Anthony Barnett (London, OK): The journalist Claud Cockburn was, among other things, famous for having won a competition when he worked as a sub on the Times in the early 1930s for the most uninteresting headline. It was "Small earthquake in Chile, not many hurt". I quote from memory. I always had a sneaking feeling that it was unfair to the southern hemisphere and would have been a lot more interesting if you had been in Chile. Now we have had our own small earthquake. We have a creaking bookcase in our bedroom and were woken by it emitting a continuous high-pitched sort of wheezey-shake which then stopped. I got up to take a look, then went back to sleep. Uninteresting? North Londoners woken by very small earthquake, no way! It must be an omen. Were earthquakes British? I think not. Was this a new value shuddering down the country's spine? Was it a strictly English earthquake? Was it caused by too many immigrants? Will the country ever be quite the same? Will they even be making fun of us in Chile?