Daniel W. Drezner

Notes from Cardiff

I’ve briefly escaped from the clutches of my handlers at the British-American Project conference to provide the following observations: Never, ever drink more than one glass of Cypriot brandy and expect to be fresh as a daisy the next morning. The Welsh service sector? Let me politely suggest that it needs a bit of polish. ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

I've briefly escaped from the clutches of my handlers at the British-American Project conference to provide the following observations: Never, ever drink more than one glass of Cypriot brandy and expect to be fresh as a daisy the next morning. The Welsh service sector? Let me politely suggest that it needs a bit of polish. [Aren't you being overly harsh?--ed. It took five tries for the hotel staff to get my key card to function. At one restaurant we went to, more than an hour passed between ordering and receiving our main courses. Small-N, but telling] While the conservative movement in the United States has shed much of its upper crust WASP image, this has yet to take place in the U.K. As near as I can tell, once someone declares themselves to be a Tory here, they are required to have a double-breasted blue blazer surgically attached to their skin. There's a lot of hostility to Tony Blair in the U.K. right now over Iraq. There's a lot of hostility to him among the U.K. conference attendees as well. I suspect that in a few years time many moderate Brits will long for him the same way many moderate Dems are now wishing they could nominate Bill Clinton for a third term. Daniel Davies suggests that there are conspiracy-like elements to the British-American Project. I would reply that there is a BAP conspiracy -- to destroy your liver. I'll respond more seriously to Davies post that I'm not being serious enough about the potential threats BAP poses once I'm a) back in the USA; and b) not hung over. [They got to you, didn't they? You had dinner with Jennifer Garner?--ed. No, but I have dined with a British journalist who bears more than a passing resemblance to Nell McAndrew, an investment consultant from Texas who bears more than a passing resemblance to Andie MacDowell, and an actress-turned-power broker who starred in Metropolitan. I can't complain.] UPDATE: A hat tip to Will Baude for providing a reasonably accurate play-by-play of my Cambridge talk over at Crescat Sententia.

I’ve briefly escaped from the clutches of my handlers at the British-American Project conference to provide the following observations:

  • Never, ever drink more than one glass of Cypriot brandy and expect to be fresh as a daisy the next morning.
  • The Welsh service sector? Let me politely suggest that it needs a bit of polish. [Aren’t you being overly harsh?–ed. It took five tries for the hotel staff to get my key card to function. At one restaurant we went to, more than an hour passed between ordering and receiving our main courses. Small-N, but telling]
  • While the conservative movement in the United States has shed much of its upper crust WASP image, this has yet to take place in the U.K. As near as I can tell, once someone declares themselves to be a Tory here, they are required to have a double-breasted blue blazer surgically attached to their skin.
  • There’s a lot of hostility to Tony Blair in the U.K. right now over Iraq. There’s a lot of hostility to him among the U.K. conference attendees as well. I suspect that in a few years time many moderate Brits will long for him the same way many moderate Dems are now wishing they could nominate Bill Clinton for a third term.
  • Daniel Davies suggests that there are conspiracy-like elements to the British-American Project. I would reply that there is a BAP conspiracy — to destroy your liver. I’ll respond more seriously to Davies post that I’m not being serious enough about the potential threats BAP poses once I’m a) back in the USA; and b) not hung over. [They got to you, didn’t they? You had dinner with Jennifer Garner?–ed. No, but I have dined with a British journalist who bears more than a passing resemblance to Nell McAndrew, an investment consultant from Texas who bears more than a passing resemblance to Andie MacDowell, and an actress-turned-power broker who starred in Metropolitan. I can’t complain.]

    • UPDATE: A hat tip to Will Baude for providing a reasonably accurate play-by-play of my Cambridge talk over at Crescat Sententia.

    Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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