Commentary on "The Oxford Union"

One should not allow the fact that Greg is an American to in any way obscure the essential truth of his words. The Oxford Union does indeed consist of a whole lot of sad, boring people without a life, whose pompousness is particularly worrying in view of the fact that they will probably soon be running the country.

Watching a prematurely-aged self-important nineteen-year-old in a three-piece tweed suit mouthing off about some burning political issue of the day as though his opinion actually mattered is an experience that I have fortunately not had to suffer very often (I never joined, you see). All the same, I have a few questions for these individuals to answer, namely: (i) does Britannia still rule the waves? Did it even rule the waves fifty years ago? (ii) Given the answer to (i), which is that in fact the U.S. of A. now rules the waves, goddammit, and will gladly nuke anyone who disagrees (killing a few on their own side in the process—just to show that they're not biased) and that Americans in positions of high authority are devoid of the pompousness of their Brit. counterparts, is there not a lesson to be learned here? Although there should be proscribed activities for non-Americans who still wish to maintain a level of self-respect, such as playing frisbee on college lawns or jogging in a track suit and sunglasses playing Bruce Springsteen on the Walkman (AS IF you ever need sunglasses in the U.K.), you little self-important Brits should learn to take yourselves less seriously. Unwind. Have some fun. Smoke dope (but don't inhale). Abuse your female employees. Lie about your investments.

Let me add a historical footnote: the last time a politician ever paid any attention to what the Oxford Union thought, the consequences were disastrous. I am referring, of course, to the famous "That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country" motion passed on 9 February 1933, which was an important factor in convincing a certain Bavarian corporal that England would not oppose his plans for expansion to the east.... (CH).