Evening Standard comment: A very different Donald Trump takes the stage

Perhaps the most interesting feature of President Trump’s first speech to Congress was that it was presidential. It contained much of substance and had none of the combativeness of his ad-hoc remarks.

He began with a reference to Black History Month and went on to condemn apparent hate crimes: “We are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms,” he declared. He went on to outline what his America First policy involves: spending money at home rather than abroad, tackling deprivation in US cities rather than in global projects. The change of tone is striking — his promise to create a Department of Justice task force to reduce violent crime is more constructive than his criticism of the record of Democrats in Chicago. He promised generous family leave and commitment to women’s health, and cross-border co-operation with Canada to advance women’s businesses. These are not policies that we would usually associate with Mr Trump.

Of course there are extraordinary elements in the speech: the commitment to spend $1 trillion, or £800 billion, on infrastructure, is staggering. He still intends to build the wall on the Mexican border. But his approach to the Muslim world, as in the recent travel ban, was radically different in this speech: he distinguished between Islamist terrorists and Muslims, between friendly Muslim governments and Islamic State, which he called “a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women and children of all faiths and beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world”. If Mr Trump had started off like this he would face fewer problems now.

As for his policy of encouraging, or obliging, US companies to repatriate investment abroad home, he is convinced it is succeeding; let’s see. It may be that Mr Trump’s radical economic policies will, against all the odds, revive flagging American industries.

It is far too early to say that this is a softer, gentler Donald Trump but we should give credit where it is due. Let’s judge Mr Trump by his actions as well as words, and by last night’s considered speech as well as his rebarbative tweets. He has made a bid to meet his critics; that’s good.

This week we saw the future of motoring, and it’s impressive. Nissan put its experimental driverless Leaf model on public roads near the Excel centre. The prototype negotiated a six-mile course around east London without any contribution from the driver — and without crashing.

There will come a time — sooner, rather than later — when this will seem normal but for now it’s an exciting harbinger of a future with far fewer crashes. Nissan expects to produce fully driverless cars by 2020 but from 2018 its cars will have more autonomous elements.

Of course there are difficulties ahead — psychological as well as technical — but this is an encouraging development. Driverless cars, electric cars, and car sharing could revolutionise driving was we know it. Our roads could become cleaner and safer as a result. Here’s to the future.

Royal Ascot is re-inventing itself. This June there will be a new “Village Enclosure” aimed at under-35s, with pop-up festival-style food options, DJs to provide evening entertainment and a cocktail bar. The Queen’s representative at Ascot has given the plans his seal of approval. Let’s hope it won’t frighten the horses.