Continental uplift.

Sort of hoping that Mrs Merkel wins today. I hope she turns out to be more radical that the MSM are saying, just as I hope she puts their 'Schroder closing the gap' theme down properly. Maybe one reason for hoping that she causes a stir is simply that this might distract bored and complacent continentals from their boring complacent lives, where they tolerate sleaze, gross behaviour and the most virulent anti-Americanism- not to mention anti-Britishness (see also above link).

I notice the death figures for Katrina are such that it's possible that the final figure may be less than a thousand- which makes a stark contrast to what happened in France during a heatwave two years ago. The truth is that America at its worst would be like most continental countries at their best- and to say that would be just to go with the economics, let alone the 'can do' attitude of most American states (an ethos which Lousiana may be unusually low on)./ Some interesting reflection on several Euro fronts here.

The day after's Update: actually not very uplifting, was/is it? Wonderful advert for the Lib Dem proportional representation policy though, as they meet in Blackpool.