Washington's birthday is as close to a secular Christmas as any Christian country dare come this side of blasphemy.

People, when they first come to America, whether as travelers or settlers, become aware of a new and agreeable feeling: that the whole country is their oyster.

These humiliations are the essence of the game.

It's an acting job - acting natural.

These doomsday warriors look no more like soldiers than the soldiers of the Second World War looked like conquistadors. The more expert they become the more they look like lab assistants in small colleges.

As always, the British especially shudder at the latest American vulgarity, and then they embrace it with enthusiasm two years later.