I dunno. I just guess I was brought up to think that a discussion should be initiated with some sort of general explanation so that common ground for discussion is established. You know, it might even be healthy for you Brits to go through the exercise of explaining what you're talking about. Then you might actually know what you're talking about, instead of just arguing mindlessly to keep the air circulating.

So, OK, we Americans know about Churchill and Atlee and that nice Tony Brown and horrid Mrs. Thatcher. And we know that there's some guy named Cameron that we can't be sure about. But Miliband, who the heck is Miliband? Heck, even the thread originator can't spell his name....

-Joe-