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No News is Good News
Or so the saying goes. I believe this refers to the situation where you assume the absence of a response to be a positive rather than an assertion that all news is definitively bad. Its typical of grossly understated English hyperbole — for something to be potentially catastrophic yet not wanting to make too much of a fuss.
Its a particularly English thing (the nation rather than the language) to be both emphatic and self effacing at the same time, to make one’s presence felt while going to great lengths to deny self promotion. Another similar English trait is to underplay moments of elation or dropping bombs with a time delay when displeased. Maybe its the long winter nights, the interminable rain and the scarcity of sunshine that puts the English in the permanent frame of mind that our glass is half full.
You’d think that after conquering two thirds of the globe and ruling the waves, we would put our American cousins in the shade when it comes to commanding the available space but you have to bear in mind the English put-down, while not appearing explosive, is timed to perfection with pinpoint accuracy. We are not famed for our roasts (other than the Sunday kind) yet our incisive jibes make the American version seem relatively humane.
While it seems somewhat positive to assume all is well until there is evidence to the contrary, this is akin to living in…
