John Leake | The less you know about something, the more you are at liberty to fantasize about it. | Ursula von der Leyen is the EU Commission President, Annalena Baerbock is the German Foreign Minister, Sanna Marin is the former Finnish Prime Minister, now a “strategic advisor” of the Tony Blair Institute. Kaja Kallas is the former Estonian Prime Minister and now Vice President of the European Commission. ■ The trouble with such “tough women,” it seems to me, is that may often be lulled into thinking that they have something to prove. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy remarked to a confidante that the trouble with General Curtis LeMay, who wanted to commence hostilities with the Russians, was that he allowed his decision-making to be governed by his fear of seeming weak. ■ I sometimes wonder if John Kennedy was the last man of any real sophistication to hold high office in the West. Since he was assassinated, we have, it seems to me, witnessed a steady decline of intellect in our leaders.