When the Thatcher government--alone among European governments--

supported President Reagan's raid on Libya, and indeed permitted U.S. bombers to take off from British soil, there was a firestorm in British public opinion. "Obviously," as Mr. Buckley puts it, "there was more in the background" to cause this eruption, and our guests, all superbly well spoken and well informed, explore that background here. Mr. Knight: "It is ironical the way the roles have reversed. In the 19th century,... it was the Americans who were constantly belaboring the imperial powers.... Now the boot is on the other foot, because we have lost power, we're a rather ineffectual country ... The United States in a way is assuming our mantle, and we are now the ones who use vitriol because the United States has the power and is having to take the responsibility." Mr. Worsthorne: "I think we are superficially anti-American and not basically anti-

American."