Giftgate Continues!

Friday, 6th March 2009

On the one hand, the rumpus over the gifts exchanged between Gordon Brown and Barack Obama is, as TIME's Michael Scherer puts it, "exhausting". Also, magnificently trivial. But let's face it, giving the PM a collection of DVDs is pretty rubbish. As Iain Martin notes, Brown is an American history buff (his favourite political book is said to be Robert Caro's monumental biography of LBJ) and it would not have taken much thought to find a better, more appropriate present.

Now one of Mark Hemingway's readers raises a vital, as yet unanswered, question:

It would be funny if the DVDs Mr Obama gave Mr Brown were Region 1 NTSC and therefore not compatible with the UK where DVDs are region 2 and video format is PAL.

Well, is this the case? I think we should be told!

Filed under: Brown (141 more articles) , Obama (231 more articles) , Special Relationship (11 more articles)

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Alf Tupper

March 6th, 2009 7:21pm Report this comment

None of this is of any use to Brown and his 8-track.

Fergus Pickering

March 7th, 2009 11:32am Report this comment

It may of course be that cool Americans, like barack and Mrs Barack, don't read books much but love watching old films. Like 'Gone With The Wind' perhaps?

elixelx

March 7th, 2009 11:34am Report this comment

Whaaaat's this, Alex? You mean that Barry did bad?
Well then, that makes you one more credulous yesterday virgin who is now a well-screwed today hore!

RW

March 7th, 2009 2:40pm Report this comment

Not an issue; easy enough to get the code for most DVD players which enables them to be unlocked and become multi-region, and therefore able to play discs from all over the world. Perfectly legal. A non-story.

More to the point, The One should have given Brown an "It all started in America" T-shirt.