The more observant among you will have noticed that in 'One-Armed Bandit', I opened with the sentence 'The Pentagon is preparing...'. I then followed this, in 'No-Armed Bandit', with 'The Pentagon have...'. As is fairly evident, I can't decide whether the Pentagon should be represented in the singular or the plural. Phrases like 'the government' or 'the Labour party' are similarly troublesome.

With football teams, in England it is plural ('Manchester United are scum'), but in America, singular ('Manchester United is scum'). So should it be the 'Labour party are a ship of fools' and 'the government are not going to win any friends over the dodgy dossier', but 'the Pentagon is one sandwich short of a picnic judging by today's press releases'?

We should be told. Comments please. And yes I know I'm only going to get comments off OJ but hope springs eternal.