the electoral-vote count but, then, much can change in the 47 days until the election is actually held. Expect a cliff-hanger but, at the moment, the smart money is on Bush to win. Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!