No eternal friends

Peter Hitchens in the Mail:

I repeat, I love America, think we have much to learn from her, am endlessly glad that she exists, I like Americans and enjoy many aspects of American culture. My heart always lifts when I arrive there and sinks when I have to leave again. But I do not regard her as a reliable ally of Britain. And why should I expect to? It was the great British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who pointed out that great powers had "no eternal friends, only eternal interests".

I pointed out last year that, just as the British misunderstand the nature of their friendship with the United States, so too many Americans have a hazy recollection of their role in two world wars. (Having been late for the last two world wards, they seem determined to be on time for the start of the third.)

Britain is still paying our war debt to America. Our final payment is due in December this year: I wonder if there will be a national celebration.