From Trump to Milei, these are the gifts our world leaders desperately need
We found the best presents for heads of state who might want more than holiday cheer.
There was once a time when world leaders would give a pro forma response to the stock interview question, “What do you want for Christmas?” The answer would be something along the lines of “world peace” or “ending hunger”. But the current crop of global potentates includes several people from whom such a reply might be hard to believe. So let’s ponder instead: what should our overlords ask for?
Friedrich Merz, road bike
Germany is racing to modernise its defence industry while also upgrading its creaking infrastructure. Friedrich Merz, a selfprofessed cycling enthusiast, should get out onto the nation’s bridges and roads to test their condition. His bike should be an expensive one – perhaps an Achielle Ernest – so that he’ll take extra care navigating (and noticing) any potholes.
Javier Milei, six-month macroeconomics workshop
Argentina seems locked in a feedback loop: sharp fiscal and monetary policy moves, market sensitivity and fragile macro fundamentals. Javier Milei should be given a voucher for a six-month macroeconomic policy workshop, along with the book This Time Is Different by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. The book provides a forensic checklist of how crises repeat – lessons that the workshop could develop into concrete steps.
Sanae Takaichi, ‘Billy Elliot’ DVD and golf lessons
Sanae Takaichi is a great admirer of Margaret Thatcher but Japan is not the UK of the 1970s and policies that work in one political culture or time can fracture another. A DVD of Billy Elliot, a film about a young male ballet dancer in northeastern England in the 1980s, should balance her rose-tinted view of the Iron Lady. And because Takaichi is not a golfer, a voucher for some golf lessons should also make it into her stocking. Flexes on the fairway remain door-openers to international deals.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, beekeeping starter kit
Turkey is one of the world’s major exporters of honey but it was recently rocked by scandals over counterfeit products. A beekeeping starter kit would help to address this reality at two levels. The hive would be a hands-on reminder that supply chains and standards aren’t abstract; they are jars on a shelf. Rebuilding capacity often begins with small, visible corrections that signal a different set of priorities – and economies, like beehives, can be delicate things.
Donald Trump, voucher for dinner with four historians
What better than an invitation to an undisclosed location for an evening of fine dining that would bring together leading public intellectuals and historians to discuss the perils of sleepwalking into world wars and the long-term consequences of disrupting global trade? The line-up could include historians Adam Tooze, Christopher Clark, Margaret MacMillan and Jill Lepore. Perhaps Xi Jinping could come along too.
