Fashion can tell you everything that's going on in the world, according to Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue now being tipped to become the US ambassador to either London or Paris.

Traditional diplomats might beg to differ. But the old skills of negotiation and subtle political manoeuvring have largely been superseded in a world where leaders and their private staff deal with one another direct through satellite video calls and internet conferencing. Perhaps it should not be surprising, then, that 40 of the 59 ambassadors that President Obama appointed in his first term were people who had raised large amounts of cash for the presidential election campaign.

With diplomatic experience not now so vital to the ambassadorial function as networking, Ms Wintour may be the perfect ambassador for the modern age.