GEORGE Bush and Tony Blair must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves. They are on the verge of winning the first stage of their war against terrorism.

The Northern Alliance has done all the donkey work and, before the Taliban has finally capitulated, there is widespread support for next week's conference in Germany about building a new Afghanistan government.

Members of the Taliban, holed up in Kandahar, must be wondering what it has all been about. Why did they allow Osama bin Laden to come to their country in the first place? He offered money, but five years later they have been bombed out of power and their country is being rebuilt.

The way British politicians have handled the war has fascinated me. We have seen our leaders striding the global stage. This has been positive for their individual careers, for the Labour Party, for the Government and for the country itself - they represent us, and they show that we do still count.

But the way people like Mr Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon have changed has intrigued me most.

A General Election gives politicians the most sustained media coverage. Their every move is scrutinised and analysed. But the war has ensured that these three players have never been a moment away from a television camera. They have responded by becoming snappier. The lighter moments of the General Election, aside from John Prescott's punch, were provided by Mr Blair's flyaway hair but even that seems to have been tamed now we are in battle. Instead we see our politicians as international statesmen, speaking to us from lecterns and wearing snappy suits. I am sure Mr Blair, in particular, is more heavily made-up than at any time in his headline-grabbing life.

But I am also wondering how they - and Mr Blair, in particular - will come down from the global stage once the military campaign is over. He has not neglected domestic issues since September 11, but soon he will have to immerse himself in them entirely as the public demands delivery on the General Election promises.

An international statesman is one role, but will he be able to play the local hero - improving regional hospitals, a county's police force, a town's schools, a local council - just as convincingly?

ASIDE from Afghanistan, the other main news story has been the demise of Railtrack. Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has condemned the out-going chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, Sir Alastair Morton, for lacking vision. It would be cheap of me to point out that Mr Byers' vision for the railways has lacked focus since the collapse of Railtrack - a non-profit-making trust now seems unlikely - but it is true that Sir Alastair has only been in office for a couple of years.

If it took 14 years to turn the Labour Party around, how can one man be expected to turn round Railtrack in a couple of years?

Mr Byers, though, is everywhere at the moment. When he's not talking about Railtrack, he's announcing a new terminal at Heathrow. Once the Transport Secretary's job was a backwater; such is Britain's appalling infrastructure, it is now a frontline post.