I wouldn’t say that. As the child of parents who were born in India when it was still part of the Empire, it’s not an unusual sentiment even among those who were never personally connected with any sort of strife.
That’s the time to fix things. Obama will give Brown a friendship bracelet woven from Lincoln’s beard and Brown will gift Obama with a Snuggie.
Hmm…I’ve been trying to suss out which Gannet the wood for the pen set came from; it seems the 1877 Osprey-class screw sloop is the one; in which case, she spent much of her early service about 200 yards out my office window, on the Royal Navy’s Pacific Station at Esquimalt. (Not much slavery round these parts at that time, however).
This would be the HMS Gannet that has been lovingly restored (in the very dock where she was originally built) at Chatham. But as for being a “sister ship” to Resolute, she ain’t–or at least only in the very broadest sense of both being RN ships at the same time. Reso (1850) was a privately-built merchant ship purchased into the service, especially for Arctic service.
Another interesting Gannet fact: in 1913, she was loaned to C.B. Fry, the brilliant English cricketer/footballer/long jumper, who, it was claimed, could jump backwards from a standing position up onto a mantlepiece. He is also supposed to have been offered the crown of Albania in the early 1920s. Stephen Fry (of Blackadder and QI fame) is a descendant of C.B.
Hell, if them two turned up, I’d be there cheering 
Wow. You really hate the fella! 
The book was published in 1995 and he talked about a trip from 1986. I think he may have come to terms with his emotions in the intervening 24 years.
But wouldn’t buying a nice gift for the PM just be another way of stimulating the economy?
Come on. If you’re honest with yourself, you know that you wouldn’t be working so hard to interpret this charitably if Bush had done the same exact thing.
BO goofed, probably because being a junior senator is not the best preparation for foreign diplomacy.
Actually that was a pretty bad present too. I can imagine Obama was thinking:
“Christ, I’ve only just got rid of the fucking bust and now I’ve got to wade through 10 turgid volumes about the colonial-loving, granddaddy-torturing old duffer”
Both presents were a catastrophe.
Apparently, Brown was put off in '07 when Bush gave him a leather bomber jacket as a gift. I had never even heard about it until it was mentioned as article filler for the current story.
So Bush basically did do the same thing a couple years ago in a complete non-event.
What? Most Presidents come from a governor’s office, which involves a lot less foreign policy work than the Senate.
He’s doing OK as far as I can see.
He graduated from Eton didn’t he? Hardly a buffoon.
It’s funny what kind of shit is dug up when the press wants to make someone look bad, doesn’t it?
Go on, quick: Name any five gifts exchanged between Bush and any foreign leader over the last eight years.
Exactly. Even naming one is impressive. In the words of Gilbert & Sullivan, it doesn’t really matter.
Thanks again for all the replies! I’ve loved reading this thread and I’m glad I started it instead of fretting quietly to myself.
Re Bush’s gift of a bomber jacket, I found some articles linked on another site.
There’s another snarky take on the gift here.
Ouch.
There’s a picture of the jacket here, along with the news that Brown chose not to keep the jacket! Plus this puzzling news…
Well, ok, that didn’t last long. He must have really wanted to impress President Obama.
Here’s a nice article about the pen holder. It really was a super-nice and thoughtful gift.
Nothing about the Gannet being a sister ship to the Resolute, so I had that wrong. According to the Wikipedia page it was used in the British anti-slavery efforts though, which actually makes it more personal to President Obama, even though his family weren’t slaves.
So did Prince Charles who is well known to be intellectually sub-par. Public schools care about the “quality of your stock” and whether you can pay the fees, not how smart you are.
Something I just found out: Boris was born in New York! Boris for 2012, Republicans?
I really ought to stop hijacking this thread, I promise I will leave it alone after this…but yeah, his education doesn’t make him smart.
Buffoon means a joker, jester, one who makes coarse undignified jokes, anyway.
I definitely think he is undignified. I do also think he is an idiot.
Funnily enough, I passed through the small town in Offaly this weekend where one of Obama’s Great grandparents came from. Was bizarre seeing the usual local GAA club colours side by side with more American flags than you’d find at a Charlie Daniels concert.
Agreed. I went to one of the better public schools in the country and while there were plenty of geniuses in the first stream, there were just as many ignoramuses in the sixth.
Obama’s grandfather was arrested in 1949 and held and tortured of 2 years. Churchill didn’t take office until 26 October 1951.
So I doubt this is personal, but I can understand why Obama wouldn’t want a British bust representing the twilight of the British Empire staring at him in the Oval Office.