No understatement please, we're British

The likely lads on the crimson end of the blogosphere have now declared the BBC to be unashamedly anti-war if not pro-Saddam. Part of the indictment seems to be that the Beeb reporters use phrases like "severe setback" and "worst possible news." But there is a classic fallacy at work here. The neocon lads are hearing the BBC all of a sudden on local PBS/NPR purely in the context of the war and assuming that the reporting style they are hearing is specific to this war. But dudes, they're like this for EVERYTHING! This is one of the great myths about Brits -- all that stuff about them being understated and reserved is total nonsense. It might be true with individual Brits whom you meet. But put them in front of a microphone or camera and look what happens. Have you SEEN Graham Norton? (OK, he's Irish). That whole reality TV glut on our airwaves: where did those shows come from? In another example with no political context, try tuning into a soccer match with British commentary. The histrionics just never end -- every twist of the game is vital, definitive, dramatic, momentous. They may have the accent, but it's just as over the top as Dick Vitale. There are great examples collected every fortnight in Private Eye, a mag we've already told you you should be reading on a regular basis; they put some especially preposterous (and fallacious) lines of sports commentary in the Colemanballs feature. Check out this typical example:

"Matches don’t come any bigger than FA Cup quarter-finals."
NEIL WARNOCK, BBC Radio 5 Live

And battles don't come any bigger than Umm Qasr, or Basra, or Najaf, or Kerbala, or Baghdad, or Tehran (sorry, that's the next war....)