No to Sir Ted

When Gordon Brown arrived in Washington D.C. this week, many speculated he was hitching his wagon to Barack Obama’s rising star, but Quentin Letts writes in Forbes that he was, in fact, hitching it to Ted Kennedy’s fading one as well. Of Britain’s decision to knight Kennedy, Letts write “Although Queen Elizabeth II will have been informed, it is most unlikely she instigated the idea. It has a strong flavor of political opportunism, if not desperation...The Kennedy knighthood gambit was an insurance policy. If the White House visit went off like a dud cannon (which it did), Sen. Ted's gong might help to retrieve some publicity and ensure applause, albeit of the dutiful variety.”