Thursday 26th October
We are inundated with news about America; in many ways we have become the 51st state already. There are whole channels on Sky featuring American TV series. Every nonsensical tweet or childish spat from Trump is reported on while many of our own Politicians go unreported. We are being bombarded by American Culture from Hollywood to i-phones. And that may actually be the reason that we, the British, have never really embraced Europe. We always had one longing eye on America the Great.
And America is great. They have far more guns than any other country, both in the military and in the greedy little mitts of its terrified citizens, who need guns to protect themselves from other crazy Americans with guns. America possesses more Nuclear weapons than every other country too and will do whatever it takes to stop countries like Iran or North Korea from developing their own; though – and here is the funny bit, America only has these weapons of mass destruction to protect themselves from other countries that might want to fire nukes at them, which incidentally, is exactly why Iran and North Korea want them too.
And America is great. There is far more wealth there than any other country; why the country has Billionaires by the bucketload. But just around the block are the trailer parks where the poor people live, many without jobs or even basic healthcare. If you want to see real poverty go to America.
And America is great. Many states still retain the death penalty. An eye for an eye. A crime has been committed and someone has to pay. Often with their life too. America is the only civilised country in the West to sanction the state taking of their own citizens life.
And America is great. There is no legal minimum age at which girls can be married. It is up to each state, and in some it as low as 13, and in over half under 16. Two hundred thousand in the last few years. Elsewhere, these girls are regarded as children and yet here they can be married off at such a tender age.
And America is great. They have by far the largest debt mountain in the World, rapidly approaching 20 trillion dollars ( and the lowest taxes for the rich). They have the smartest bankers in the World who managed to sell houses to unemployed people bringing the whole banking system into crisis. And none of them went to jail. Mind you that may be because American jails are so crowded, mostly with blacks and Native North Americans of course, some serving hundred-year-plus sentences – and they’d better be good when they come out or they will soon be back inside where they belong….
Mind you – American music ‘ain’t so bad…