Britain could act as the world’s policeman alongside the United States; the England cricket team would thrash Ireland; Apple was a quirky alternative to PCs for creative types; and coffee came in a jar of freeze-dried granules — unless you were lucky and had an Italian mama for whom it had to be Illy.

Matthew Norman’s “My View” yesterday produced that rarest of things at i: a huge volume of letters vehemently agreeing with the author. His assertion that it is time Britain stopped pretending it is a “great power” clearly struck a nerve.

By now we know what happened to another former great power, the hapless England cricket team. The mighty smitings of Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien had half the i office agog. But, in a grown-up modern manifestation of the schoolyard jocks vs geeks divide, the other half was gripped by Apple, now the world’s second largest company, and its glitzy unveiling of the iPad2, an event live-blogged breathlessly by half the internet. More about i’s own iPad app soon. We know there have been a few early registration and crashing issues and, we have been listening.

Starbucks reinvented the way we consume beverages in its march to world domination. Now it has a great new idea to kickstart its global growth: coffee - OK, posher coffee. Allegedly. As Ma might say (not that she has ever tried either), instant coffee is like cheap sushi, both products to be avoided if possible, because buyer’s remorse is inevitable. So, TTFN because I have to make sure you won’t share the feeling.