The Shermans

Dear Diary,

"America is not the land of the free, Australia is." - Eddie "Spaghetti" Meir (from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States of America).

I like the Shermans (the yanks), I always have done, ever since I was a kid. Maybe it's because I grew up in North America, maybe it's because they make such great guitars, or maybe it's because they play them better than anyone else in the world. Who knows? Whatever it is, I like them. They are not perfect (who is?) but they are better masters than the Russians or Chinese.

When I was on the border of France and Germany a German gentleman asked me, "Is it true? Are they like brothers in arms?" (We were talking about the Americans and British soldiers). I had to say, "Yes." It is true.

Some American scholars are first rate, one only has to read Jstor to see that they are as good as the German scholars (in classical studies anyway, I do not know about the other fields of study).

They are coming, with the power, and the money and are going to take us over, fiscally. The missile defence programme was just the start. I'm okay with it. Why? Because for a start they speak English. Secondly I once heard a US airman say of the British soldiery "Their artillery is on time, and on target."

The relationship is a difficult one, far from perfect, but ever since I was a little boy, I was aware that if anything happens across the pond, in terms of business models, innovations in technology and all manner of culture, Britain follows. I once heard a French student of political science in the north of France say to me once, "Britain follows America, and Europe follows Britain." (This was before it all "kicked off").

Even so, it is no bed of roses. Over there they pay through the nose for a quality tertiary education and health-care. Look what has happened here: we now pay for tertiary education and health-care.

When I helped my friends sister do her homework once, when I first began University, I could not help but notice her time-table. One of the classes was "cheerleading". What on earth is that? That, in-fact, is the most dangerous "sport" in the world, statistically, moreso than the Grand Prix, because of the human pyramid. I am just glad that our American cousins adore Shakespeare as much as we Britons do, that is a relief. (So that our native plays are not supplanted with awful trashy nonsense). Marlowe and Shakespeare have lasting appeal, much like Ovid or Virgil.

I prefer cricket to baseball. Cricket is a gentleman's sport, as there are many ways in which to return the ball. However, as a boy I much preferred baseball: either batting or fielding. We kids in the village used to play it, and when everybody was working together to out field the batsman it was a great sense of teamwork. The way in which one returns the ball is natural (even if it is effectively revised softball, which, like all sports, except lawn tennis, is British in origin).

George Orwell said, "The big countries always act like gangsters, and the small ones: like prostitutes." It is true.