I did think you were, so was wondering what subtle markers others had picked up that I had obviously missed. (Usually my gaydar is quite accurate )

Unfortunately, it's not possible to convert BA miles to AA miles, or vice versa. I suppose your viewpoint that the FFPs are in competition is a valid way of looking at it - but it's more a case of the different Frequent Flyer Programmes being set up so differently that it's difficult to directly compare them...at the very least, it is now possible to earn on all flights of all the other airlines. It's typically expected that you would just sign up with one airline in the alliance and then "book" all your miles to one program, rather than having memberships with various airlines in the alliance and shifting miles around between them as and when you felt like it.