An American in London

Speaking of brownshirts:

Exactly one month ago today, I was traveling on a London bus when a well-dressed woman boarded with her equally-respectable son in his school uniform. Ahead of her was an elderly American woman, who said, ‘I beg your pardon, I didn’t mean to bang into you.’ This prompted a tirade from the Englishwoman -- let’s call her Lady E -- that resembled a verbal assault by a brownshirt against a hapless Jewish pedestrian in 1933. The American -- call her Mrs. A -- sat down and cowered as the tirade continued: ‘I rejoice every time I hear of another American soldier dying! You people all deserve to die in another 9/11. You are destroying the world.’

Read it all for more hair-curling stories of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism including a number from before 9/11 and the mythical "squandering of goodwill".

Update: Perry de Havilland from Samizdata defends the Brits. I suspected that Ms. Gould, running with wealthy, artistic crowd as it seems she does, might run into quite a bit more outspoken anti-Americanism than your average tourist. Such folk do seems to think that not only are they entitled to their opinions, but you are entitled to their opinion as well.