Say this much for the Americans: when they throw a birthday party, they do not do it halfway.

I was on the National Mall in Washington on 4 July for Freedom 250, the celebration marking 250 years of American independence. I went in late, in the evening, which turned out to be the smartest decision of the day. The huge lines that had stretched for blocks in the afternoon heat were gone and I walked in as one of the few people getting onto the grounds without a wait.

Once inside, the first thing that struck me was not the spectacle. It was the logistics. Free water stations were everywhere. Air conditioned cooling tents lined the grounds. Firefighters sprayed arcs of water over the crowds to beat the heat, which climbed into triple digits and had much of the East Coast under alerts. It felt less like crowd management and more like a city taking care of........

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