World

The world knew him as ‘Bush 41’. I knew him by a different name -during the time I worked for him as his speechwriter when he was vice president. In those days, the staff called him ‘the Vishnu’. (Bear with me.) It was his own devising. He’d been to India on a state visit, where they’d presented him, amid much pomp and ceremony and clanging of brass, with a statue of the four-armed Vedic deity. Its plaque described the Vishnu’s numerous godly qualities, among them: omniscience, omnipotence, and his title ‘Preserver of the Universe’. Mr Bush immediately recognised a kindred godhead. He began referring to himself, in staff memos and

Huge ructions at PMQs. Ian Blackford, of the SNP, said Mrs May had been ‘misleading the house inadvertently or otherwise’ over her EU agreement. Instant panic. Roars of outrage at the suggestion that the prime minister had lied. Mr Speaker snapped to his feet. The house paused while he delivered his ruling which centred on two adverbs. He revealed that when accusing the PM of fibbing it’s advisable to say that it was done ‘inadvertently’. But to add the phrase ‘or otherwise’ suggests that Mrs May tells lies as a matter of policy. Surely not! ‘There must be no imputation of dishonour,’ said Mr Bercow, clearly enjoying the semantic kerfuffle

Naturally, the news that the League Against Cruel Sports is being sued by an ethical vegan, one Jordi Casamitjana, for discrimination – on the basis he was allegedly sacked for his beliefs – cheered up my whole day. The hunting sabs being called out for not occupying the moral high ground – Casamitjana says they sacked him for saying their pension funds were invested in firms that were not as ethical as they might be, having participated in animal testing – just goes to show that even the most intolerant prigs can always be outclassed by someone on the even higher moral ground. Ha, and then ha. But a cursory

For all but the most harried journalist motivated by a need to pay off the mortgage, the annual G20 summit – being held this weekend in Buenos Aires – is typically viewed as a perfect cure for insomnia. Who will stand next to whom in the family photo? Will the wording of a final statement be agreed by all leaders before the official deadline? Yawn yawn yawn. However, there is an exception to every rule. And yesterday’s opening ceremony proved to be just that. First, a hot mic picked up parts of a tense conversation between the French President and Saudi Crown Prince. While hardly a slanging match, it was

Marine Le Pen spent last Saturday commenting on the scenes from the Champs-Elysées as the latest Gilets Jaunes demonstration turned violent. She also had the opportunity to respond to Christophe Castaner, the interior minister who, as cobbles rained down on the heads of the riot police, accused Le Pen of inciting the far-right to go on the rampage. Le Pen rejected the allegations, saying she had done no such thing; and anyway, as far as the National Rally leader was concerned, the people running amok in the capital weren’t from the far-right. Le Pen’s view was endorsed by Marion Maréchal, who unlike her aunt, chose to witness the latest manifestation of

It would be the understatement of the century to say that the normally constructive and cordial relationship between the United States and Germany was experiencing a few hiccups in the age of Donald Trump. Notwithstanding talk about mutual respect and friendship during shared photo sessions, Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are not exactly two peas in a pod. In fact, the two leaders are polar opposites in temperament, experience, and worldview: Trump is the loud-mouth, condescending, bull-in-a-china shop from New York who campaigned on burning America’s political system to the ground; Merkel is the consummate European politician deeply attached to multilateralism and extremely devoted to the rules-based international order.

Baroness Trumpington has died at the age of 96. In February last year, Bruce Anderson paid tribute to her here: To the Western Isles, or at least to its embassy in Belgravia. Boisdale restaurant always claims to be extra-territorial. There was an awards ceremony, and the principal recipient was a remarkable old girl. Ninety-four years into an extraordinarily diverse life, Jean Trumpington is one of the funniest people I have ever met. She is also one of the bravest. She was born in easy circumstances, a child of the affluent upper middle classes, and the first disruption occurred when her mother lost a lot of money in the Great Crash.

Donald Trump might change his view on many things but he has been completely consistent on Brexit. He saw the referendum as a great vote of confidence in the nation state, a declaration that Britain was thinking bigger than the EU and ready to do better deals with the world. America stood ready to conduct a free trade deal, he said, and Britain would be at “the front of the queue”. But his officials were appalled to see the direction Mrs May then took with her Chequers deal, saying that it meant the UK had chosen to stick with EU rules and regulations. Ever since, this has been the message

For this week’s challenge you were invited to submit poems by Donald Trump. The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, which is the brainchild of Rob Sears, represents the fruits of Mr Sears’s efforts to find evidence of the president’s sensitive, poetic side in his tweets and transcripts. The verses in the book are stitched together from Trump’s own words, and promise to reveal ‘a hitherto hidden Donald, who may surprise and delight both students and critics alike’. There were some excellent candidates for volume two in an entry in which haikus were especially popular —‘Terrible! Just found/Obama had my wires tapped./McCarthyism!’ (John O’Byrne) — and which saw our poet-president draw

My guess is President Trump’s team spent hours, maybe days, fretting over how to word his statement on US-Saudi relations after the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and then the man himself just did it. A little of the old genius razzle dazzle – the work of a moment. ‘It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!’ Speaking as someone who’s written more than his fair share of bloodless, madly nuanced corporate statements, Trump’s handiwork – which is that sentence alone (complete with showbiz exclamation mark!) – stands out a mile. It’s so perfect I