The United States is different. Its citizens have far too many horribly straight, white teeth. They wear checks, stripes, and bold colours all at the same time, all topped off with a baseball cap. They speak so loudly that you would swear they had a hearing impairment (probably caused by loud whooping as teenagers).

America’s style of medicine is foreign to us, too. The dogma of free enterprise allows direct to consumer advertising, which has made drug names as well known as Coca-Cola. Costs have soared, and new drugs have been widely prescribed, often off label, leading to polypharmacy, …