British Bulldogs

Whiskey Rebellion returns, a little worse for wear, from a two-day hiatus courtesy of Seamie’s birthday celebration and the associated recovery/hair-of –the-dog day. Special thanks to the staff at Swig and Kate O'Brien's for their stellar work this week. Stars, all of you.

It occurred to me after the first London bombing that the terrorists had seriously miscalculated in their choice of targets. Subsequent developments have only served to reinforce that belief.

I am about to engage in the dodgy – and admittedly imprecise – practice of generalizing about national character, but I think that history shows you cannot cow or intimidate Anglo-Saxon or Celtic people into backing down on matters like this. The English have a long history of resolve in foreign affairs, violent and otherwise, that indicates they will not knuckle under. You can shame them into concessions (a la Gandhi), but you can't bully them.

That may work with some other countries, perhaps Spain or France or Italy. This is not a slight against them, just an acknowledgement that in Europe, Latin countries tend to be more pragmatic about this sort of thing and will give up the ghost when it no longer seems practical or productive to fight. For whatever reason, England just isn't wired that way. At times this British Bulldog mentality can be maddening (see: N. Ireland). But right now, just as in World War II, it is a source of great comfort.