I heard a story on the BBC World Service this morning about people in the UK borrowing more than their European counterparts and it was definitely of the been-there-borrowed-that sort to these American ears. There was the testimony of several debtors who complained they found themselves thousands of pounds in the hole thanks to the sort of zero-percent credit card offers with which we are regularly deluged. Capital One is probably crossing the pond as we speak.

Then for counterpoint there was a spokesman from the credit industry who took the hard line. You could not blame the banks for their spendthrift ways, he argued. Personal responsibility and all that. They only had themselves to blame.

It occurred to me that the same conservatives, here or there, who argue you can’t blame banks for the growing number of debtors just because they make it ridiculously easy to borrow (just as you can’t blame McDonald’s for making people fat, or tobacco companies for giving people cancer) are the same people who love to blame Hollywood for encouraging wanton sexual behavior by giving us images of Brad Pitt shagging Angelina Jolie.

Banks and credit card companies have tried to deflect criticism by offering courses in getting out of debt and managing your finances, just as Philip Morris or whatever they’re calling themselves now have a whole cottage industry devoted to keeping kids from smoking. (Goodbye, Joe Camel.) But Hollywood has yet to find a way to make us stop thinking about Angelina’s lips.

I’d like to see them try.