What would you buy The Queen?

Hello

I've just been reading about Obama's visit to The Queen. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/01/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4910527.shtml

I'm shocked... absolutely shocked. I love Obama, but really. On what PLANET do you think... hmm... maybe she'd like an ipod? REALLY?? THE QUEEN??? What are they going to get her on their next visit, a hoodie and a skateboard?? 

So I've been trying to think what Obama COULD have got. 

1. The Queen is getting on and those glasses keep getting bigger and bigger. Why not show your love buy buying a nice 60 inch plasma screen with surround sound with extra big sub woofer, just in case the hearings going too. 
   
2. A Sony Reader or Kindle. Filled with historical American or English texts and if they want to make it a bit tacky Obama can always throw in his books. 
   
3. X Box 360. At least it's something the grand kids can use. 
   
4. Pimp her Resolute desk. Both The Queen and Obama have desks made from HMS Resolute. I'm sure Obama's been thinking how he can make his a bit more geeky. He could do the same with The Queens desk. Built in a screen that sinks into the desk, touch screen table top (Microsoft Surface) and a shield that raises at the front of the desk. Not because anyone would try to attack her, (they wouldn't dare) but in case she sneezes or needs to pick her nose, this would ensure her dignity is preserved. 
   
5. A new car. Yes, The Queen has just got a new funky car with all the gadgets, but it's not as cool or funky as Obama's "The Beast". 
   
6. A link from whitehouse.gov to http://www.royal.gov.uk/ The Queen does love her website. Show some love Obama and send her some hits!! 
   
7. An Oscar! Granted she wasn't in the film 'The Queen' with Helen Mirran, but really. you can't say she isn't a star of the film. I think The Queen would LOVE an Oscar. This would really go over well and firmly cement the 'special relationship'. 
   
8. Get the street artist that did the famous painting of Obama to do one of The Queen. The Queen loves art and has many official portraits. But this one would be really special and could boost the image of The Queen all over the world. 
   
9. Bush's head on a silver platter. Nothing says respect like killing the thing that threatens Kingdom. Back in the good old days, this would have been done without question. Some traditions really should be brought back. We can put it on a spike outside the Tower of London and people can throw things at it. This would also spark financial recovery, by providing a MASSIVE influx of tourism all wanting to see the head. 
   
10. Presidency of the United States. Ok, a little unconventional. But let's face it, the republicans suspected that something like this might happen. :-) Now that America's struggling it's time for a merger, economies of scale show the more you merge the greater efficiencies. If we pull in some more of the commonwealth (Canada, Australia etc) we can truly restore control over the globe. Really.. the more you think about this... the more it makes sense...  It's the only way to boost our numbers to a comparable level to China and India. 
    
11. A lovely broach. Simple, but personal, designed by experts in America and made especially. (Really.. how hard could that be to do?) (mutters: "... bloody ipod...")
    
12. Let The Queen feel his pecks. No one would need to know, let's face his her husband isn't exactly buff. It would be a nice memory at least and it wouldn't cost Obama anything. Oh, or they could give her some botox.. 
    

I can't believe I've gotten to the end of the post and I'm still upset about this. I hope at the very VERY least they got an ipod that's engraved. Maybe this is because The Queen isn't having a state dinner in his honor and instead the Obama's have to put up with Jamie Oliver's food. 

What would you buy The Queen? 

Is this the start of a New Fascism?

Hey

It's become quite a social fact that after a war society tends to move towards the political left. We beleive we're fighting for something good and just and we want that to be reflected in the way we live our lives. 

Equally during times of economic hardship we tend to move to the political right. We feel insecure and defensive. We tend to revert to tribalism, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribalism) strengthening our bonds and social identity with specific groups of individuals we can relate to. This can take many differant paths but in recent history the most notable is the national darwinistic approach (or fascism). 

Technically speaking this is Neo-Tribalism "as the culture and institutions of modernism declined, societies would look to the organizational principles of the distant past for guidance"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Tribalism

And of course you also get an increase in religious tribalism

http://www.sociologyguide.com/types-of-society/Characteristics-of-Tribal-Society.php 

It's happened before

1920's Cabaret

Yes, you're probably wondering what on earth this has to do with anything. Well, you're probably familiar with the first and second world wars and you've probably seen loads of films about them. But have you ever really looked into what happened inbetween them in Germany? How did they really go from a defeated and financially ruined country to the biggest threat in Europe in a relatively short period of time? It certainly wasn't a straight line and like much of the world the 1920's was a golden era of liberalism and technological advancement. The cabaret became the blogosphere of it's time with a politics, satire and social debate at the heart of many events (and of course sex at the others, just like the blogosphere :-) ). 

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/his452/Alcohol/germancabaret.html

Social acceptance of homosexuality

I think this message really captulates just how quickly a society can move to the right and truely catch people out with devistating consequences. 

http://www.qrd.org/qrd/culture/1995/gay.culture.flourished.prenazi.germany-10.95

Key factors

More than ever in my life time society as a whole seems to be reaching out for something. We seem confused about where we go from here. What will global warming mean? what does globalisation mean? What's happening with the economy? Who am I? Where do I fit into society. So more people than ever feel lonely. There are few families with a stable social status and people are much more likely to move to new areas for work. So social bonds aren't that strong right now. Combined with economic hardship and a lack of credible role models it's possible for a strong leader to come to power that will provide a structure and hope that we so desperately need.

Are there signs already?

You may have heard on the new 'British jobs for British workers' not to mention calls for a more'values' driven society over the 13 year old father controversy. 

It couldn't happen now

Yes, standard response, but I can't help thinking if you'd of asked all the financial experts in the world just 3-5 years ago whether we could see another depression I bet they would have said something along the lines of "No, it's not possible, lessons were learn't from the great depression, society and financial models have moved on." Ask them now and they'll tell you there were lots of warning signs that were ignored. The news makes it sound like we were 'obviously' heading for trouble, why did no one realise? 

So my question to you is really, what happens after a financial collapse? What is stopping a repeat of history?

Is Obama the one to unite a strong left and provide the security and answers we need without is reverting to the hard line traditional instincts on the right? 

(Plan to post again with what I think the 'New Fascism' might look like. But feel free to comment on your views. Am I mad?)