A correspondent writes to let me know that, “Oddly enough David Manning has never served in an Arab country, and was ambassador to Israel from 1995 to 1998.” Which makes me worry even more about the ethos of the British Foreign Office. I can see the point about Britain never having been particularly interested in Lebanon before – but if that’s the case, why takes sides in an internal American policy dispute? If you’re going to stay out of the issue on the grounds you’ve always stayed out, you should dashed well stay out!