One of President Trump’s flaws is that he too often gets things the wrong way round. To put it simply, he seems to want the cake but doesn’t like baking. In fact, he doesn’t really do baking at all, but still expects a perfect cake! And that flaw is all too obvious in this week’s frantic round out activity regarding Ukraine and Russia.
So we’ve had the first meeting between the presidents of the USA and Russia in over four years – but it was arranged at the drop of a hat. Normally months of preparation would precede such an important meeting. First, diplomatic envoys from both sides would thrash out all the details, leaving the two presidents merely to dot the "I"s and cross the "T"s and do the flashy PR bit with the handshakes and the press conference. But before the Alaska summit last Friday, there was no time for preparation.
What is more, many of those who would have conducted such negotiations on the American side have, since President Trump took office, either been sacked or resigned. As a result, much of the institutional memory of the U.S. State Department (their equivalent of our Foreign Office) has been sadly lost. Then we had the gathering at the White House where President Trump met with the president of Ukraine and his seven supporting European leaders.
Prayer in schools?
When I attended state schools in Derby from the mid-1950s to the late-1960s, every school day began with an act …