Westminster is almost like a haunted castle this afternoon, the political year being ushered out by more files on MP's expenses being handed in to Scotland Yard and the news that Gordon Brown will appear before the Iraq inquiry - after the general election.
I haven't really had a chance to deconstruct what happened at the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen but I really liked this fly on the wall account of the negotiations by Mark Lynas. He says China played a blinder and humiliated Obama. From where we sat Obama himself looked to be giving China some high handed treatment but there was obviously a huge arm-wrestling match going on behind the scenes.
Key quotes:
"I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying "no", over and over again."
"Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China's century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority, but is viewed as a hindrance to the new superpower's freedom of action."
I recommend you read the account.
I'll be back on shift on Christmas Day, which hopefully, will be a day of peace and goodwill for one and all. Merry Christmas from a slushy Whitehall 1212.
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