Letter from London

The American political scene, according to a British television documentary, is divided between “the moderate Democrats and the Republicans, who are more extreme.” The commentator, in other words, took for granted that the normal standpoint, his own and that of all the viewers, lay to the left of both American parties.

I made a note of this remark because it captures so neatly, not to say naively, the characteristic tone of British comment on American affairs.