One of the drawbacks of being the world's dominant power is that
people from outside are forever taking a malign pleasure in pointing
out everything that is wrong with your country. Here in France, where
strident anti-Americanism is particularly strong, the shooting of
Gabby Giffords has predictably given rise to much tut-tutting and
I-told-you-sos, but to very little reporting of the extraordinary courage
shown by members of Ms Giffords's staff and others in grappling with
the assassin.

I do think, though, that the American attitude to guns is not worthy
of a great country. I can see how the possession of weapons is part of
the American tradition and dates back to a time when the right to
defend oneself was a natural and no doubt essential part of life. But
I feel that it has long since become an aberration. I think one may
draw a parallel with the French refusal to specify a person's ethnic
origins in their official statistics. This started as a wholly
understandable and praiseworthy reaction to the despicable practices
of the Vichy regime, but it has led to an inability to anticipate and
correct the tensions and misery of France's suburbs.

***

A true American hero? How about Major Dick Winters, he of Band of Brothers fame? Not only on account of his extraordinary life but because of the manner of his going: he asked that news of his death be withheld until after his funeral.