After meeting Ms Rice, Mrs Beckett made her first public comment as foreign secretary: "I am delighted to be here." She said she had heard so much about Ms Rice from her predecessor, Jack Straw, who enjoyed a strong rapport with his US counterpart, that "I feel as if I know you already". Ms Rice said they had compared backgrounds and how they had risen to their present positions in politics.

Mrs Beckett, still getting up to speed, had no public comment on Iran, while Ms Rice reiterated that the international community had to send a clear message that it could not develop a nuclear weapon.

Still getting up to speed... no public comments on Iran... For crying out loud, Ms. Beckett, it's not like you haven't been in the cabinet since 1997... Blair could have given you some instructions... You could have summoned a procession of experts (from the Foreign Office, from the MI6...) to your office between your appointment and your trip to the US in order to get "up to speed"... Arrgh!

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper