No Prize Turkey

There are many bad things about this Government. But there are some good ones, too. Withdrawal from Afghanistan, restoration of the link between pensions and earnings, abandonment of identity cards, the prospect of electoral reform, an inquiry into the last lot's complicity in torture (that means you, David Miliband), dismantlement of the surveillance state, a renewed emphasis on a manufacturing-based economy diffused throughout the country, one coalition partner that really did oppose the Iraq War, and another that at least has the decency to pretend that it did so.

It is in foreign policy that the most promise is being shown. Bilateral ties are being pursued with Russia, with China, with Latin American countries, with the Arab world in general and the UAE in particular, with India, with Indonesia, with Japan, with the major Commonwealth countries of Africa, and through the Commonwealth generally. There will be more. One such, however, must not be with a country in which the only functioning political alternatives are secular, militarist ultranationalism and militant Islam, both of which glorify the destruction of Byzantium and the genocide of the Armenians. Any more than with a state which has no functioning political alternatives except secular, militarist ultranationalism and militant Judaism, both of which glorify the destruction of a largely Christian predecessor-society and the ongoing genocide of, perhaps above all, the Christian sections of that society.

Oh, and do not expect any long-term future for any alliance between Iran and a country divided between Persian-hating, Armenian-hating, Assyrian-hating ultranationalists on one side, and Sunni fundamentalists on the other. We all have an interest in halting the rush to war with Iran. So we should all be furthering that interest. Not least, we need a Leader of the Opposition who is committed to it, as much as to withdrawal from Afghanistan, to restoration of the link between pensions and earnings, to abandonment of identity cards, to electoral reform, to an inquiry into the previous Government's complicity in torture, to dismantlement of the surveillance state, to a renewed emphasis on a manufacturing-based economy diffused throughout the country, to recognition of the Iraq War as both illegal in itself and an unmitigated strategic disaster, and to the pursuit of bilateral ties with Russia, with China, with Latin American countries, with the Arab world in general and the UAE in particular, with India, with Indonesia, with Japan, with the major Commonwealth countries of Africa, and through the Commonwealth generally, among others.

We all know who that is not.