America's shadow darkens London

In Decorous Mayfair These Days, the U.S. Is Out of Place

LONDON, Sept. 16 - It is impossible to miss the American Embassy, hulking menacingly in genteel Mayfair with all the subtlety of a man wearing sunglasses and body armor to tea at the Ritz. The embassy is, for instance, the only building in the immediate area surrounded by chain-link fences, patrolled by guards with automatic weapons, and protected by the sort of concrete barriers that Darth Vader might select for his own headquarters.

Sarah would seem to be one of the Times' more seasoned writers, as evidenced by the use of 'Darth Vader' in lieu of the more modish 'Lord Valdemort'. We're sorry Sarah, you're right - what a nasty eyesore. We'll just replace the armed guards and truck bomb barriers with land mines, and make everyting all tidy, shall we?