Hi all, Well despite my email on friday it was not me forgetting that was the problem, this time I just got home and fell to sleep!! so I am late with these once again. Alex Herman Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton will make a good European President and High Representative.In supporting Van Rompuy Europe has elected to make the job more of a consensus builder and chairman rather than someone who might have acted more in the manner of a real Head of State for Europe taking policy more into their own hands and pushing a European rather than national agenda. So do we have a European anti-democratic stich up that ticks the boxes of the nation states but wont help Europe as a whole?http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/19/tony-blair-european-council-presidenthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/20/eu-nice-stich-up-ashtonhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8360000/newsid_8369700/8369730.stm President Obama is correct to stick to Bush's policies on China.After 9/11 Bush's policy towards China was one of pragmatic cooperation rather than considering china as a threat. Democrats have traditionally been tougher on China in areas such as the economy - and China still has a large trade surplus with the US, and freedom of speech. So far Obama has not taken this line even if it does potentially cost some US jobs. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KK20Ad01.htmlhttp://www.cfr.org/publication/20797/mixed_messages_from_asia.html?breadcrumb=%2Fhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-marshall/does-america-have-a-china_b_360837.html Should the Queen's Speech be used as the starting gun for an election campaign?Labour made a shower of promises that look very like electioneering in the Queen's speech. A bill on fiscal responsibility - cant the government be fiscally responsible without it? Limiting bonuses, eliminating child poverty - have they not already promised these? Yet more on ASBOs, world poverty and reform of the house of lords - have they not yet had enough time?http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8366146.stmhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/18/mandelson-queens-speech-not-electioneeringhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6596786/Queens-Speech-the-announcements-at-a-glance.html ;
