If there is anything which can be relied upon to bring a nation together better than the achievements of its sons or daughters on the international stage, it is the shame which attaches to their failures. This is especially true of nations whose loudest voices emanate from groups whose politics predispose them to be perpetually searching for things to be ashamed of, and who, when that search proves fruitless, are happy to re-write history, manipulate data and gag dissenting opinion to produce the goods.