President George Bush, meeting with G8 members for the last time, gave some ground in carbon reduction discussions. Other G8 members pressed Bush to accept a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. Bush has always resisted such change, but this time agreed to “seriously consider” these reductions.

Serious consideration is not an agreement, however. On the last day of the summit, Bush bid well to the other world leaders with a private joke: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

British papers openly refer to the words as a two-finger salute from Bush to the other G8 members. In Britain, a two-finger salute is equivalent to giving the finger.