Everything is just that little bit bigger...

America is hardly a significant counter-culture to that of the UK.  Its not like we have a different alphabet.  A shake of the head still means no and thumbs up is a good thing.  But there is still a good argument for the case that this is a parallel universe - everything is the same, just that bit bigger.  They are Gulliver to our Lilliput.

Take the humble Robin for instance.  In the UK, we have our tiny little, red-breasted friend, with his rounded tummy and pinsize head.  On our Christmas cards, he sits in snow on rural fence posts or poses outside holly- wreathed front doors watching Victorian carol singers.  He is a twee little thing, who looks like he spilled a lunch of Heinz tomato soup down his front.  He makes us cock our heads and go ahhhh.

By some twist of Darwinian fate, however, the same cannot be said of the US version.  At least three times the size, he is an altogether different proposition.  There is nothing sweet about him.  He is a Goliath to our little David and in all respects the perfect metaphor for the colloquial difference between the US and the UK.

In fact, to the Americans, we are that little english robin.  We are quaint, but feisty, refusing to believe that despite our size we are not still Lords of the Earth.  How endearing of us, such a funny little nation to hold these delusions of grandeur in the shadow of the Eagle's claw.