Torturing the British

A distraught Damian Thompson suffering through a recently imported Americanism known as "Halloween":

. . .Over in the States, an entire nation throws itself into a fancy dress party with a naive enthusiasm that comes naturally to Yanks [Heh!]. We, on the other hand, have only recently adopted Halloween, and we do it self-consciously, like embarrassed guests forced to play charades by a tyrannically cheerful host. . .

I had no idea!