The Week of One Man

The dust is still settling on the Obama presidency as it starts to take hold, but there is still the sense of momentous change because of it.

What is most striking is the change in attitudes, in societal norms. It was touched on in the inaugaral address, but the sixty years ago that his father may not be allowed in some restaurants is not the entire story. Only 44 years before this election, for the election of Lyndon B. Johnson, black Americans were still denied the vote. And now there is a black president. It is hard to envisage a more fundamental underlining of the change that has transpired in the intervening years.

I wonder how long it will take here - a nation equally thought of at the forefront of such matters. I suspect it is not just around the corner that we will have a black prime minister, or an asian prime minister.