Burnham survived his first Trump meeting. His nice hair may have had something to do with it | Emma Brockes

The useful part

How will they react when they come into contact with that hulking great child who seems to be running things? Burnham's first face-to-face with Donald Trump was billed as a knife-edge encounter that, due to the latter's capriciousness, could go either way. In the event, it was drama-free, leaving observers to ask: was it Burnham's brilliance or simply the weather in Trump's head?

How it works

• To viewers at home, Burnham's performance at the press conference looked like that of a man who had worked out his best approach was to go for the sheepish, slightly cheeky air of the junior partner.
• Who would dare predict the ever-shifting weather in the president's head?
• Burnham is 24 years younger than Trump, on top of everything else – which can afford a certain licence to the less powerful person in any exchange.

Details worth keeping

The PM's shiny newness could explain the easy ride he got this time. At the last minute, the meeting had been moved behind closed doors and afterwards, in a windowless room at the UN, the two men appeared side by side, mirroring each other's body language: just two guys, legs akimbo, shoulders hunched, hanging on a bench in the locker room. Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...