In a confirmation of its slave status present and past British and Scottish ministers have been invited to give testimony to a US Senate committee looking into the premature release, on humanitarian grounds, of the alleged Lockerbie bomber Al Basit Al Magrahi. Would the British parliament dare to ' invite ' US administration officials to be questioned about anything? The oil company BP is being driven to bankruptcy by the US government for the oil spill? Would the British be able to do the same to, say, Exxon Mobil? How a tiny country like Great Britain managed to build a huge empire right across the world is a tribute to the courage, cunning and ruthlessness of the ancestors of the present population. However, Britain is now a small tiny third grade country trying to punch above its weight in the world and that will probably be its destruction. It has tied itself to the US supporting whatever crime the US commits thereby trying to gain respect much like a low ranking goon gets respect by obeying the godfather. Britain is committing more than $ 20 billion to a new generation of Trident missiles although it has no real enemies. It has Scandinavian countries to the east, Germany and France to the south, Ireland and the Atlantic to the west and Iceland far to the north. It is so inconsequential that no one, Russia or China or Iran, would think of wasting a missile on it. The only reason for wasting money on the Trident, while cutting pensions and child benefit, is to cling on to its seat on the Security Council. The Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron is in India. While being gracious hosts we must not give him too much lift. Unfortunately our lot is used to bowing and scraping.