The official medal table has China winning the Olympics. The US media rejigs things to put Team America is in its rightful place above us all. Europhiles, meanwhile, argue the EU is really the winner.
But a letter in the Telegraph offers a more interesting approach, arguing that – as in medieval warfare – we should judge thinks according to the success of the head of state.
By this measure the Queen, as its head, would be out in front with 79 medals, George Bush would be second with 72 and Hu Jintao trailing with 67.
Hats off to Her Majesty.
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David Steven is a senior fellow at the UN Foundation and at New York University, where he founded the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, a multi-stakeholder partnership to deliver the SDG targets for preventing all forms of violence, strengthening governance, and promoting justice and inclusion. He was lead author for the ministerial Task Force on Justice for All and senior external adviser for the UN-World Bank flagship study on prevention, Pathways for Peace. He is a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of The Risk Pivot: Great Powers, International Security, and the Energy Revolution (Brookings Institution Press, 2014). In 2001, he helped develop and launch the UK’s network of climate diplomats. David lives in and works from Pisa, Italy.
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