Cannabis smoke lingering along the sidewalks of Washington D.C. was the most palpable fruit of liberty since my last visit to the US capital. I’m in town to give a talk at Britain’s dazzling Lutyens Residence about the evergreen ‘special relationship’ ahead of the US’s 250th anniversary next July. Acting ambassador James Roscoe has stepped up with aplomb to fill Peter Mandelson’s big shoes, aided by his renaissance wife, the musician, author and broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill. America’s anniversary will fall on the watch of its 47th President. The Republic’s first four incumbents, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, inspired by some of the greatest minds of their and any age David Hume, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, made the new country. The anniversary is a vital opportunity for re-dedication to their enduringly important ideas, not just an excuse for contemporary celebration.

The 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war focused more on victory than the ideals for which it was fought. Remembrance Week was wonderfully dignified. But was it too… backward-looking? From east to west, democracy, liberty from........

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