A Stronger Loving World To Die In

America: thank you. And thank you BBC for coverage which trounced any of the US networks', not just in the increasingly irascible presenters but in the quality of talking heads. Jay Macinerney looking old! Gore Vidal looking even older! An atypically sober but still venomous Christopher Hitchens eviscerating Elizabeth Dole was good, but Simon Schama's effortless superiority when faced with The Bad John Bolton, his spurious outrage and his improbable moustache was even better. I was worried that starting the evening with the Vichy Government's annual London show might be bad juju, particularly when their new song 'The Man Delusion' echoes my own fears about humanity's inherent limitations, but last night, the US - or enough of it, at least - rose above that. Not enough that there wasn't some booing from McCain's viler supporters as he conceded - which, to his credit, he was having none of (like Michael Howard, nothing became his political career so well as his leaving of it). But against that - well, like the man said, we have the audacity of hope. Also: new puppy! Bless.

Also - RIP Michael Crichton. You may have been a climate change denier, but DINOSAURS! Also ROBOTS!