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20 News with Matthew Paul Viewpoint


Darogan, but Obama’s assertion of a power to stem the very tide made him look, to many conservatives, like a bit of a Cnut. Obama’s legacy is mixed.


Hail to the Chief!


His greatest achievement was to demonstrate that a black man can become the most powerful man in the world, even while black men in America are still regularly shot for being cheeky to the police. Obama rode his country out of a


“I, DONALD J TRUMP, do


solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.” God help the rest of us, too. At


noon today, a President of unique grace and charm departs; to be replaced by the most graceless and charmless man who ever farted in the Oval Office. President-elect Trump has shown personal integrity to make Richard Nixon look like George Washington, and a grasp of international politics and diplomacy to make Jimmy Carter look like Kissinger. Trump’s inauguration speech


should be interesting. Inauguration speeches have produced some of American politics’ most inspirational rhetoric. Obama has always done inspirational rhetoric well. Trump, it is fair to say, less so. The voices of the Presidents ring


out down the decades: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” (Franklin


Delano Roosevelt; 1933) “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” (JFK; 1961) “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” (Ronald Reagan; 1980) “Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything,” (possibly not, but with The Donald who knows?). Barack Obama’s oratorical


strength also defines his greatest political weakness. Never has a President promised


so much, and delivered (in domestic politics) only quiet competence. In 2008, ‘the audacity of hope’ that surrounded his election led supporters to believe they were electing a messiah. His speech on June 3 of that year, celebrating his nomination as Democrat presidential candidate, intimated overconfidently that his selection was ‘the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal’. This may not be quite as big a


political boast as proclaiming yourself to be (by way of example) Y Mab


potential depression, and America’s domestic economy prospered under his presidency. The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, came into law and extended health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Americans who previously went without treatment. But many of Obama’s social


aspirations for his country went unfulfilled. He stood by and said sad, elegant words each time an American teenager flipped out and did teenage tantrums the typical American way, with an automatic rifle and hollow point ammunition. He faced a hostile Congress and Senate, but many Presidents have done so before and advanced their legislative priorities by being more successful dealmakers. In foreign affairs, Obama was


ineffectual and weak. Trump’s campaign slogans labelled the outgoing President ‘the founder of Isis’. This may have been overstating the case a bit, but Obama bears some responsibility for the carnage in Syria. Amazingly, his decision not to


use American power to unseat Bashar al-Assad was heavily influenced by a vote of the UK Parliament, in August 2013, against using military force. Given that the vote was the result not of high principle but of Ed Miliband’s deceitful and unprincipled gambit of withdrawing Labour’s support to score a few short-lived points against


THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 20 2017


Follow us on Twitter @pembsherald


Cameron, it will be the first and only time that Gulpy Ed influenced history. Obama was no friend to Britain.


His father was apparently detained by the British and subsequently became involved in the blood-soaked Mau Mau rebellion against British rule in Kenya. On assuming office, Obama got rid of a bust of Winston Churchill and had it stuffed away, somewhere deep in the same warehouse the CIA use for storing crashed UFOs and the Ark of the Covenant. Under Trump, the bust is back.


Where Obama said that post-Brexit Britain would be at the end of the queue for a trade deal with the US, Trump, who approves of Brexit (and he would, wouldn’t he), has intimated that we will be at the front. Americans still overwhelmingly


approve personally of Obama, but his personal grace and charm is no longer


enough. Electing


a messiah failed


to change much, so the American public are trying their luck with an ogre. Obama’s lack of audacity in office depleted his own political party. His failure to match great words with radical actions paved the way for President Trump. As The Donald prepares to wrap


his tiny hands around the globe, America will recall the concluding words of Obama’s 2009 inauguration address: “Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely…” to Donald J Trump.


Schools given chance to win prizes BT IS GIVING schools in W


ales the chance to win prizes which money couldn’t buy as part of a major scheme to extend the coverage of superfast fibre broadband. The two experiences up for grabs


are a trip to the top of BT Tower for up to 30 children or a school visit from Paralympic gold medal winner Jonnie Peacock MBE. Winners of the BT Tower prize


will get the chance to meet TV presenter Jake Humphrey when visiting the revolving floor at the top of the iconic building and get a bird’s eye view of London. They will also be shown behind the scenes and get an insight into how BT is bringing superfast fibre broadband to homes and businesses across the UK. The school that bags the visit


from Jonnie Peacock MBE will get the chance to meet the sprint runner who won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics. He is a hugely inspirational figure, who will be the talk of the school for years to come. The competition, being run by


BT’s Community Fibre Partnerships scheme, is open to schools in Wales, England and Scotland. Schools wishing to enter need to fill in a simple form online at www.communityfibre. bt.com/superfastschools by January 29.


The scheme has a £2 million fund


to distribute grants of up to £20,000 for community fibre partnerships that could benefit their local school. Eligible communities can apply for match funding of up to £20,000 towards the cost of a new local superfast fibre network, as long as the technology is capable of serving the local school. Two of the schools and


communities already benefitting from the funding are Ditcham Park School in Hampshire and Dunedin School


in Edinburgh, where the teachers are excited about the new opportunities superfast fibre broadband will bring to their online capabilities and IT growth. Rob Connolly, Headteacher at


Ditcham Park School, said: “This new technology will provide a leap in digital services that will benefit every single member of the school community - pupils, parents, staff and visitors.” Bill Murphy, BT’s Managing


Director for next generation access, said: “The way children learn these days has been totally transformed by the internet. High-speed fibre broadband takes learning one step further in bringing learning to life, at school and at home. “You don’t have to be eligible for


a grant to enter the competition. But we would encourage any schools with less than 24Mbps internet speeds to get in touch to see if they are in any high-speed fibre broadband plans. If they’re not, our Community Fibre Partnerships team can help them look at options available.” More than 150 communities


across the country have so far signed up to a co-funded Community Fibre Partnership, delivered by Openreach, BT’s local network business, with many already enjoying the benefits of superfast broadband. The availability of these new grants will encourage even more communities to work with Openreach on bringing high-speed connectivity to their town or village. BT’s long term ambition is to


help and inspire young people in the UK to make the most of technology through initiatives such as the BT Tech Literacy Programme. Communities interested in making


an application for a grant should register their interest online at www. communityfibre.bt.com.


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