PERHAPS the most remarkable thing about the Commonwealth is that
it exists at all. Setting aside the anti-colonial resentment
that hastened the demise of the British empire throughout the
20th century, almost all its former subjects have since co-
existed in a club that has the queen as its head. The
Commonwealth has 53 members and encompasses almost a third of
the world’s population; among former British colonies, only
Burma and Aden chose not to join.  Yet what is its purpose? Many
citizens of Commonwealth countries hardly know; a quarter of
Jamaicans, when asked, said they thought Barack Obama was its
head. Most who know slightly better would probably cite the
quadrennial Commonwealth games as proof of the club’s existence.
(It was most recently held in Delhi, in 2010, an event that
shone a cold light on the shortcomings of the Indian state.)
Otherwise, the club runs a good scholarship programme,
development projects for its poorest members and a tangled and
ineffective bureaucracy, including at least 70 di