For Want of a TV the Battle Was Lost...

England is a funny place. If I could be permitted for a moment to make a broad generalization - as a culture, the English are very much fixated on America. While actively disparaging and mocking American culture, the English are tremendously concerned with what the Americans are wearing, what the Americans are watching - on TV and in the movies; in short, whether English entertainment culture can measure up to the American juggernaut.

All the angst is really for nothing because the English fail the ultimate test. What is the arbiter of American culture? Its television, of course. American television drives the beast.

English television is, to put it politely, a disaster. I'll refrain from commenting on the content of English television because I can't watch any television right now. Our satellite is not receiving a signal at present. This has been going on all day and intermittently for some time now.

To have a culture in the 21st Century, you need to have television. England can't even do that right. There is no such thing as cable TV in England. There is only terrestrial TV (4 channels) and Sky Satellite. Terrestrial TV is a non-starter so we are left with Sky. The slightest gust of wind knocks Sky out for periods of time ranging from 3 seconds to 3 days.

They paved paradise and put up a satellite. Let me be the first to say it. England is doomed.
The ship is sinking. To the lifeboats. Every man for himself.