Boris Johnson and the U.S. quarterback

Back in the 1980s a Senate seat was opening up in the U.S. state of Texas. Of the names bandied around at the time for Republican candidate (and likely winner) was one Roger Staubach, the retired quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Problem was, nobody was sure whether a) he was interested b) he could think about anything other than throwing a football or c) that he was even Republican. In the event, he did not run, answering at least questions a) and b).

The issue, of course, was that Staubach was a name, and in a political system which rewards fame rather than achievement he was the first on many Texan lips. But being famous does not automatically mean you are politically capable (see many, many examples in U.S. Congress).

Parliamentary democracies, which choose leaders from a pack of legislators, tend to have avoided this problem. Hard to imagine someone as unphotogenic and dour as Gordon Brown being elected to anything much in America, for example. But few would deny that he has the intellect and ability needed in a politician whether you agree with him or not.

Britain however has done its usual and adopted one of the worst aspects of U.S. culture (eschewing a lot of the good stuff). London has a directly elected mayor and it is fast becoming a celebrity contest. Boris Johnson, the current incumbent, has many things going for him -- intellect, wit, a comic touch and charisma that is not always to every one's taste. But does becoming famous for bumbling about, making gaffes, dropping the odd Latin phrase into conversations, and appearing on quiz show, make him qualified as chief executive of one of the world's greatest cities. Clearly, no.

The Evening Standard newspaper recently reported that Alan Sugar, a business man currently made super-celeb by hosting The Apprentice on UK television, is a name being bandied about to run for London mayor next time.

Here we go. How long will it be before Tories/Labour/LibDem backroom strategists reckon David Beckham, Jordan, or JK Rowling have just what it takes to win?

It won't happen, but London should go back to picking its mayor from among the relative nonentities that make up its council. Enough with I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Elected

Democracy in South Africa

A photo of Nobel prize winners in Cape Town harbour to celebrate another, peaceful  and democratic election in South Africa

Zuma's triumph

Jacob Zuma is perhaps not the candidate that Western investors and governments would have hand-picked to lead South Africa. But they will get used to it, just as they did with Brazil's Lula and have done with just about everyone recently except Iran's Ahmadinejad. They have also had some time to get used to the idea, given the fact that he has been heir apparent for more than a year.

What may be most disappointing, however, is that Zuma looks like he has seen off any serious opposition even if the African National Congress doesn't get the two-thirds parliamentary control it needs to change the constitution (still up in the air). Not that a change is likely -- the ANC has had two-thirds since it took power and not destroyed anything yet. 

The bigger issue is that the ANC is retaining its role as the only party of power nationally. This is a pity because South Africa needs to move away from the "liberation party" syndrome that bunches everyone in one group because of an overriding goal.

That goal has been met in South Africa. It now needs for politics to break up and create not just a vibrant democracy but one that has plenty of dissidents.

Roxana Saberi and the embrace of Iran

Is anybody of a certain age getting a strange deja vu, Cold War feeling about the sentencing of journalist Roxana Saberi for spying in Iran? Anyone remember Nick Daniloff? Journalists are such easy pickings. Gathering information and disseminating it is anathema to nasty regimes.

The timing is interesting, coming just a few days after Iran signalled some interest in following Washington's warming moves. Perhaps poor Ms Saberi will be the pawn that allows some talks to get going.

In the meantime, it does come under the "early test for Obama" category, as the Los Angeles Times points out. He is going to have to be very angry and concilatory at the same time if he really wants to end the Axis of Evil nonsense. And all those full-mooners at Fox and in the Republican party will be baying away that they knew it all along. 

Head-bashing, G20-style

Britain is still being rocked by the G20 demonstrations of a few weeks ago. It is all a bit 1970s with police brutality at the core. A man died of a heart attack sometime after being pushed over by a policeman; in another case a young, small woman was roughed up. All this has been captured on film via mobile phone etc. In that sense, I suppose, it is not very 1970s at all.

Is recession-hit, unemployed Britain about to see the return of thuggish, Thatcherite-style policing? Short answer, no. For one thing, Britain is a changed nation and would not put up with it. More importantly, however, the police are different. The police perpetrators of the G20 incidents are clearly outliers, acting suddenly and without the support of their colleagues around them. Bit like bouncers who lose it on a Saturday night and go over the top.

Not that this excuses anything. There is also a big question of discipline. Why did these types get into the force in the first place. And why did sergeants and the like allow some police officers to cover their identification numbers.

All stuff for the government and police authorities to deal with. But not a sign of the good-old-head-bashing days returning. YouTube wouldn't let it happen, anyway.

Waiting, not jumping in

Last laugh on a rather appalling "Meet the Press" last Sunday. For some reason the assembled crew seemed to think that Obama is failing because he hasn't fixed North Korea, Iran etc. And after all he's had, what, about four months. 

Biggest criticisms were about how the mighty U.S. was being held at bay by a bunch of scruffy pirates off Somali. No one chose to remember that the only reason the pirates had not been blown out of the water was that they were holding a U.S. citizen hostage.

Fast forward a few hours and NBC is showing impressive graphics about how the hostage was freed and the pirates dealt with in a very straightforward and deadly manner.

What Obama and the military appear to have done is to calmly look at the situation, plan for an opportunity to solve the problem and then done so about as efficiently as anyone could imagine. Our "Meet the Press" critics probably yearn for the Bush years when no one would have sat back and thought about it, just rushed in. 

I guess a thinking administration is going to need some getting used to in some quarters.

Obama sees some light

Obama's comments that there are tiny signs that the U.S. economy is improving is interesting because he would hardly have said this if it was going to backfire. He is much too clever for that. There are in fact a lot of little signs all over the place, including China, which, let's face it, is just as important as Washington these days.

So let's say the world economy does start to get better -- and financial markets seem happy to accept this -- what about the banks? Economists seem divided into two camps. One says we are having a pretty nasty recession but one that will end. The other says that banks are so beaten up and  indebted that the global economic foundations cannot hold. 

I guess I am in the first camp. The reason is basically that the second offers no hope to anyone. Agreed this is a different recession than others I have gone through. But markets and economies have shown in the past that they are primarily driven by sentiment. So when things start to look up, sentiment improves. Obama is feeding this.