Another anecdote from Gordon Brown before I get down to the business of reporting the substantive parts of his remarks. This one isn't one of his own, and I'm not sure why he told it, except that it was part of a larger point about how First World nations shouldn't condescend to the developing nations they're trying to help, but he told it well.

In 1957, Africa's Gold Coast became the independent state of Ghana, and then Vice-President Richard Nixon went there to represent the US at the celebrations. Nixon worked his way through a crowd, shaking hands, and in his "gauche" (Brown's word) way, tried to connect with people by asking them, "How does it feel to be free?"

Brown mimed Nixon turning from one person to the next, shaking hands.

"How does it feel to be free?"

"How does it feel to be free?"

"How does it feel to be free?"

He kept asking until he came to one fellow.

"How does it feel to be free?" Nixon asked.

"How should I know?" the man said. "I come from Alabama."