i Editor's Letter: Most things don't change

Stefano Hatfield

I hope you had a great weekend, and ignored my friend and colleague, the grumpy old Simon Kelner, to wallow in the blue skies, and warm sunshine.

It was a weekend when we learned most things don't change. Silly old Eurovision revealed — again — that no one likes us, despite our offering up as sacrifice an international singing legend's dignity. Roy Hodgson's first England game reminded us we can just about scrape a 1-0 against quite mediocre opposition, but we can't keep the ball and pass it around when required for love nor mega-money.

The sunny weather suggested that many Brits badly need to grasp the concept of a summer wardrobe, and Jessica Ennis confirmed, as she broke the British record while winning yet another international heptathlon title, that she could be quite a good athlete if only she were not so "fat".

On a much more serious level, we learned that something has truly changed: how reduced we are as an international power. Yes, those massacre photographs from Syria in our excellent sister paper The Independent on Sunday were truly horrifying, and should shock all who see them. And, yes, ideally they would shock those who see them into action. But, what? What can we actually do about them if the Chinese and the Russians choose to continue to stand in the way of any tougher action on Assad's regime?

For all William Hague's well-meaning agitating, he knows, and we know too if we stop to think about it, that there is precious little that we can do as a nation alone. In a world increasingly ruled by the concept of "Realpolitik", our "ideals" count for little in the face of China and Russia's power. The disturbing thing for our traditional world view is that the Americans will have to learn the same lesson too.

And if it is a tough lesson for us...

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