This article really annoyed me. An American writer expresses disbelief at the prevalance of drinking in British culture. Well, it’s certainly ‘prevalent’; but the way this (British-resident) American assumes it to be culturally abnormal rather than a 1000-yr old tradition (from Friar Tuck to Gin Lane) isn’t exactly celebrating diversity, is it?

I mean, what if I went to the Deep South and wrote articles commenting how ‘abnormal’ it was to keep guns in your house and have a vice-presidential candidate primitive enough to think the dinosaur skeletons were buried to test her faith. But Stateside both those things are ‘normal’, and against them I think overdosing on the odd beer or three seems rather pedestrian…