In other words, one who punches above his weight overachieves.

Conversely, if one punches below his weight, he underachieves, giving an underwhelming performance.

Britain, if you’re a close observer of international affairs, often appears to stand alongside America over wars or other policies in general. By doing that, it perhaps hopes to look like a heavyweight.

Ironically, America, which clearly is a heavyweight, does not always recognize Britain as such, i.e. a shoulder-to-shoulder equal. In fact, Barack Obama a year ago called Cameron a “lightweight” (‘Cameron’s a lightweight’, New Statesman, December 4, 2008).

Going back once again to boxing, a lightweight (at about 60 kilograms) is literally seven WBA (World Boxing Association) classes below the heavyweight (about weighing 90 kilos or more).

Therefore perhaps Cameron and other Brits should be a bit more realistic. They should not be talking about Britain punching above its weight all the time – you know, by always siding with America (even though admittedly that’s sometimes more due to nostalgia about its own imperial past than out of genuine agreement with USA).

Instead, they should try to avoid Britain punching below its weight.

To achieve that, if you ask me, an English language learner, aspiring international politicians may want to quote more Shakespeare than Churchill.

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