From the LA Times, a very interesting article on a play; The comedy "US and Them" probes the special but fraying relationship between Britons and Americans.

Two interesting points which I find very true.

"I talked with Tamsin about what it must be like to grow up thinking that you live in the greatest nation on Earth," Darnell says, "For the American character to say, 'Every day I thank God for my country' — in certain parts of America, it would be seen as, 'Of course you do,' whereas from an English perspective, it's seen as something to laugh at. "

I think I do wake up and think I lived in the greatest country in the world.

" "I can't pretend it hasn't been difficult," she says with a sigh. "Anti-Americanism has become the only acceptable prejudice in the world, but I'm not in favor of anti-anythingism. We criticize American policies, but we all buy American things and watch American films and drool over American celebrities. We have to examine what it is about America that we don't like and how much of it is actually reflecting us.

The playwright concludes: "At the same time as we criticize America, we're all becoming more American. If we are victims of American cultural imperialism, then we have to look at what part we play in going along with it." "