As you have surely seen by now, Victor Davis Hanson has an article on our homepage today on the Anglo-American relationship, the one always known as “the special relationship.” (Go here.) The special relationship is on the rocks, of course: Earlier this year, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Commons declared it dead; our own House was moved to pass a resolution saying, no, it is not dead, or at least should not be. (I wrote about the resolution in this column.) And now I’d like to mention something about the New York Philharmonic. Really? Yes. Readers may recall that, last year, I was covering the Philharmonic’s Fourth of July concert. It was conducted by Bramwell Tovey, a Brit who makes genial remarks from the stage. (In fact, I have long referred to him as “your genial host.”) Some of his remarks, however, are not entirely genial. During the Fourth of July concert, he said basically the following: Anglo-American relations were lousy under Bush, the recently departed president, but they are just ducky under Obama, your wonderful new leader. “We are very pleased” — thus did Tovey presume to speak for all Brits. (I wrote about this episode in this column.) Of course, Anglo-American relations were going down the tubes, thanks to our president’s odd aversion to Britain, or what seems to be an aversion. And Bush had had famously good relations with the British PMs, particularly Blair. In fact, William Shawcross wrote a book on Bush and Blair called Allies. But the Philharmonic’s audience couldn’t have cared less about facts: Tovey had made anti-Bush, pro-Obama remarks — and the people wet themselves with joy. The orchestra responded similarly. I remember a very tall, lanky bass player, who put both arms as high over his head as he could and applauded. Yeah, we get the picture, thanks, dude. Tovey is not a stupid man — far from it — but he made a colossally stupid comment, or at least an ignorant one. I wonder what sort of political speech he will deliver during this upcoming Fourth of July concert. Is he still enamored of Obama, or has his ardor cooled? You may ask, “Why should musicians use their platforms for political remarks in the first place?” Oh, you dear, dear innocent thing. Show me a musician who will refrain from using his platform to press political points — always from the left (in my experience) — and I will show you a freak. And someone to applaud.