I don't know about Sarah Palin but Obama has gone out of his way to court the Jewish vote, including clear statements of support for Israel in a speech to AIPAC. If that's anti-Israel, what does pro-Israel look like?

Poppy sounds incredibly irritating, but I've read other reviewers who also say you can't help but be drawn in to her world and be totally convinced by Sally Hawkins' performance.

Well most of them don't anyway. But they like and respect him and hope like hell he wins the election. This, they hope (please tell me it's true), will put an end to an administration that has poisoned everything it has touched and left the world a more dangerous and uncertain place than when it came in.

It's the War on Terror and American soldiers are at war, we're told, but the people they're fighting are, er, not at war because they're not abiding by the 'rules'.

The 'rules', as demonstrated by us good guys, include massive 'collateral damage' in the hunt for the bad guys, humiliation and torture in Abu Ghraib, and the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians by the likes of Blackwater.

Therefore, we righteous ones are allowed to incarcerate these 'enemy combatants' (not 'soldiers') for years without trial, and torture them till they lose their minds. In other words, might is right.

Obvious, really.

"our European allies [must] sever commercial relations with Tehran."

America will have no European allies - or any allies anywhere (except Israel) - if this lunacy prevails. It will be a pariah state.

Pencil, paper, ballot boxes; that's all you need. There's nothing to mysteriously 'break down'. It's quick, simple and transparent and leaves a paper trail that can be checked if needs be.

It works fine for other western democracies so why not the US?

So Americans don't know much about the rest of the world. Does it matter?

The answer is YES. It matters more for Americans than for anybody else because America has such power and influence (still). When the US decides to act abroad, it is VERY important that it understands the likely effects of what it is doing. And that means having a good understanding of what makes a country tick - a knowledge of the culture and the dynamic of the society. Being well-travelled would surely help this process.

And it really is so easy to do these days. It doesn't have to be as part of a package - the internet makes it simple to book a flight, a house and hire a car, all in one go, in say France, Spain or Italy. I've done it loads of times.

Admittedly, Americans are none too popular at the moment, but that'll probably change if Obama is elected (it's American foreign policy Europeans dislike, not Americans). Learn a little bit of the language - enough to order a beer and a pizza - and then just go with the flow.

Your Machinist predecessor - Farhad Manjoo - insisted after the last election that, after exhaustive investigation (he said), there was no evidence of fraud. There were mistakes, incompetence and flaws in the process, but no fraud. And this was despite the weight of evidence produced by the likes of Greg Palast (which Manjoo dismissed out of hand).

Manjoo didn't convince me then, nor many others, and took a lot of flak over it. I wonder if he's still so certain?

1. Faith-based politics

2. Compliant media

3. Disengaged electorate.

Or

1. American exceptionalism

2. Great power

3. Insufficient restraint.

Just because a high-profile woman is attacked for her failings does not make it sexist. It is person-ist. John McCain is also attacked for his failings but in a different way to Sarah Palin because his failings are different. This is not sexist either.

Sarah Palin is an unpleasant and ignorant person and should be attacked at every opportunity. The term 'whack job' fits her perfectly and is not sexist.

It's the sheer irrationality of some of these people's beliefs that scares me.

We all have our own views about particular issues and they will differ widely, but the utter bone-headed ignorance shown by some people is frightening. Do they really believe that Obama is a socialist/Muslim/terrorist bent on America's destruction, or are they just frightened people watching the world move on without them?

I know there will always be people like that and your reaction should just be to sigh and move on in the expectation that they are in the minority and the pragmatism and common sense of your leaders will prevail. But then George W. Bush comes along and, lo, you have bone-headed ignorance at the very top of the tree as well.

Never again. Please.

Not the pardon.

You can't just sweep abuse, torture and criminality under the carpet just because it was authorised by the president. If it was anyone else, they'd be in jail by now. If it was an Iraqi or Afghan Muslim in the wrong place at the wrong time, he'd probably be rotting in Guantanamo or some other American-run hell-hole.

Obama is better than this. And so is America. A pardon is a very bad idea and would send all the wrong signals, not just to Americans but to the rest of the world - potential allies and tyrants alike.

Congratulations America.

Obama is obviously an intelligent, principled and decent bloke, but at the same time also has great political skill and immense drive. The US is lucky to have him as its President-elect and, speaking as a Brit and a European still bruised from the nightmare of the Bush presidency, I think we're all going to be lucky.

As another letter writer said, after those horrendous McCain/Palin rallies it was good to see in Chicago a huge crowd of happy Americans waving flags for all the RIGHT reasons.