Twitter/X began its death throes some time ago and is still thrashing about, slowly sinking into internet quicksand like Artax the horse in The NeverEnding Story (sorry to my fellow millennials for reminding you of this). It feels very small now – its reach is limited and engagement is noticeably down as more people jump submarine.

So I was taken by surprise last week when a tweet of mine got me involved in an international incident.

I’ve always wanted to say that, so I’ve taken the opportunity, but it’s a bit of a stretch.

More accurately: a bunch of annoying Americans got mad at me online.

As someone who has been on Twitter/X for [redacted] number of years, sometimes I have been lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to Americans, because many of them are cool and funny. Other lulling had also occurred because of how deathly quiet Twitter has felt in recent times, so I wasn’t expecting any kind of reaction to a post.

But it turns out I accidentally stirred up a bees’ nest, like Macaulay Culkin’s character did in My Girl (sorry to millennials for reminding you of this). My horrible crime, perpetrated against the almighty United States of America? I made a joke about Drew Barrymore having........

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