Oborne on Obama: Daily Telegraph 27th May.........

It was reported somewhere that during his speech to Parliament in Westminster Hall, Barak Obama spoke of Churchill 5 times. It would have been a golden opportunity for the reporter, or anyone else, to have recalled O's having returned Churchill's bust from the White House to the UK and made the point that the respect shown for WSC in O's speech was not indicative of someone discarding his bust out of a sense of colonial victimization.

In my opinion Peter Oborne offers sour grapes in today's DT item regarding the Obama visit. Peter says O didn't do this and that and that Dave practically kowtowed to him after promising not to repeat the apparent subservience of Blair to Bush. Peter was trite and petty and failed to hit upon the big issues. This is possibly because there were none to consider apart, of course, from no evidence at all that O was anti British as so many observers over there have been sensing and reporting. For the most part, America's reaction to the visit was much the same as that of Ken Clarke.

Are we unable to conclude that Anglo-American relations are strong and healthy? It is as if UK pundits are afraid to say something positive for fear of being branded as soft, or heaven forbid pro-American. Could it be that the problem is less one of America being anti-British that the UK being anti-American? Many observers over there are just looking for a fight and are still gnawing on that old and stale meal 'over paid, over sexed and over here'.

I am so very pleased that we have a good relationship with the UK and am so very grateful for the cultural, ethical, linguistic and legal heritage we were given by the country and its people. If we want to talk about relationships personal and national, another event occurred this week that is far more significant to me than Dave and O's mutual admiration society. Namely, the relationship between the US and Israel and in particular, between Netanyahu and Obama.

Next in line is our relationship with Russia, especially in light of news that Putin will most probably run again for President, our cooling relationship and the 'reset' button that Hillary so publicly pushed seems not to have worked.