November 14, 2003

Spinning Bush

British Spin anticipates George Bush’s forthcoming state visit to the UK with a very British take on the man and his motives.

It’s a revealing post that also offers an insight into the British concept of “fair play”.
A clarification here, the vaunted sense of British fair play means fair play just for the British. When ruling the world, we were entirely justified in sending gun ships up Chinese rivers to support the opium trade and would have very miffed if some Yankee upstart had been going around shouting “no blood for dope” at Disraeli. Burger-scoffing surrender baboons in the war against yellowism, John Bull would have said. Jingoism? We invented it.
The British might have invented jingoism, but they forgot to patent it.