Trollied Tuesday: More pink

A couple of months ago I was bemoaning the difficulty in finding decent rosé. One reason for that might be the following story.

The war of the rosés is over. The European Commission announced today that it had abandoned its plans to allow European winemakers to make cheap rosé wine by mixing red and white wines together.

The announcement follows a rearguard action by traditional producers in France and Italy who feared that their growing market for pink wine would be flooded by cheap imitations.

The point is, of course, that cheap imitations from outside the EU are already being produced and are flooding the market. (There's plenty of cheap French rosé too, of course, but at least it's not an excuse to flog off two seperate wines that no one wants to buy).

Another indication of where the problem lies is a market that seems to reward idiocy.

When rosé producers in Provence and the Loire valley complained, Paris pressed for a compromise which would allow real rosé wines to be labelled as “traditional” or “authentic”.

This also infuriated the rosé producers. The booming new market for chilled rosé wine is largely a market amongst young people, they said. Labelling their wine “traditional” would give them a fuddy-duddy image.

God forbid we should upset the young ones. Surely in the case of wine – a product for which age is a positive virtue – tradition and authenticity are greatly to be valued? It's really not that difficult a concept to grasp: if you're buying electronics newness is a virtue, if you're buying booze it isn't. For most other things it all depends on context.

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In other why is this news?: American tourists in London visit tourist pub. Had Michelle Obama asked me I could have recommended some alternatives. That's irrelevant really, one gets the distinct impression that what appealed to her was the old school pub aspects of the place, hand-pulled ales and traditional pub food. Sadly we don't know whether or not she enjoyed a pint but, in broadly booze-related context, I think we can say she get the point. Authenticiy and tradition can be virtues.

Obama says something retarded

That is to say makes an unfortunate slip about the handicapped.

He's not yet been a hundred days in the White House and the world economy is still in crisis and that minor kurfuffle in Afghanistan is yet to be resolved. Clearly the man's a hopeless amateur. Small wonder the backlash has started.

EDW: Lord Palmerston

Shall we stop whining about the fact that Barack Obama has returned the bust of Winston Churchill that his predecessor had installed in the Oval Office?

(Was this some grudge on behalf of his grandfather's treatment during the Mau Mau rebellion? Does he not care about Britain? Personally I reckon that whereas Bush wanted to be Churchill, he wants to be Lincoln.)

The Mau Mau theory might have something to it, I suppose, so Gordon Brown's decision to give Obama a biography of Churchill might not have been the wisest gift (the pen holder made from the timbers of a 19th century warship, on the other hand, is a fine choice; I'd be very glad to receive something like that myself).

However, were I in Brown's shoes I'd have given him a bust of Lord Palmerston, the last Edinburgh University educated PM until our own dear leader's accession. (Admittedly, Tom Paine would be the ideal Brit for the current president's office, but I've EDW'd him already).

Henry Temple might seem an eccentric choice. If "dear old Pam" is remembered at all these days it's for the fact that he was, in the face of some pretty stiff competition, the most sly and cynical of all British PMs, for gunboat diplomacy, a colourful private life and genial populism. (Oh, and the story that he died having sex with a parlour maid on a billiard table. In his eighties. Sadly, it appears he died while going through his ministerial papers; a half-written letter was found by his side. Still, it's a fitting tribute to him that people prefer the former story. After all, he did refuse to move into Downing Street because his house in Piccadilly gave him much better opportunities to eye up passing fillies). Florence Nightingale gave him a rather handsome epitaph: "Though he made a joke when asked to do the right thing he always did it."

But he was not, please note, entirely devoid of principle. His zeal to curb the transatlantic slave trade managed to inflame the Americans to the brink of war (at this point we'll gloss over his sympathy for the Confederacy in the US civil war, eh?) He would support liberal, progressive causes abroad - if possible; balanced against that you have things like the Don Pacifico Affair - you know the Civis Romanus Sum speech - and the manner in which he masked naked self-interest behind an appeal to high ideals. Which is not to say the ideals were absent.

Palmerston's highest statement with regards to international affairs was:

"I hold that the real policy of England... is to be the champion of justice and right, pursuing that course with moderation and prudence, not becoming the Quixote of the world, but giving the weight of her moral sanction and support wherever she thinks that justice is, and whenever she thinks that wrong has been done."

It's somewhat reminiscent of Tony Blair, isn't it? And you might wish to compare this rhetoric with the frequently sordid and self-interested reality. Nevertheless, many politicians have juggled principle and pragmatism in this manner. It is the peculiar genius of Lincoln, Obama's hero, that he made the latter the servant of the former.

Still, at this point it is worth noting that Obama seemed far keener to meet Blair than he was Brown (who wouldn't be?). Consider also the president's approach to foreign affairs (get the clearly doomed British and Japanese PMs in and out of the White House as quickly as possible; offer the Russians a quid pro quo to stamp down the Iranians - oh and do it in a way that subtly enhances the division between Putin and Medvedev - and make it clear to your allies that you are mainly interested in what they can do to help in Pakistan/Afghanistan) in the light of Palmerston's view that a country has no eternal allies, only eternal interests.

The conflict against the Taliban/al-Qaida/militant Islam is, after all, one where America's national interest and the support of justice and right neatly dovetail. One wonders if the track record of the prime minister at the time of the Indian mutiny would have anything to offer the 44th President of the United States in that regard. It strikes me that Obama is someone who would appreciate his qualities more than many people could imagine.

Sarah Palin, I have always done you an injustice

There are others.

And this guy is pretty well-educated.

There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bamaigh

Tongue in cheek (at least I really hope so), but just the thing to sing out when Massachusetts gives its electoral votes to the Democrat.

Kenyan to Fenian it's the American way.

Still, let's indulge in another great Irish tradition and enjoy a bit of begrudgery.

1. His great-great-grandfather was from Offaly.
See this is a worry. The place does not have an encouraging track record when it comes to churning out politicians. The current taoiseach, Biffo, is an Offaly man himself, of course. And his stint in office has not been terribly successful. Frankly Kenya offers a better set of role models compared with some of the place's politicians.

2. He's as Irish as our own JFK.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was your classic liberal elitist, you know. Far happier hob-nobbing with the English aristocracy and Hollywood stars. Anyone who prefers women to drink is not, by definition, a true Irishman. I think we'd better find out what Obama's preferences are in this matter.

3. John McCain is a true son of Ulster.
Stubborn as hell and belligerent, pretty much the archetype for the northern province of Ireland.* If even the Irish-Americans are adopting a partionist mindset towards all this then the unionists can surely say they have won.

4. Close links to a dodgy property developer.
That might be a little too much like a true Irish politician, you know.

Via, Roy Greenslade.

*NB: A small prediction. Obama will win comfortably. However, he will not take Ohio or West Virginia because Appalachia will not vote for him. Maybe it's not all about race after all, just the Scots-Irish backing their man over the Offaly man.

History in the making, poor old history

It's as good a time as any to revisit my predictions on Sarah Palin; not so much a pitbull with lipstick, then, more one of those annoying little yappy dogs that keeps snapping at your ankles but which you cannot boot into touch for fear some misguided fool will think badly of you for so doing - with lipstick. Looking back she's not quite an Eagleton-esqe liability, but nor is she a Nixon-esqe master of turning attack into defence (this is 1952 I'm talking about, remember).

However, I did highlight the potential for Troopergate to embarrass her: though the report on the affair is a classic example of the political compromise that satisfies no one. It found, in essence, that she abused her powers but was legally entitled to do so. (Thanks for that chaps). I also failed to spot the full capacity of a religious extremist for pandering to the more ignorant and hate-filled elements of society. Anyway, let's put her somewhere between Dan Quayle and Spiro Agnew in the scale of foolish picks and be done with the matter. Certainly I think my prediction holds up better than Dominic's comment on my original post "Well, here's to her becoming next VP. She should prove well up to the task."

Anyway, it would seem that McCain is regretting his choice (or the fact that he agreed to her being foisted upon him), as this report from the Sunday Times suggests. (NB: British reports on US politics always carry a health warning, however, it sometimes suits American politicians to leak things they are unwilling to release to the British media to the Brits in the full knowledge it will be picked up back home).

McCain has become alarmed about the fury unleashed by Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting “pitbull in lipstick”, against Senator Barack Obama. Cries of “terrorist” and “kill him” have accompanied the tirades by the governor of Alaska against the Democratic nominee at Republican rallies.

I suspect that both think the election is lost and Palin is planning her run for the White House next time round (with the support of the most detestable elements of her own party). But while Palin with one hand waves the Bible, with the other releasing the rats from the sewer; McCain on the other hand appears to have chosen the path of decency and honour by taking on the more deranged and hateful elements of his own party – getting booed for telling them that no, actually, Obama isn't a Muslim terrorist and would you please shut up about it as it makes the rest of us look bad. I won't help him at the polls, but if he can take on the worse elements of his own party, he might ensure that he goes down in history as one of the great honourable losers (like Wendell Wilkie in 1940, perhaps) rather than a gambler who staked his reputation and lost.