Across the pond

Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and all the other G20 leaders have come and gone. Obama, who breezed in by helicopter on Tuesday night, had to travel back to Stansted airport, shouded in thick fog, in his armour plated limousine.

The summit has delivered nearly all that Prime Minister Gordon Brown hoped for. But the stars of the show were the ladies,  the First Lady and the Queen of England (aka Brenda) who were signalling a new phase for the famed special relationship between the UK and its former American colony. In this morning’s Daily Mail Michael Thornton gives a blow by blow account of the new touchy-feely protocol at Buckingham Palace. Under the headline, One’s new best friend: The Queen, Michelle and the new touchy-feely protocoldynamic range, he leaves his readers in no doubt that the Queen has re-invented herself for the new age. He writes:

It is the first time that anyone can remember in her long public life that she has put her arm around another woman.

Whereas the rest of the media reported that Michelle Obama spontaneously put her arm around the  83 -year-old Queen, Thornton alleges that it was Brenda herself who took the initiative. Thornton tells us:

Finding herself next to Mrs Obama, the Queen remarked on their height difference. As she did so, her hand edged towards the small of Mrs Obama’s back. Mrs Obama responded – and even rubbed the Queen’s shoulder – before both women moved gently apart after about ten seconds.

Contrast The Guardian and many other papers who wondered whether Michael’s gesture was a gaffe or a deliberate breach of State Department instructions never to touch the Queen.

In fact, as the Mail points out, the Queen has never been so stuffy as her courtiers. She did not mind at all when President Jimmy Carter kissed her full on the lips. And she ‘smiled serenely’ when President Gerald Ford danced her around the room to the tune of  The Lady is a Tramp, played by the United States Marine Band.

While the Queen was meeting with the Obamas, several thousands of her people were marching on the streets in protest in protest against the bankers and global warming. Despite the fears of the Metropolitan Police, voiced in all the media, the demonstrations were remarkably peaceful, with the exception of one incident when a small group broke into a City branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

And as for the serious business of the summit both Obama and Brown were able to claim victory. The summit voted a whopping $1.1 trillion to help stave off the financial crisis and promised a concerted international effort to deal with the toxic assets of the banks which caused the crisis.

Today the demonstrators will be out again; this time in Edinburgh for the annual general meeting of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Their target is former boss, Sir Fred Goodwin (aka Fred the Shed). According to Sky News he is now thinking about taking a voluntary reduction in his £16.9 million pension.

About time too.