By Invitation | Anglo-American ties

Kim Darroch on the “special relationship” between America and Britain

It’s real, but right now it lacks warmth, says Britain’s former ambassador to Washington

Image: Sam Kerr

RISHI SUNAK is in Washington this week. The centrepiece is the British prime minister’s meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. But he will also meet other senior politicians and business leaders, and attend a game of the local Major League baseball team, the Washington Nationals. It had been rumoured that Mr Sunak would throw the ceremonial first pitch, but it now appears he will not have the honour. That may, in fact, come as a relief: celebrity pitching is fraught with risk, as Barack Obama discovered in 2010, when he threw so high and wide that those in the crowd who weren’t laughing jeered.

Ukraine strikes back

From the June 10th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from By Invitation

Magnus Carlsen on why the future of chess lies in freestyle

Time, at the sport’s highest levels, for less computer-assisted rote learning and more creativity

Peter Sands of the Global Fund on the pandemic’s positive legacies

New vaccines got most of the attention but there’s a lot more to celebrate


Reihan Salam

Trumpism is becoming more pragmatic, argues Reihan Salam

But not all of the incoming president’s backers buy it


Time is not on Russia’s side, argues Finland’s foreign minister

Elina Valtonen calls for a lower oil-price cap and tougher measures against Russia’s shadow fleet

Oriana Skylar Mastro makes a case for paring America’s nukes

The political scientist explains why beefing up is bad China strategy

A new Iranian approach to regional security and prosperity, by M. Javad Zarif

Iran’s vice-president on how his country can make the region more secure and prosperous