The triumph of George W. Bush

New Hampshire

Timing is everything. Leafing through our issue of two weeks ago, I feel it would be kindest to draw a veil over page 26 (‘Correlli Barnett says that the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq serve as object lessons in how not to conduct an anti-terrorist campaign’) but that guy buried away on page 38 seems shrewder than ever:

‘It’s been a good year. Twelve months ago, Saddam Hussein was sitting on his solid gold toilet. He’s now on the run, moving every few hours and unlikely ever again to feel even a standard black plastic seat against his bottom.’

There didn’t seem to be many ‘facilities’, as the British landladies say, in Saddam’s hut, never mind down the spider hole. And, when he was asked if he’d like to use the bathroom during his first interrogation by US soldiers, the great dictator, in a sporting attempt to stick to the letter as well as the spirit of my prediction, declined.