The liberating potential of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition. Freedom from being a US dependency. “Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Only permanent interests.” In 1904, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II presciently predicted that fifty years hence, the mighty British Empire would be crushed between the weight of emerging America and Russia. Britain’s nuclear arsenal, developed with secret US assistance, is said to require Washington’s permission before it can be used. Great Britain can no longer afford to be either America’s poodle, or its bulldog.