UK Political System implodes... Iron Man 2 released tomorrow !!!

I received via email an invitation to a one-day conference entitled, "The implication of the UK General Election for the Obama Administration". Sad, but true.

The UK election has barely registered a blip in the United States and amongst the New York media. The story of the Labour candidate who played his likely crushing constituency loss into a "worst ever Prime Minister" comment appeared in a small piece on page 28 of the New York Post newspaper this morning.

For the average US citizen the UK seems a long way away and a sort of living historical theme park which provides a crop of good villians for the cinema as well as [positively] distorted views of British influence and power via James Bond.

The British military contribution in Iraq is not mentioned since the decision to withdraw and the effect in Afghanistan go basically unmentioned. Whilst our Armed Forces presence has some acknowledgment in Washington circles - outside of the appreciative Pentagon it goes largely unknown and one suspects unrewarded.

In the USA the British election is seen is much simpler terms as a Conservative victory bolstering spirits of Republicans for the mid-term elections this autumn and an eye on 2012. Unfortunately few across the Atlantic appreciate the nuance of British political ideologies and find confusion that Tony Blair is widely seen as the successor to Thatcher - not a Conservative !

Whilst the quality of oratory and debate in British politics is widely admired across the Atlantic few American politicians would wish to trade the raw power of the United States... Meanwhile the release of the sequel to Iron Man dominates the airwaves.