Reading a memoir of Nigerian Independence called "there was a country" (which I came across long ago on one of your war nerd posts about Boko Haram, but am just now getting around to reading). This follows several books on Pacific theater of wwii. It's really hard even with the rosiest of rose colored glasses to view the British as anything but true motherfuckers. If it weren't for the whole "against Hitler" thing, I'm not sure what moral authority they could reasonably claim. Fortunately for them, that's a big one.
Finished Ken Follett's Winter of the World last week. He makes a pretty clear case that the whole "against Hitler" thing was a narrow, narrow victory. Follett is Welsh. He seems to hate Nazis, bootleggers and the NKVD less than he hates British aristocracy.