UK Brown appeals for "HELP to SAVE the WORLD"...

In becoming only the fifth Prime Minister to address a joint session of Congress, he lavished praise on America, hailing it as the “indispensable nation”.But he also laid down a challenge to the US not to retreat into protectionism and to help to protect the world’s poor, calling on America’s politicians to join him in forging a global agreement to solve the financial crisis.Seeking to restore his battered reputation in Britain, Mr Brown, whose love of the US is well known, had travelled to Washington hoping to replicate the success enjoyed by his predecessor Tony Blair.
The trip was in danger of being overshadowed, however, by his refusal to apologise for the recession.In the event, the Prime Minister shrugged off the controversy as he called on the US to help him reach a deal on global financial reform in time for the London G20 summit in April.
In a mostly well-received speech, in which he repeatedly called on America to renew the special relationship with Britain, he was given 19 standing ovations, the same as Mr Blair when he addressed the same assembly six years ago after the invasion of Iraq. But his appeals to the US to reject “the race to the bottom” of protectionism, while embracing the plight of the world’s poor, were greeted less enthusiastically.The Prime Minister, who spoke at some length about the historic ties between the two countries, noted that former British premiers had addressed Congress at times of war.“I come now to talk of new and different battles we must fight together, to speak of a global economy in crisis and a planet imperilled,” he said.Mr Brown, who did not make his usual claim that the economic crisis began in the US, hailed American innovation as he appealed for it to lead the world out of the economic “hurricane” and protect the planet from climate change.“I say we should seize the moment, because never before have I seen a world so willing to come together,” he said.“Never before has that been more needed, and never before have the benefits of co-operation been so far reaching.”He added:“I believe that you, the nation that had the vision to put a man on the Moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet Earth.”Mr Brown, who has studied Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal, said it was time to revive that visionary spirit. He delivered his address 76 years to the day since President Roosevelt told Americans that the only thing they had to fear was “fear itself”.The Prime Minister told the audience of congressmen, defence chiefs, interns and members of the public who filled the Congress chamber:“In the depths of Depression, when Franklin Roosevelt did battle with fear itself, it was not simply by the power of his words, his personality and example that he triumphed.“Yes, all these things mattered. But what mattered more was this enduring truth: that you, the American people, at your core, were, as you remain, every bit as optimistic as your Roosevelts, your Reagans and your Obamas”.The Prime Minister, whose wife, Sarah, watched nervously during the 35-minute address, also announced that the Queen had agreed to award an honorary knighthood to Edward Kennedy, the veteran senator. Mr Brown had earlier attempted to explain why he was not going to apologise for the economic crisis.He told the BBC:“The idea...that somehow this is a British problem that was a British Government mistake, actually what happened is that round the world, as everybody understands, the whole global financial system seized up.”
By Andrew Porter and Toby Harnden in Washington
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/4940060/Gordon-Brown-appeals-to-US-Congress-for-help-to-save-the-world.html
As in the days of Noah...