Funnily enough (is it funny enough?) I met McCain's mother, Roberta, quite by chance a couple of years ago in Vienna. She was travelling on the same train to Vienna and kept popping in to my compartment (adjacent to hers) to check whether we were there yet.

Then I bumped into her again the following day, near my cruddy hotel and outside her modest hotel on Praterstrasse, near Nestroyplatz U-Bahn. A redoubtable but charming little lady, already well into her nineties, but she marched along the pavement in what looked like slippers over the remnants of a recent heavy snow fall while I stepped gingerly trying to avoid the ice patches. It transpired that she was in Vienna to see the sights and go to the opera (Così and Don Giovanni). When I said I was going to the opera too, she asked how I got my tickets: she'd had to get the embassy to book hers! I thought that maybe this was par for the course for American tourists, until she mentioned her surname. At that point I'm afraid the 2000 Republican primaries were a rather hazy memory, and my first thought was of the oven-ready chips empire ...

I bumped into her again on the third day (how biblical ...) and part of me wishes I'd kept in touch, if only to say -- in the event of a McCain win -- "I know his mum."  But that'd be the only up-side to a Republican victory this November.

And I don't feel too bad at not knowing who her son was: she'd never heard of Janáček ...

The Americans dropped anti-personnel ordnance - which they had declared to the UN they didn't even possess - on civilian targets in Serbia.  That wasn't done by Republicans - that was Slick Willy's handiwork. 

So don't imagine that it makes a difference whether there are Republicans or Democrats in the White House - America is capable of attacking Europe with banned weapons in a heartbeat,  with the express intention of causing massive loss of civilian life.   Don't imagine it will be either rational, or justifiable, or based on reason.  It is based on a potent mixture of ignorance, hatred and stupidity.

Considering Saakashvili made McCain a Chevalier of the Order Of The Cross Of St George (the other two American holders are Cheney and Bush) I would guess that you are along the right lines there, Jas.   Although maybe it might take 30 minutes - McCain is a slow reader.

I'm very pleased to hear that, sk, to start with you sounded unduly gleeful at the prospect of a Republican victory.  Glad to hear your views.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if McCain wins (or "wins") the election, as I said. Nor, for reasons I've touched on earlier, do I think it's going to make a lot of difference to most people in the world who wins - the oil, "defence" and Israel lobbies will dictate policy to the same extent whoever wins.

Howard Brenton (not someone I'm inclined to quote with approval) once likened the relationship of Britain to America to that of the rape victim whose tormentor tells her not to scream or protest, 'or it will only get worse.'

No surprises there. But there's something hopefully democratic about the fact that if a politician makes hypocritical and contradictory statements there'll be someone out there posting them on youtube. I wonder if it will make any difference though. Bush Jr has been lying approximately as often as he opens his mouth for the past eight years, and since Nixon the Republicans seem to have gained a tighter hold on the system so that there's no way of holding him accountable.

Thanks, strina. It's heartening to have the perspective of an insider who still thinks it's possible to make a difference.