It is not often that two heads of western powers celebrate a birthday in the same week. Even more rare that both are in their eighth decade. Should we celebrate that age is clearly now no barrier to such leadership jobs? King Charles III turns 74 on Monday, and will be honoured with a 41-gun salute and a rendition of “Happy Birthday” at Buckingham Palace’s changing of the guard. But US president Joe Biden passes a more significant milestone, turning 80 on Sunday. He also has a more pressing week of international diplomacy and national politics to deal with before blowing out the candles on his cake.
First, there is the G20 summit in Bali, or what one FT colleague labelled the first global government gathering of the second cold war. Russian president Vladimir Putin is not attending, but China’s Xi Jinping is expected to, so there will be pressure for Biden to speak with him.
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