But seriously, I can't see why you should have anything against the French, just because their government (in common with enormous numbers of people all round the world) came to a different viewpoint from your government. To have backed the USA, if they thought the USA was making a big mistake, would have been a seriously unfriendly thing to do.

When the Americans pulled the rug from under the British at the time of Suez, that was not an unfriendly act, and in time most people in this country appreciated that, and there has never been any antagonism toward the USA as a result.

Grownups shouldn't let a disagreement turn into a quarrel. Well, nor should anyone, but that kind of thing is more understandable in children. People disagree, that's how it is, and in principle it's a good thing that they do.

I suppose this is thread drift and belongs in another thread - except that one of the things about this whole affair that seems most gratuitously nasty is the way Tony Blair has been pretending that if the French had come on board it would have in some way reduced the likelihood of war. I think that is just dishonest and shabby, and encourages a kind of xenophobia which damages us all. I don't even think it is sincere.