During his visit to Washington last week, British PM Gordon Brown presented Barack Obama with a pen holder carved from the timbers of HMS Gannet, sister ship to HMS Resolute, a 19th century British warship used on anti-slavery missions, whose timber was later used to card the Oval Office desk. Obama, on the other hand, gave Brown a DVD set of classic American movies.

Obviously, the British press took no mercy on Obama, with some tabloids saying his gift was "about as exciting as a pair of socks". Now, things seem to have gone from bad to worse, as someone in the White Hose staff forgot the fact that DVDs feature DRM, and can't be used in different regions, or perhaps, the staff member is unaware of other regions and continents entirely. Long story short, 10 Downing Street won't be watching Obama's movies. Perhaps on his next visit to the States, Brown will be presented with a DVD player and a NTSC tele.

Unfortunately, this was not the only White House gift cock up. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently presented her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with a small box containing a reset button, which was to be pressed in order to symbolically reset relations between the new powers under the new administration. Unfortunately, the button did not say "reset" in Russian, but rather "overcharge", a fact Lavrov did not hesitate to point out for the world's press to see.

More here.