Gore Vidal hails devolution in UK as model for Europe

The celebrated American writer and thinker Gore Vidal predicted the end of the nation state and said the British Government's move towards devolution was the way ahead.

Tony Blair would be hailed for his forward thinking over his reforms to the government of Scotland and Wales, even though the changes had not been his idea, Vidal told the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday. "In his own way, Blair was very avant garde. Without knowing it, what he did in Wales and here will be the future of Europe.''

The pressure by minorities across Europe, from the Basques in Spain to the north Italians who wanted to separate from Rome, meant that devolution would be the future in Europe, too. In a statement that drew some intakes of breath from the audience, Vidal suggested that people wanted to be part of something small, but said: "Brussels is not as poisonous to most Europeans as their own capitals.''

He added: "I think the nation state is over. China is the next great player but power is in the hands of corporations and international cartels.''

In a question-and-answer session that ranged across his fictional writings, his childhood as the grandson of a legendary blind US senator and the political stupidity of the American people, Vidal spoke to a sell-out audience.

Asked whether the American people would ever begin to question the wisdom of the proposed missile defence system which is upsetting protesters in Europe, Vidal professed clear exasperation with his own people.

"It's very hard to get through to the American people," he said. But he suggested Europe could make the first move, "if your leaders weren't so craven and short-sighted''. Europe should kick America out of the United Nations and out of Nato. If there was no special relationship between Britain and America, then America would have no excuse for bases in the United Kingdom.

He said George Bush's claims that the missile system was needed were ridiculous. "Bush said, 'We've got a lot of new enemies'. He can't remember their names, but he knows they are dangerous.''