Don't keep the flag flying

Here’s some advice for Keir Starmer from Tony Blair (in the Independent today):
 
‘In a rare intervention, the former prime minister told students at King’s College London that he supported Sir Keir’s “cool heads” approach to Trump’s Liberation Day, and he didn’t really understand the intellectual argument behind the tariff policy. “I don’t think it is in the UK’s best interest to retaliate,” he said, but admitted he did not know where developments over the tariffs would end.’
 
For Blair to say he doesn’t understand the intellectual argument for Trump’s tariff policy is to assume too much of Trump’s intelligence, and for him to admit he has no idea how it will end (if it does) is to suggest that his advice is mere whistling in the wind. Most countries hit by Trump’s tariffs are looking to respond, perhaps in different ways, but perhaps, just perhaps recognising that a door has been opened to end America’s economic hegemony. But Blair is a remnant of the arch-globalisation movement which, having not quite delivered what it promised is now in disarray. One consequence as we are now witnessing is the rise of the populist right, which is where Starmer is heading too. LINO. Labour In Name Only. Starmer’s response to Blair may be to reject his advice, but only in his famed pragmatic mode, which is to say he’ll wait to see which way the wind blows before daring to make any wind himself. So to speak. Meanwhile I am reliably informed that in the community of Newmarket, Ontario, U.S. flags will no longer be flown at sports events. Apparently this used to be quite a regular thing. Perhaps the King should think first of the Commonwealth before he lets Trump trough at Buckingham Palace.