Pugwash - there are two fundamental differences with the USA. Firstly, you still have something approaching democratic rule, whereas that has all but gone in the UK. Its demise has been very rapid over the last few years. In most things we are now ruled by non-accountable bureaucrats in Brussels, and the British parliament now doesn't even see most of the new laws (thousands of them each year) imposed on us.

The other difference, which may stem from the first, is that in general US citizens have pride in their soldiers/sailors/airmen. That wasn't always the case of course - look at how Vietnam veterans were treated as second-class citizens, especially those so injured they couldn't work. Morale in Britain is now generally pretty low, as is inevitable when people sense they are gathered up in a huge machine that they have no power over, and they can't even see out of the windows to see where they're going. Add to that the near universal feeling that the war in Iraq (in particular) was entered into for very shady political reasons that had nothing to do with what was announced to the public, and with no political clout all these people can do is express their frustration to those few people who are recognizably part of the system - the people wearing uniforms. Just as you or I might complain bitterly to a shop assistant about some defective goods, knowing full well that she is only the front person and those responsible are hidden round the back somewhere. You hit out at the only available target.

No, the malaise in Britain and the way these servicemen is being treated goes way deeper than it might appear. And it's correspondingly far more serious.