As a well-educated American, I am genetically predisposed to British humor, which sometimes (but not always) avoids slapstick and draws its content from more sophisticated sources. American humor sometimes (but rarely) avoids the childish.

A notable British funnyman is Peter Mandelson, who as EU Trade Commissioner was a welcome voice of sanity on China trade policy for a while. His positions were decidedly more even-handed than the U.S. position during the days when the Congress was in the throes of protectionist rhetoric during the first Bush term. Unfortunately his China positions became more and more wacky as his time in office went on, until at the end he was railing against Chinese trade barriers like he was channeling CNN uber-protectionist Lou Dobbs.

Mandelson (sorry, Lord Mandelson) has taken his road show back home, of course, and is currently serving as Business Secretary (no idea what this means, but it sounds like the Secretary of Commerce in the U.S., who is merely a shill/booster for U.S. business). Correct me if I’m wrong here.

It seems that Pete is working on a new standup act. Responding to a statement made by Starbucks chief Howard Schultz about the crappy UK economy, Mandelson (in front of journalists) exploded with this bit, perhaps derivative of Billy Connolly or some other potty mouth comedian:

Speaking at a diplomatic cocktail reception in New York, he said: "Why should I have this guy running down the country? Who the fuck is he? How the hell are they [Starbucks] doing?"

Must have been some cocktail party, and not so diplomatic in my opinion. Let’s hope that Mandelson doesn’t get back into the China game anytime soon.