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Reader question: David Cameron says reflexively that he wants Britain to “punch above its weight” (The Tiger Under the Table, December 3, 2009, Economist.com). What does that mean? My comments: It means that Cameron, Britain’s Conservative Party leader, wants a greater international clout for his country. In similar jargon, he wants Britain to play a greater international role. Or, simply, he wants Britain to matter more. More, that is, than what’s expected from it. More than say, its territorial size justifies. Once upon a time, of course, Britain was an empire on which the sun never set. And it had the clout to match. Nowadays, territory-wise, it’s reduced to four little British Isles, plus a few tax havens, each roughly the size of a shining pearl, in other oceans. Yet it still aspires to exert the same, or similar, influence globally. That’s what Cameron means when it comes to Britain punching “above its weight”. “Punching above its weight” is a term borrowed from boxing. In boxing people are matched up according to weight. A boxer weighing 50 kilos, for example, will not fight someone weighing 60, or 100. That is to say, David will not have to face the Goliath in the ring. Hence, metaphorically speaking if someone is described as punching above his weight, it means that he throw a punch harder than he’s expected to, as though he were from a heavier weight class. | 
