People outside America like me find it very hard to understand how the American people can elect someone like George W Bush. He appears to us to be a bigoted, dim-witted redneck.

I recently found myself idly channel-surfing TV in Britain. I landed on a 'reality' show called Celebrity Big Brother. Some older middle-aged American called Dirk who was in the 70's show The A Team was explaining that he supports Bush. He came from Montana and was one of the 'majority of Americans' who lived in small towns. He didn't relate to the folks who lived in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or any of the other big cities. He seemed to be talking about a mythic 1950's lifestyle of 'My Three Sons' or 'The Lucille Ball Show'. It that what the Bush support is like? If so, they really need to wake up and realise the damage they are doing to the world with their militaristic and environmental devastation.

Isn't ignorance bliss?