Whenever Trump mentions one of America’s states, it’s always a ‘great’ State:  ‘Senator X from the great State of Minnesota’, for example. Why? Are Minnesotans flattered by this? What is it in particular that makes Minnesota great? Its northerliness? All the ex-Swedes living there? The common loon (its ‘State bird’)? And what is this thing about ‘greatness’ in general – as in ‘Make America Great Again’? What renders a country – or a state – ‘great’?  Its size? Military power? Conquests? Material prosperity? Social progress? Education? Art? (Probably not those last three, if it’s the US you have in mind.)

And is any of this what the inhabitants of any country really want or need? Quite frankly I could list a couple of dozen other things I’d want from my country before ‘greatness’. And a glance at any of those international ‘happiness indexes’ that are published from time to time – here’s one of them: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world – suggests that ‘greatness’ in the conventional sense is not what makes the ‘happiest’ countries happier. Finland?

Of course it matters to Trump and Putin, and presumably to the people around them. Also – on another level – to some supporters of the most successful football teams. (Not West Ham, of course. We’re more interested in how our team plays – the ‘art’, if you like.) Living as I did (just) during the tail-end of the British Empire, I remember feeling no pride in my country’s supposed ‘greatness’ then. If in order to qualify as ‘great’ you need to boss other countries around, then count me out. Leave that to Trump and Putin.

Incidentally, as I’m sure you know: the title ‘Great Britain’ – ‘Storbritannien’ in Swedish – was not originally intended to imply ‘greatness’ in the Trumpian or Putinesque sense. Only that Britain was a group of nations: England, Scotland, Wales and (Northern) Ireland; as distinct from Little Britain, or just England. Many people – including whoever made the current radio ad for Weetabix – have got this wrong. ‘You may wonder why Britain is not as great as she used to be. It’s because she is not eating enough…’ yes, you’ve guessed it. ‘So we need to eat more of it – bix by bix.’ (Weetabix, incidentally, was invented by a moderately ‘great’ Australian.)