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David Aaronovitch's avatar

This seems exactly right to me. Calmness is good, but communicating the big picture is just as important

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Nick Wray's avatar

I don't think that it's quite right to see Trump as wanting to destroy globalisation. I think that it is rather that he sees a different kind of global order, with the USA definitely at the top, and every other country as clients or supplicants, feeding raw materials (eg rare earths (which are actually not that rare) from Ukraine) into the maw of US production, and then buying US goods on terms favourable to Washington

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David Cairns's avatar

Bravo, Peter Kellner!

Paradoxically, we now need a firm practitioner and exponent of the rules-based world order to think beyond the current eruption in order to participate in shaping its next phase.

I say ‘participate’ rather than ‘lead’ in recognition of the sad truth that Starmer is no Churchill.

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Gabriel Denvir's avatar

I think Starmer has greater strengths than he is given credit for. Keeping his head while all about him are in danger of losing theirs shows a form of leadership that suits the times.

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Bill Zuill's avatar

I share Peter's concern that Labour, in terms of fiscal policy and the economy as well as in world affairs, is its lack of imagination. As stated here, there is no sense that there is a vision for the future or a willingness to try things beyond the obvious.

What seems most clear in a world where you can no longer rely on the US as a strategic or economic partner is that the UK should draw closer to Europe and to its old allies like Canada and Australia.

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