Peter Rhodes on leadership, calories and the curious compulsion for politicians to travel
An unnamed “wealthy source” in Los Angeles defends spending £2,000 an hour for a team of private firefighters to defend his home while other properties are burned to cinders. As he told a reporter: “I have the money, so why not?”
Why not? Because you may be tying up thousands of gallons of water and priceless expertise that could help save other people's homes, if only you were prepared to share. But then sharing has never been a big part of the American dream; it's all about rugged individuals fulfilling their fantasies. Rugged or entitled.
Does anyone seriously believe that Rachel Reeves' three-day jaunt to China has achieved anything, apart from annoying those who are worried sick about the UK economy?
The Chancellor claims she and her delegation secured trade agreements worth £600 million to Britain over the next five years. This is a tiny amount compared to our entire economy and any benefits for China must be minuscule. And if it's really a good deal for both sides it could probably have been sorted in a couple of hours by email. Why in this cyber age, is it deemed necessary for our leaders to spend half their time in airliners in order to be seen shaking hands in far-away places?
The answer is that this Government is besotted with the notion of “global leadership.” If the Brits are seen parleying with the Chinese or fixing suicidal self-harming targets for zero emissions, the rest of the world may admire us enormously and do the same. Or they might just think we're bonkers.
A correspondent writes to remind me that this month marks the 10th anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. He marks his support for the magazine by declaring: “Je Suis Charlie.” He does it anonymously. I'm not sure that counts.
I attempted recently to pass off my recipe for apple crumble topped with mince pies as “low calorie.” Inspired by my example, a reader offers his own tactics for avoiding calories: 1) It is a well-known fact that you burn more calories removing the lid from a jar of jam than you gain by eating the entire contents, 2) Always go for buy-one-get-one-free offers, because free food is calorie-free, 3) And never forget, broken biscuits contain no calories.
