Same old story: a paper with known animosity toward the United States publishes a story about a study done by a British company that says that Britain is "more stable and prosperous" than the United States:

The United Kingdom has been ranked as one of the most stable and prosperous countries in the world, beating the United States, France and even Switzerland in a global assessment of every nation’s achievements and standards.

A one-year investigation and analysis of 235 countries and dependent territories has put the UK joint seventh in the premier league of nations. The top ten comprise also the Vatican, Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Gibraltar, San Marino, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and the Irish Republic.

[...]

Mr Le Mière said that the US had fallen down the scale, although it still scored an average of 93 out of 100, partly because of the proliferation of small arms owned by Americans and the threat to the population posed by the flow of drugs from across the Mexican border.

Actually, the "proliferation of small arms" should have bumped us up higher on the list. But then again, Mr Le Mière, the U.N., and the Times Online believe — like all good socialists — that the populace should be disarmed. 

Now the threat by illegal immigration and drugs… that is something we can agree with.