Scott Lucas on BBC World Service "Newshour"

I had the chance to discuss today's Bush-Obama "transition" meeting --- in a very light-hearted spirit --- with Robin Lustig of the BBC at 1300 GMT today.

The interview is just after the News Update at the halfway point of the programme.

Bye George, Hello Barack: It's (Semi-)Official

Yeah, yeah, the official handover is 20 January 2009 but in case anyone doubted who is now effectively the top dog in Washington, here's confirmation:

The US Embassy e-mailed at the end of last week to tell me (and a lot of others) that the President-elect's website was now on-line. I cannot recall this being done before, certainly not within 72 hours of the election. And to have the "official" seal of approval on the site, with publicity from the State Department rather than the Obama campaign....

Well, the times are a-changed.

"Brains" and the Obama Administration

David Milne's opinion piece on intellectuals and an Obama Administration, which we featured this weekend, has been followed by the thoughts of Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times on the intellectualism of Obama.

Interesting divide between the two pieces which reflects, I think, the tension in some of us over the upcoming Administration. Kristof's spirit of optimism and hope shouldn't be quashed, but I do wonder if we also need to keep Milne's attention to political reality close at hand.

Fact x Importance = News (Nov 10)

Other stories that caught our eye last week:

• Barack Obama's election victory is already altering the tenor of Iraqi politics.


• An 'unknown "foreign entity"' hacked both the Obama and McCain campaigns' computer systems.


• Michael Lind thinks the US is witnessing the dawn of its Fourth Republic- though it may actually have begun four years ago.


• Cyber-terrorism in Pakistan could be punishable by death.


• The latest photograph of Kim Jong-il is probably fake.

Discuss these stories- and let us know what else we've missed- in the comments below.

Celebrating Bankers: The $140 Billion Tax Cut in the Bailout

A reader from New Zealand tips us off to today's front-page story in the Washington Post:

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

The Treasury Department effectively removed a 1986 Congressional provision that limited tax shelters in corporate mergers. The move may be illegal, although the Treasury is trying to cover itself by saying that the notice is an "interpretation" of the law.

One immediate effect of the "interpretation", which came a day after the House of Representatives initially rejected the $700 bailout plan, was to make the rescue of troubled banks and financial companies more attractive. For example Wachovia, one of the largest banks in America, was going to be taken over by Citicorp but, after the ruling, Wells Fargo swooped in and made a successful bid.

President-elect Obama may want to consider, as he considers a tax reduction plan (still unclear how he's going to finance it...), that another $100 billion has just been slammed on the Federal Government's budget deficit.