The "UK"s special relationship with the Americans (if it ever existed) looks like its coming to a fruity end.

Words flying across the Atlantic have the Americans bleating because the Europeans wont buy bananas from their economically dominated Central American empire and the EU accusing them of breaking World Trade Organisation agreements.

The federal reserve chairman, Greenspan, leaked the real reason on two occasions in the last 3 months.

The US is terrified of the single European currency. The only true, relatively debt-free industrial powerhouse left in the world is Europe, and that single currency will make it even more competitive against the dollar.

Greenspan also told American banks (who charge customers for almost everything, including the honour of depositing money.....!) that they were archaic and needed to modernise, and he used Europe as the example.

So, whilst the government in London lets the Scots salmon farmers fall by the wayside because of fish disease, Scots cashmere producers and even shortbread makers must be, as the Americans say be BOHICad (bend over here it comes again).