The greatest possible evidence for this is that, while some in the West celebrate today, the Iraqi people will be weeping. And you do not impose order, however well intentioned, without distorting realities on the ground.Britain left a world perhaps better educated and possibly more prosperous in parts. Back to seeing the world through the eyes of the victors, where the subjects are anonymous natives without cultures or feelings or aspirations of their own other than what they are handed from above History as the march of white-man’s progress. It is already under way in the case of the much despised Ottoman Empire and the Portuguese. America is our natural successor, if only it would learn the lesson that these things cannot be left to themselves. To listen to US politicians or to read American columnists these days is rather like eavesdropping on a Colonial Office conversation in the late 19th century The hand sweeps across the world’s map marking the natives.

Wisely, all things considered.
To reassure grammar schools of their continuing existence he said he wanted to take micromanagement down to the cellular level. A few male operators are fine, so competent that they could almost be women, but dealing with the others is like swimming through mud. What is the nature of the weapons available, and does it have the ability to use them effectively? It appears that Iraq has no air force, virtually no usable ballistic missiles, is years away from a nuclear weapon, and has a greatly weakened army. In the past three years its shares have fallen by more than 96 per cent from an all-time high of 1,562p and the company has been ejected from the FTSE 100.Late last year C&W embarked on an £800m restructuring programme involving the withdrawal from the domestic markets of the US and Continental Europe. If C&W’s shares were to double over the next three years, then he would own 2.6 million shares worth almost £2.9m.Analysts warned, however, that Mr Lapthorne still faced an uphill task to stop the company from falling into insolvency. “His appointment is likely to be taken broadly positively,” Fraser McLeish, telecoms analyst at Investec Securities, said.Based on C&W’s closing share price yesterday, Mr Lapthorne’s free shares would be worth £555,000 in addition to the £1m in salary he will earn in the next three years.

A company spokesman said Mr Lapthorne would be “very healthily involved” with C&W although he would not be working a fixed number of days a week.C&W’s shares rose 16 per cent to close at 55.5p last night as the City welcomed the hiring of Mr Lapthorne. An avowed francophile, Mr Lapthorne is also on the board of France Telecom’s mobile operator Orange and spends much of his time at his villa in Provence. Since then he has taken on a string of non-executive chairmanships at Morse, Avecia, Tunstall Holdings and TI Automotive. “I’ve heard some comments that what I did in Manchester was a fluke, a flash in the pan,” he said “Some people have implied I am a one-race wonder I don’t actually think that’s the case. People are entitled to their opinions, but I’m happy to be getting on with what I’m doing It is more annoying for my family and friends.

They know what’s going on, and they’ll tell me whether I need to get my feet back on the ground.”It was the manner of East’s victory in Manchester which impressed observers such as Cram, who did the 800m and 1500m double in Edinburgh in 1986, and Seb Coe, who earned a couple of Olympic 1500m golds in his time but never quite managed a Commonwealth title.”East is not a quick runner, but he has championship craft,” commented Cram. “A situation opened up in his Commonwealth Games race and he took the chance. That is what big championship running is all about.” Coe concurred, saying: “Winning a medal in a big championship is having on board that mental computer which feeds in the information and tells you what to do in the race. East did what he had to do extremely well in Manchester.”Unfortunately for East, his preparations for Munich soon afterwards were less than ideal. First, his spikes and kit went missing at the airport for 24 hours. Then, more embarrassingly, he was given cause to fret over a stray comment that made its way into a newspaper report which was less than complimentary to Lord Coe.