In the belly of the Beast

So here I am at the centre of world government, not Geneva of course, this is Washington DC. I'm actually blogging from the belly of the beast, two floors underground in the IMF. I've been here for the last three days lobbying for a just resolution of Saddam's debt and generally making a nusiance of myself. There have been some formal "dialogue" meetings which i've attended (here's a webcast [at the 38th minute] of me stutteringly asking a question and Gordon Brown refusing to answer it). I've also gatecrashed a few events I don't think I was meant to attend and asked some controversial questions... it's amazing how far you can wander with a smart suit and a confident stride!

Today there hasn't been much for me to do at the Fund and Bank, so I've been wandering around the city. I went to church this morning just east of the Capitol and then had a picnic lunch with some people I met there. Then I went wandering along the Mall, snapping like a typical tourist at all the iconic buildings and monuments. It's strange how familiar it all seems. I think almost everyone who's grown up in the last quarter of the 20th Century with access to a television (and particularly in Britain) can't avoid but feel partly American. It's one of those classic love/loath relationships. I loath US foreign policy, decedant consumerism, introverted nationalism etc. etc. Yet at the same time there's lots I admire about the ideals the US theoretically aspires to and many exemplary individuals and organisations. You find the extremes in America - the very worst and the very best that humanity has to offer... not to forget the very wierdest as well!