If the British and their junior partners in the United Kingdom choose to maintain the lives to which their special chosen few have become accostumed, it is not for we mere former colonists to disapprove. It is, after all, their way of pretending that, first, their empire lives on in the continuity of their monarchy and, second, that their moral superiority is as class based and pristine as ever. Thus, the nation that invented the word "nigger" is entitled to lecture the world on the subject of human rights. The nation that looted the the national treasures of countless lands to enrich the homes and museums of their upper classes is emboldened to preach anti-colonialism.
None of this is to suggest that the British are the essence of evil. No student of history would claim that distinction for any one people. Power is so corrupting that there has never been a blameless dominating people. I am more than willing to let byegones (Irish, African, American, Indian, Chinese and God knows homay others) be long gones if you guys will get the hell off your high horses and quit trying to sound like Mother Theresas. I mean national pride is all well and good but, if you must spout, have the sekhel to do it quietly. The fact is that everybody's shit stinks and yours is pretty high up on the old reek-o-meter.