In the decades that followed, the traffic flowed only one way. When the United States entered the Second World War in December 1941 — two years late, as true patriots will never tire of pointing out — it rapidly became the senior Allied partner. Sent to North Africa to liaise with General Eisenhower, the young Harold Macmillan predicted that his compatriots’ future lay in being “Greeks in this American empire”, and hoped they might be able to mastermind things from the shadows, “as the Greeks ran the operations of the Emperor Claudius”. The Greeks in question were slaves, so this wasn’t a very enticing analogy. In any case, the Americans had no intention of allowing their former masters to “run” them. Britain would learn that lesson at Suez.
By the time Macmillan became prime minister in January 1957, Americanisation seemed unstoppable, epitomised by everything from Bill Haley and Elvis Presley to hamburgers and teenagers. When you read one contemporary list of outlandish Americanisms — “barbecued chickens rotating on their spits in the shop windows… parking meters… bowling alleys, glass-skyscrapers, flying saucers” — the surprising thing is that so many of them were American. Perhaps that tells its own story. “I must say,” muses Jimmy Porter in John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger, “it’s pretty dreary living in the American Age — unless you’re an American of course. Perhaps all our children will be Americans.”
Then came a genuine turning point. Before 7 February 1964, the date the Beatles landed in New York, only two other British acts, Acker Bilk and the Tornados, had held the Billboard number one spot, both with instrumentals. But with their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the picture changed.
In the next two years, British acts hogged the top spot for no fewer than 52 weeks, from Manfred Mann, Petula Clark and the Dave Clark Five to Herman’s Hermits, the Troggs and the Rolling Stones. The obvious irony is that they often played American music. But that didn’t make them any less British. “What made us first want to go to America and conquer it was being English,” the Who’s Pete Townshend said later. “We didn’t care a monkey’s about the American dream.”
For the next 40 years or so, the cultural relationship felt like a genuine joint enterprise. Sheer size meant the United States was always the bigger partner, but there were enough British Oscar winners, enough British number ones, to suggest that it wasn’t entirely one-way. At the height of the so-called Second British Invasion, between 1983 and 1986, British acts actually did even better than 20 years earlier, twice accounting for exactly half of all the places in the Top 40.
Even politically, British politicians could pretend, at least, that they stood as tall as their American contemporaries. Just read the hilarious transcript of Margaret Thatcher’s exchange with Ronald Reagan after British troops had landed on the Falkland Islands. Reagan suggests offering a ceasefire; she is having none of it. As the exchange goes on, Reagan’s contributions dwindle to “Margaret, I –” and ‘Yes, well —”, while hers get ever longer and more hectoring. True, he got his own back in Grenada a year later. But in Britain we’ve all forgotten about that, so again it doesn’t count.
Since then, however, there’s been a seismic technological shift, greater even than the rise of the cinema. And although we don’t really talk about Americanisation anymore, that’s surely because, since the rise of social media, we’ve become so Americanised that we no longer even notice it. Yet once you do start to notice it, you never stop. And yes, there’s a risk of sounding like the reincarnation of Lord Salisbury, but who cares?
So here we go. When did self-hating Britons start saying “mac ‘n’ cheese” instead of “macaroni cheese”? Why do 25-year-old publishers think “cliché” is an adjective? Why are there no medical systems on earth other than our beloved, sacred NHS and the cruel American private healthcare firms? Why does the BBC send 6,000 people to report on a senatorial election in Georgia but only two men and a dog to cover the federal elections in Germany?
Who decided that schoolchildren in Leamington Spa should care about Rosa Parks? Why did thousands of people take to the streets in Britain about the killing of a single black man in Minneapolis, when barely a handful bother to protest the sack of Mariupol or the incarceration of the Uyghurs? And why on earth, when a couple of half-crazed American academics announce that we must cancel the term Anglo-Saxon to describe Alfred the Great and Athelstan because it’s a racist “dog whistle” for “white, Western superiority”, do so many British historians fall limply into line?
There’s only one answer to all this — and in an age that prizes victimhood above all else, what a richly satisfying answer it is. For it’s time we Britons recognised ourselves for what we are: a cruelly oppressed people, so brutalised by our imperial overlords that we don’t realise how badly we’ve been treated. Our idioms, our customs, even our cooking have been ruthlessly erased from history, our pies and puddings driven out by chicken wings and cheeseburgers, and we haven’t even noticed. And now they’re even coming for our ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons of sainted memory!
So what would Athelstan, the first king of all England, say? I think we all know the answer to that. He’d say: “Lads, it’s time to decolonise ourselves. Who cares what the Yanks think? But first things first: the World Cup. Let’s give them such a beating they never again claim that macaroni cheese is three words. Come on, England!”
And he would, of course, be right.
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SubscribeThe truly wonderful thing about this article is that an American couldn’t have written it. Self deprecating, ironic, floating on light wit, it’s made my day.
Only a Brit could come up with this motivation for the sainted founding fathers.
“Even though more than two centuries have passed since the American colonists put financial self-interest above their duty to king and country.”
With apologies to the many Americans, who comment very intelligently on here, that was marvellous.
“their duty to king and country.”
Obviously they no longer felt they owed anything to King and country, nor felt part of it any more. So they did not really put financial self-interest before both because they owed them nothing.
Gotcha!
Thank you for proving Martins point perfectly
But what was their duty to king and country?
It was a joke, Brett. Maybe you weren’t meant to get it.
No, it escapes me.
Is it you having the joke
Maybe just a rambling thought. If the colonists had long given up any thought of duty to king and country then it was not something they put financial self-interest above. They had already done away with ideas of duty. You can’t put financial self-interest above something that doesn’t exist, It seems to me, despite the pleasure it gives M Bollis, to be a snide comment, suggesting the revolution was about money. That an American couldn’t have written it is equally snide. But if it satisfies something the Brit’s feel who am I to argue.
The Yanks seem more loyal than we are. Stop a teenager or youngster in our High Street and ask if they know the words to the National Anthem or the Lords Prayer. Good luck, in fact try 25-45s.
Most people know the anthem, although it has recently changed so it’s trickier than for most countries.
The Lords Prayer would be largely irrelevant to most, even my grandparents generation never went to church except weddings, christenings and funerals
Hmmmm. Well. They weren’t terribly loyal to the Vietnam Vets now, were they?
Most people know the anthem, although it has recently changed so it’s trickier than for most countries.
The Lords Prayer would be largely irrelevant to most, even my grandparents generation never went to church except weddings, christenings and funerals
Hmmmm. Well. They weren’t terribly loyal to the Vietnam Vets now, were they?
It’s irony Brett, the whole piece is as big a p*ss take of the Brits as it is of the Yanks.
The comment I highlighted is self evidently ludicrous, which is how it manages to be both a bit of a dig at American values, and a wonderful take down of a particular kind of Brit.
Brits tend to be more aware of their failings and certainly more willing to laugh at them, which is why it’s hard to imagine a US writer doing something similar.
I was just enjoying how very well it was done.
I thought it was pretty funny, as a Yank.
Yes, I seem to have walked right into that one. Mea Culpa.
I thought it was pretty funny, as a Yank.
Yes, I seem to have walked right into that one. Mea Culpa.
It is a joke about the British
Indeed you did walk right into the pasture of irony Brett. As a proud republican Englishman, born and raised in Africa now living in America (patriotism is something I learned from Americans), the one thing that defines American democracy more than anything is the malign influence of money in its politics. Americans are perhaps infamous the world over for putting money above all else. The Pilgrims fled the chains of a monarchy in the search of a ‘new world’ only to serve a new Monarch. Money. Status is based not on breeding but on wealth. That is the freedom of meritocracy. The American dream is material. The delicious irony is that Americans replaced subjugation to a monarch with slavery to money. 5 weeks vacation a year is something American workers can only dream about. Yet, most importantly, they are free from a Monarch. England will get there too one day, probably sooner than a repeat of 1966 based on the dire performance yesterday in which, ironically, the best player on the ‘field’ that day was an American who plays and earns his living in England.
Have you never heard of tongue in cheek humor or something being slightly ironic? The article was peppered in it. Even as an American, I got more than a few good chuckles out of it.
And to the Brits, for some reason I picked up using “bloody” decades ago and I don’t know from where. I’ve had more than a few ask me if I’m from Britain for using it. As if my accent (well, lack of it on this side of the pond) didn’t make it obvious that I wasn’t.
The Yanks seem more loyal than we are. Stop a teenager or youngster in our High Street and ask if they know the words to the National Anthem or the Lords Prayer. Good luck, in fact try 25-45s.
It’s irony Brett, the whole piece is as big a p*ss take of the Brits as it is of the Yanks.
The comment I highlighted is self evidently ludicrous, which is how it manages to be both a bit of a dig at American values, and a wonderful take down of a particular kind of Brit.
Brits tend to be more aware of their failings and certainly more willing to laugh at them, which is why it’s hard to imagine a US writer doing something similar.
I was just enjoying how very well it was done.
It is a joke about the British
Indeed you did walk right into the pasture of irony Brett. As a proud republican Englishman, born and raised in Africa now living in America (patriotism is something I learned from Americans), the one thing that defines American democracy more than anything is the malign influence of money in its politics. Americans are perhaps infamous the world over for putting money above all else. The Pilgrims fled the chains of a monarchy in the search of a ‘new world’ only to serve a new Monarch. Money. Status is based not on breeding but on wealth. That is the freedom of meritocracy. The American dream is material. The delicious irony is that Americans replaced subjugation to a monarch with slavery to money. 5 weeks vacation a year is something American workers can only dream about. Yet, most importantly, they are free from a Monarch. England will get there too one day, probably sooner than a repeat of 1966 based on the dire performance yesterday in which, ironically, the best player on the ‘field’ that day was an American who plays and earns his living in England.
Have you never heard of tongue in cheek humor or something being slightly ironic? The article was peppered in it. Even as an American, I got more than a few good chuckles out of it.
And to the Brits, for some reason I picked up using “bloody” decades ago and I don’t know from where. I’ve had more than a few ask me if I’m from Britain for using it. As if my accent (well, lack of it on this side of the pond) didn’t make it obvious that I wasn’t.
Maybe just a rambling thought. If the colonists had long given up any thought of duty to king and country then it was not something they put financial self-interest above. They had already done away with ideas of duty. You can’t put financial self-interest above something that doesn’t exist, It seems to me, despite the pleasure it gives M Bollis, to be a snide comment, suggesting the revolution was about money. That an American couldn’t have written it is equally snide. But if it satisfies something the Brit’s feel who am I to argue.
We rest our case.
Is it you having the joke
We rest our case.
Subtlety and sarcasm were never something the yanks understood let’s be honest.
No, it escapes me.
Subtlety and sarcasm were never something the yanks understood let’s be honest.
It was a joke, Brett. Maybe you weren’t meant to get it.
But what was their duty to king and country?
It’s irony. Brett. That’s the point. Of course the colonists owed nothing to the British crown. We all know that, including the writer.
Silly loyalists! Taxes are for chumps!
Silly loyalists! Taxes are for chumps!
When I was a teenager my mother said to me “Whenever you start a sentence with ‘obviously’ your point is anything but obvious.”
It’s been a source of wonder (and frustration) how often Mom was right about this sort of thing.
Britain run up debts defending the colonies in the Franco Indian wars, I’ve never been of a high opinion of America No soon as they got so-called independence they started to move inland another thing the British government was against they went on to slaughter millions of the indigenous population or shove them tightly into reservations after stealing their land and resources, then you add then they had gold and silver boomtowns with no end of violence all written about in cowboy history, then as we get into the new 20th century you get Intercity violence run by Mafia gangs involving prostitution and all types of racketeering leading to murders, then shall we move on to World War II were American forces raped over 14,000 women over 100 of them in Britain Britain that paid its last final payment in 1918 for the American WW2 debt that we ran up fighting the Nazis while they sat on the sidelines for two years whilst Britain and its Commonwealth were fighting alone Hitler declared war on America first otherwise they might of kept out of EuropeBut then again they were paranoid about Soviet Russia getting into France, America has always had a huge narcotics problem even today Also has amongst the highest murder rate in the western world sex drugs rock ‘n’ roll you can keep it along with the hamburgers.
Kenny. such confusion in this comment. Bad day.
Very bad day for punctuation, too.
Very bad day for punctuation, too.
We do have a large narcotics problem, but, Kenny dear, what have YOU been smoking??
WOW! What was THAT?
Kenny. such confusion in this comment. Bad day.
We do have a large narcotics problem, but, Kenny dear, what have YOU been smoking??
WOW! What was THAT?
In my direct experience, the only real problem with my American friends (apart from their uncivilised attitude towards guns), is that they think that irony is like coppery or bronzy, only made of iron……
Gotcha!
Thank you for proving Martins point perfectly
It’s irony. Brett. That’s the point. Of course the colonists owed nothing to the British crown. We all know that, including the writer.
When I was a teenager my mother said to me “Whenever you start a sentence with ‘obviously’ your point is anything but obvious.”
It’s been a source of wonder (and frustration) how often Mom was right about this sort of thing.
Britain run up debts defending the colonies in the Franco Indian wars, I’ve never been of a high opinion of America No soon as they got so-called independence they started to move inland another thing the British government was against they went on to slaughter millions of the indigenous population or shove them tightly into reservations after stealing their land and resources, then you add then they had gold and silver boomtowns with no end of violence all written about in cowboy history, then as we get into the new 20th century you get Intercity violence run by Mafia gangs involving prostitution and all types of racketeering leading to murders, then shall we move on to World War II were American forces raped over 14,000 women over 100 of them in Britain Britain that paid its last final payment in 1918 for the American WW2 debt that we ran up fighting the Nazis while they sat on the sidelines for two years whilst Britain and its Commonwealth were fighting alone Hitler declared war on America first otherwise they might of kept out of EuropeBut then again they were paranoid about Soviet Russia getting into France, America has always had a huge narcotics problem even today Also has amongst the highest murder rate in the western world sex drugs rock ‘n’ roll you can keep it along with the hamburgers.
In my direct experience, the only real problem with my American friends (apart from their uncivilised attitude towards guns), is that they think that irony is like coppery or bronzy, only made of iron……
the American colonists WISELY put financial self-interest above their duty to king and country.
God save the king.
It’s a pity they didn’t put private property, particularly as in self-ownership, above financial self-interest. This was one of the Scottish Enlightenment’s best arguments against slavery in circa 1690.
God save the king.
It’s a pity they didn’t put private property, particularly as in self-ownership, above financial self-interest. This was one of the Scottish Enlightenment’s best arguments against slavery in circa 1690.
Hear, hear! And I’m an American. I’m also an Anglophile whose family left Portsmouth for the New World in the 1600s, so I have a deep reverence and respect for both countries (we took our kids on a ten-day boat trip on the Shropshire Union Canal one rainy April. Loved every minute of it. Sensational food all along the way). And yes, the worst newspaper on the planet is the New York Times. Thank you for pointing it out and for a great article on this day after our Thanksgiving!
Did you cross the splendid Pontcysyllte Aqueduct?
We did! I impressed the natives with my pronunciation!
Well done, I’ve never done that!
And I couldn’t begin to pronounce it!
And I couldn’t begin to pronounce it!
Well done, I’ve never done that!
We did! I impressed the natives with my pronunciation!
Did you cross the splendid Pontcysyllte Aqueduct?
From America the plus points have been: Investment banking, some great films and music… and on the minus side… hoodies, baseball caps, McDonalds, LGBT, global warming and racism fascists, status related purely to money, Gross overpayment and reward to employed rather than entrepreneurial people, drug culture, the internet, social media, the use of dishonest and negative PR, ..the derision of culture and the past.. where does it stop?
Hold on my dear chap, I think that you have mistakenly plonked ‘investment banking’ on the wrong side of the fence here! Maybe if we replace it with … oh dear me I can’t immediately think of anything; ah here it is – hash brownies – love ’em!
I’m not sure if you’re blaming America for global warming as a scientific fact, or if you think it’s a ‘scam’ that they invented.
Either way, I think you need a sit down and a think.
Hold on my dear chap, I think that you have mistakenly plonked ‘investment banking’ on the wrong side of the fence here! Maybe if we replace it with … oh dear me I can’t immediately think of anything; ah here it is – hash brownies – love ’em!
I’m not sure if you’re blaming America for global warming as a scientific fact, or if you think it’s a ‘scam’ that they invented.
Either way, I think you need a sit down and a think.
Chin up and Cheerio! We could not have done any of it without you!
The UnHerd software would not allow me to make a general comment, even though I am an UnHerd subscriber. So I responded to your “truly wonderful” comment above, which was at the top of the heap.
I just have to share this memory. . . laying in bed in the US, 1962, or ’63 . . . I don’t remember. But what I remember was my transistor radio cackling through the darkness, when suddenly . . . suddenly, there it was. . . having transcended the airwaves, having leaped o’er the Atlantic . . . ” She was just seventeen. . . you know what I mean . . . and the way she looked was way beyond compare!. . .”
The wondrous union of English poetry with American rhythm and blues could only have happened exactly the way it did happen . . . strummed and sung by that Fab Four from Liverpool! . . . the British invasion . . . a once-in-a- lifetime phenom!
Thank you, Britannia! for John, Paul, George and Ringo!
marvellous book (plug) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyZfV7sWZMg
George III: The Life & Reign of Britain’s Most Misunderstood Monarch — Andrew Roberts
“their duty to king and country.”
Obviously they no longer felt they owed anything to King and country, nor felt part of it any more. So they did not really put financial self-interest before both because they owed them nothing.
the American colonists WISELY put financial self-interest above their duty to king and country.
Hear, hear! And I’m an American. I’m also an Anglophile whose family left Portsmouth for the New World in the 1600s, so I have a deep reverence and respect for both countries (we took our kids on a ten-day boat trip on the Shropshire Union Canal one rainy April. Loved every minute of it. Sensational food all along the way). And yes, the worst newspaper on the planet is the New York Times. Thank you for pointing it out and for a great article on this day after our Thanksgiving!
From America the plus points have been: Investment banking, some great films and music… and on the minus side… hoodies, baseball caps, McDonalds, LGBT, global warming and racism fascists, status related purely to money, Gross overpayment and reward to employed rather than entrepreneurial people, drug culture, the internet, social media, the use of dishonest and negative PR, ..the derision of culture and the past.. where does it stop?
Chin up and Cheerio! We could not have done any of it without you!
The UnHerd software would not allow me to make a general comment, even though I am an UnHerd subscriber. So I responded to your “truly wonderful” comment above, which was at the top of the heap.
I just have to share this memory. . . laying in bed in the US, 1962, or ’63 . . . I don’t remember. But what I remember was my transistor radio cackling through the darkness, when suddenly . . . suddenly, there it was. . . having transcended the airwaves, having leaped o’er the Atlantic . . . ” She was just seventeen. . . you know what I mean . . . and the way she looked was way beyond compare!. . .”
The wondrous union of English poetry with American rhythm and blues could only have happened exactly the way it did happen . . . strummed and sung by that Fab Four from Liverpool! . . . the British invasion . . . a once-in-a- lifetime phenom!
Thank you, Britannia! for John, Paul, George and Ringo!
marvellous book (plug) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyZfV7sWZMg
George III: The Life & Reign of Britain’s Most Misunderstood Monarch — Andrew Roberts
The truly wonderful thing about this article is that an American couldn’t have written it. Self deprecating, ironic, floating on light wit, it’s made my day.
Only a Brit could come up with this motivation for the sainted founding fathers.
“Even though more than two centuries have passed since the American colonists put financial self-interest above their duty to king and country.”
With apologies to the many Americans, who comment very intelligently on here, that was marvellous.
Then do it. Quit complaining about how we do things here and appreciate what you are. It used to be Brits were as insufferably proud for being British as us Yanks were for being American. As for the woke cultural garbage, just remember the Americans pushing that onto you also hate America. Well they hate you too, but you get my point. My advice for spreading your culture, take back the rock world by storm, show off your manners, give Bond his balls back, and bring back witty comedies like Blackadder and Yes Minister. Finally if anyone complains about how your culture is not relevant in this “modern world” tell them to “
screwsod off”!We already own the rock world we don’t need to take it back. I could battle the bands all day but Ozzy Osborne is my hero. Original Prince of Darkness and massive character. Made in Birmingham, only a few miles away. And still going, amazing.
We can’t give bond his bitches back, it’s been taken and ruined by the American Universal Pictures lot.
As soon as we try and take our rock back our American overlords have a hissy fit and start saying they will put us at the back of queue for a trade deal, interfere in Ireland, remember that?
We could do with some help really, can’t you sort it out over there? How do you have Biden as a president? You have all of America to choose from and you pick that one? At least Boris had charisma and could find his way on and off a stage, if you could get your elites in order and stop being so mental that would be very helpful.
Ozzy?? You won the rock world with the “Original Prince of Darkness”? Oh, dear. You need to pull up those bootstraps and pull them into the 21st century. Ozzie is only good for occasional drugged out ridicule or the self-publicity of his star-f*cker of a wife.
Oooooooo, I don’t even need to try and defend Ozzy, anyone that knows anything about him knows he’s a legend and an icon, world wide. Working class hero. Jack and ozzys Road trip they did a few years ago, brilliant. To still be alive and functioning after having such a good time, hats off. Don’t forget we spawned the sex pistols too, men like Ozzy and johnny rotten – America wishes it understood – the spirit of British rebelliousness, you lot were scared shitless of Eminem for gods sake, very tame by our standards. Our lot normally had to be toned down for you! You’ll never spawn anything decent until you get over yourselves. Green day were good, but then they embraced the fact you’re a nation of idiots, remember American idiot? Big hit here. Believe it went, Subliminal mind f*** America, one nation under the New Media, everything isn’t meant to be ok. One nation controlled by the media, information age of hysteria is calling out to idiot America. Remember the lyrics?
Oasis, stereophonics, kaiser chiefs, artic monkeys, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, muse, placebo will that do you for now? You want to get into Glastonbury? Love Jamie t myself, post punk revival type.
Jesus wept, what a long, tired list of mediocrity.
Jesus wept, what a long, tired list of mediocrity.
Oooooooo, I don’t even need to try and defend Ozzy, anyone that knows anything about him knows he’s a legend and an icon, world wide. Working class hero. Jack and ozzys Road trip they did a few years ago, brilliant. To still be alive and functioning after having such a good time, hats off. Don’t forget we spawned the sex pistols too, men like Ozzy and johnny rotten – America wishes it understood – the spirit of British rebelliousness, you lot were scared shitless of Eminem for gods sake, very tame by our standards. Our lot normally had to be toned down for you! You’ll never spawn anything decent until you get over yourselves. Green day were good, but then they embraced the fact you’re a nation of idiots, remember American idiot? Big hit here. Believe it went, Subliminal mind f*** America, one nation under the New Media, everything isn’t meant to be ok. One nation controlled by the media, information age of hysteria is calling out to idiot America. Remember the lyrics?
Oasis, stereophonics, kaiser chiefs, artic monkeys, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, muse, placebo will that do you for now? You want to get into Glastonbury? Love Jamie t myself, post punk revival type.
Ozzy?? You won the rock world with the “Original Prince of Darkness”? Oh, dear. You need to pull up those bootstraps and pull them into the 21st century. Ozzie is only good for occasional drugged out ridicule or the self-publicity of his star-f*cker of a wife.
We already own the rock world we don’t need to take it back. I could battle the bands all day but Ozzy Osborne is my hero. Original Prince of Darkness and massive character. Made in Birmingham, only a few miles away. And still going, amazing.
We can’t give bond his bitches back, it’s been taken and ruined by the American Universal Pictures lot.
As soon as we try and take our rock back our American overlords have a hissy fit and start saying they will put us at the back of queue for a trade deal, interfere in Ireland, remember that?
We could do with some help really, can’t you sort it out over there? How do you have Biden as a president? You have all of America to choose from and you pick that one? At least Boris had charisma and could find his way on and off a stage, if you could get your elites in order and stop being so mental that would be very helpful.
Then do it. Quit complaining about how we do things here and appreciate what you are. It used to be Brits were as insufferably proud for being British as us Yanks were for being American. As for the woke cultural garbage, just remember the Americans pushing that onto you also hate America. Well they hate you too, but you get my point. My advice for spreading your culture, take back the rock world by storm, show off your manners, give Bond his balls back, and bring back witty comedies like Blackadder and Yes Minister. Finally if anyone complains about how your culture is not relevant in this “modern world” tell them to “
screwsod off”!I can think of far bigger things to moan about as regards the utterly bogus “special relationship” (Peter Hitchens has long had plenty of suitably acidic comments on that illusion). One obvious recent disaster is the £3.5 billion pissed down the toilet over 20 years in Afghanistan as we followed deluded USA-dictated policies. The cash went on hordes of consultants, propping up totally corrupt politicians and trying to sustain useless indigenous security forces…plus trying to introduce Western attitudes to a reluctant population. £3.5 billion =100 new secondary schools or 15 large hospitals down the drain.
… and, of course, British lives lost.
… and, of course, British lives lost.
I can think of far bigger things to moan about as regards the utterly bogus “special relationship” (Peter Hitchens has long had plenty of suitably acidic comments on that illusion). One obvious recent disaster is the £3.5 billion pissed down the toilet over 20 years in Afghanistan as we followed deluded USA-dictated policies. The cash went on hordes of consultants, propping up totally corrupt politicians and trying to sustain useless indigenous security forces…plus trying to introduce Western attitudes to a reluctant population. £3.5 billion =100 new secondary schools or 15 large hospitals down the drain.
The true urgency is for the British people to escape the cultural death spiral of the nonsensical and divisive American-sourced wokeness they seem to love aping at every occasion, often outdoing their transatlantic cousins in their slavish and non-thinking adhesion to that imported politically correct dogma.
As an American, I really am sorry that we let our academy be taken over by the “woke”, the idiot children of the Frankfurt School, Gramsci, Foucault and the anti- and post-colonialist Leninist imperialist types. You Brits got Kim Philby and his lot at the main line of attack from the Soviets, we got Cultural Marxism, which turns out to be like one of those autonomous weapons systems of sci-fi that carry on fighting even after their makers and the cause where were made to fight for are gone. I’m afraid the whole Anglosphere needs to clean up that mess — I saw the beginnings of the same intellectual rot loose in Australian society when I spent a winter there during the summer of 1989, and don’t get me started on Canadian “multiculturalism” on display when I lived there in ’87/’88 and worse now — and I’m quite certain neither of them wasimported from the US, as at that time such ideas were confined to the academy in the US.
As to Americanisms in British usage, I think the boundary between the two dialects has just become porous. I hear about “bespoke norms” (a strange concept, if it’s a norm, how can it be bespoke?) in planning documents at my university, and American kids have picked up British slang from the Harry Potter books, to say nothing of the phenomenon from the COVID lockdown of American toddlers with perfect British accents, using British English, thanks to Peppa Pig. (Though I must say I am sad that “Chemists” had largely been displaced by “Pharmacy” on signage the last time I was in the UK.)
The first time I noticed the word “bespoke” was on a sign outside a bicycle shop in London. So I naturally assumed it had something to do with bicycle wheel spokes.
The first time I noticed the word “bespoke” was on a sign outside a bicycle shop in London. So I naturally assumed it had something to do with bicycle wheel spokes.
As an American, I really am sorry that we let our academy be taken over by the “woke”, the idiot children of the Frankfurt School, Gramsci, Foucault and the anti- and post-colonialist Leninist imperialist types. You Brits got Kim Philby and his lot at the main line of attack from the Soviets, we got Cultural Marxism, which turns out to be like one of those autonomous weapons systems of sci-fi that carry on fighting even after their makers and the cause where were made to fight for are gone. I’m afraid the whole Anglosphere needs to clean up that mess — I saw the beginnings of the same intellectual rot loose in Australian society when I spent a winter there during the summer of 1989, and don’t get me started on Canadian “multiculturalism” on display when I lived there in ’87/’88 and worse now — and I’m quite certain neither of them wasimported from the US, as at that time such ideas were confined to the academy in the US.
As to Americanisms in British usage, I think the boundary between the two dialects has just become porous. I hear about “bespoke norms” (a strange concept, if it’s a norm, how can it be bespoke?) in planning documents at my university, and American kids have picked up British slang from the Harry Potter books, to say nothing of the phenomenon from the COVID lockdown of American toddlers with perfect British accents, using British English, thanks to Peppa Pig. (Though I must say I am sad that “Chemists” had largely been displaced by “Pharmacy” on signage the last time I was in the UK.)
The true urgency is for the British people to escape the cultural death spiral of the nonsensical and divisive American-sourced wokeness they seem to love aping at every occasion, often outdoing their transatlantic cousins in their slavish and non-thinking adhesion to that imported politically correct dogma.
Hmm. Hmm, hmmm, hmmmmmmm . . . An interesting concept. Time for England to declare independence from America? There’s a thought!
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict Sandbrook won’t be doing any more TV work for the BBC. Asking “Why did thousands of people take to the streets in Britain about the killing of a single black man in Minneapolis” has certainly spotted his BBC TV career. Perhaps it’d already been written off as his work has proved popular and sometimes thought provoking, words that send a chill down the spine of any Beeboid.
Or Make America Great Britain again. Those T Shirts must be worth some money now,
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict Sandbrook won’t be doing any more TV work for the BBC. Asking “Why did thousands of people take to the streets in Britain about the killing of a single black man in Minneapolis” has certainly spotted his BBC TV career. Perhaps it’d already been written off as his work has proved popular and sometimes thought provoking, words that send a chill down the spine of any Beeboid.
Or Make America Great Britain again. Those T Shirts must be worth some money now,
Hmm. Hmm, hmmm, hmmmmmmm . . . An interesting concept. Time for England to declare independence from America? There’s a thought!
Well said that man. I have lost interest in football (When schoolboys can no longer afford to pay for a ticket to watch a match out of their pocket money, then we have lost our souls)
But. I will stir myself one last time. Let Harry Kane put the yanks to the sword, and send them home to lament their fate on Twitter . Cry God for Harry, England and St George.
Well said that man. I have lost interest in football (When schoolboys can no longer afford to pay for a ticket to watch a match out of their pocket money, then we have lost our souls)
But. I will stir myself one last time. Let Harry Kane put the yanks to the sword, and send them home to lament their fate on Twitter . Cry God for Harry, England and St George.
It’s interesting how American culture, which is permanently changeable and constantly being reborn, is embraced by so many outside America without even blinking: Levi jeans, student protest, hippies, stardom, BLM, self esteem, trans gender, feminism, self improvement, hate speech, hamburgers, fame, blondes, pneumatic breasts, abstract art, fake news, rock n roll, westerns, woke, comics, super-heroes, diversity, safe spaces, white privilege, Maccas …
The American Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
But they love it.
No it is force fed to them and we have an elite who out of pure self interest are invested in it.
It is much the am with the likes of Google and Amazon. Set up to rape the world backed by American force
For some reason I can only reply but not post a new comment, so I am kind of piggy-backing on your comment, please forgive the presumption.
There are two things that very often I have found:
1 the very people who spend most of their time saying how appalling America is are the ones who whole-heartedly adopt Americanisms in their speech and American cultural attitudes.
2 generally young people are the more enamoured of American cultural norms, and I’m going to say something that many may feel is insulting to our American friends, but I think that a lot of American culture is very infantilising, so that maybe why it appeals to the youthful more than the oldies.
You have no idea how relentless and omnipresent the world’s most sophiscated proganda machine is in the lives of young people. People over 40 really just don’t get it.
How much you think it affects them, double it, then double it again.
The 14-year olds lining up to defend Berlin in 1945 were less indoctrinated. That is the source of the anamourment.
You have no idea how relentless and omnipresent the world’s most sophiscated proganda machine is in the lives of young people. People over 40 really just don’t get it.
How much you think it affects them, double it, then double it again.
The 14-year olds lining up to defend Berlin in 1945 were less indoctrinated. That is the source of the anamourment.
I feel like Mr Creosote I’ve been fed that much American propaganda, I honestly don’t know if I’m coming or going, I was about 13 when they went into Iraq, the onslaught hasn’t stopped since.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aczPDGC3f8U
It was no force that drove Russian youths under communism to seek out Levi jeans from visitors.
No it was the image of the US sols by US propaganda. They were no after British tweed
No it was the image of the US sols by US propaganda. They were no after British tweed
For some reason I can only reply but not post a new comment, so I am kind of piggy-backing on your comment, please forgive the presumption.
There are two things that very often I have found:
1 the very people who spend most of their time saying how appalling America is are the ones who whole-heartedly adopt Americanisms in their speech and American cultural attitudes.
2 generally young people are the more enamoured of American cultural norms, and I’m going to say something that many may feel is insulting to our American friends, but I think that a lot of American culture is very infantilising, so that maybe why it appeals to the youthful more than the oldies.
I feel like Mr Creosote I’ve been fed that much American propaganda, I honestly don’t know if I’m coming or going, I was about 13 when they went into Iraq, the onslaught hasn’t stopped since.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aczPDGC3f8U
It was no force that drove Russian youths under communism to seek out Levi jeans from visitors.
No it is force fed to them and we have an elite who out of pure self interest are invested in it.
It is much the am with the likes of Google and Amazon. Set up to rape the world backed by American force
But they love it.
Trick or treat, Black Friday. ..
Yes more BLM nonsense
Black Friday is the big sale shopping day after the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. It ostensibly kicks off the Christmas shopping season with all kinds of deals, but only if you get there first. People were getting seriously injured in stampedes trying to get to the big deal first. Fortunately it’s started to die down a bit, but it’s now followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. They haven’t come up with a name for that Sunday yet, but I’m sure they will. It’s all marketing.
Black Friday is the big sale shopping day after the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. It ostensibly kicks off the Christmas shopping season with all kinds of deals, but only if you get there first. People were getting seriously injured in stampedes trying to get to the big deal first. Fortunately it’s started to die down a bit, but it’s now followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. They haven’t come up with a name for that Sunday yet, but I’m sure they will. It’s all marketing.
Yes more BLM nonsense
I think you will find that the Pankhursts and others like them were British. Germaine Greer was an Australian lecturing at a British university. Americans did not invent feminism and British feminists are leading on the destruction of the ‘gender’ curse now.
Germaine grear was always loudly sworn about in our house by my dad, apparently she condoned castration or something, dad broke it down as she thinks it’s OK to go round chopping off a blokes gonads, followed by more swearing, if she’s a household name here it’s for all the wrong reasons as far as I know…..we entertained her because as a nation we used to be pretty good at having a thick skin to all that, noting that in a democracy any nutter can speak and is allowed to, and to maintain that we have to politely entertain them from time to time and trust in the sanity of the rest of the country not to take it too seriously. We need to embrace that to survive the ‘woke war’ for want of a better description.
Germaine grear was always loudly sworn about in our house by my dad, apparently she condoned castration or something, dad broke it down as she thinks it’s OK to go round chopping off a blokes gonads, followed by more swearing, if she’s a household name here it’s for all the wrong reasons as far as I know…..we entertained her because as a nation we used to be pretty good at having a thick skin to all that, noting that in a democracy any nutter can speak and is allowed to, and to maintain that we have to politely entertain them from time to time and trust in the sanity of the rest of the country not to take it too seriously. We need to embrace that to survive the ‘woke war’ for want of a better description.
The American Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
Trick or treat, Black Friday. ..
I think you will find that the Pankhursts and others like them were British. Germaine Greer was an Australian lecturing at a British university. Americans did not invent feminism and British feminists are leading on the destruction of the ‘gender’ curse now.
It’s interesting how American culture, which is permanently changeable and constantly being reborn, is embraced by so many outside America without even blinking: Levi jeans, student protest, hippies, stardom, BLM, self esteem, trans gender, feminism, self improvement, hate speech, hamburgers, fame, blondes, pneumatic breasts, abstract art, fake news, rock n roll, westerns, woke, comics, super-heroes, diversity, safe spaces, white privilege, Maccas …
Globalisation pretty much equates to Americanisation. Once Neo-liberal economics took hold, the cultures of ALL nations were under threat in the name of diversity. Corporations, institutions and governments in the West have been particularly open to this assault on their nationhood. The result is the self colonisation of The West. China and Russia are the main resistance, but even they have been under huge pressure to submit and have done so culturally to some extent. America has adopted some Chinese government ideas. Similar tactics used against the Indigenous people of Canada, Australia etc are being repeated against the Western Cultures. Families destroyed. Children Institutionalised. Commonality attacked. As with the Indigenous people, there is a fightback. All stake are all the liberal rights fought for in the West. The world’s elites want the rest of us back in our box as has been the case for most of history.
You forgot to credit Iran
Yeh. Hard fitting everything in during my 13 minute lunch time.
Yeh. Hard fitting everything in during my 13 minute lunch time.
I think that China’s the main beneficiary of globalisation. All that tech they’ve managed to steal and all the manufacturing capability in the west lost to them.
I have not noticed the kids here (Australia) speaking Chinese as yet, except the Chinese. America thought the Chinese were going to cave in to everything American rather than just pop culture, but the CCP (CFP would be a better description) did things thier way whilst America continued to place everything China wanted in their lap due to the cheap labour (Neo-liberal economics) available. The Democrats and Labor (Labour) Party here in Australia seem ready to team up with China to some extent to continue the outdated Neo-liberal dream at the expense of their nations. Short term gain for long term pain appears to be the motto. So we might be speaking Chinese after selling the joint.
I have not noticed the kids here (Australia) speaking Chinese as yet, except the Chinese. America thought the Chinese were going to cave in to everything American rather than just pop culture, but the CCP (CFP would be a better description) did things thier way whilst America continued to place everything China wanted in their lap due to the cheap labour (Neo-liberal economics) available. The Democrats and Labor (Labour) Party here in Australia seem ready to team up with China to some extent to continue the outdated Neo-liberal dream at the expense of their nations. Short term gain for long term pain appears to be the motto. So we might be speaking Chinese after selling the joint.
You forgot to credit Iran
I think that China’s the main beneficiary of globalisation. All that tech they’ve managed to steal and all the manufacturing capability in the west lost to them.
Globalisation pretty much equates to Americanisation. Once Neo-liberal economics took hold, the cultures of ALL nations were under threat in the name of diversity. Corporations, institutions and governments in the West have been particularly open to this assault on their nationhood. The result is the self colonisation of The West. China and Russia are the main resistance, but even they have been under huge pressure to submit and have done so culturally to some extent. America has adopted some Chinese government ideas. Similar tactics used against the Indigenous people of Canada, Australia etc are being repeated against the Western Cultures. Families destroyed. Children Institutionalised. Commonality attacked. As with the Indigenous people, there is a fightback. All stake are all the liberal rights fought for in the West. The world’s elites want the rest of us back in our box as has been the case for most of history.
The World Cup is one of the few areas left where the United States is subjected to globally-televised humiliation (in terms of a stark disparity between its modest athletic prowess in this particular sport, on the one hand, and its generally obnoxious global hyperpower status on the other) on a regular basis, so it should be savored, really … even by Americans. Sadly, despite the increased profile of “soccer” in the US, most of my countrymen couldn’t care less about the World cup, the “USMNT” or “soccer” — not really, anyway. So the sense of humiliation that they should feel — really a kind of useful humbling — is pretty much absent and it just washes over a largely oblivious population. In fact, in the US, interest in this sport is generally divided along the same “culture war” dividing line as everything else in the US, with most of the interest coming from one side in that divide — so even as a source of national unity (which this event seems to foster in other countries), the World Cup fails to deliver in the US, where it just provides another vector along which the dysfunctional social polarization is reified.
Soccer looks like Irish dancing to me. You can’t use your hands.
In fairness, unless you’re very drunk, you shouldn’t need your hands to be able to dance. See tap dancing also.
But it wasn’t against the “rules” to include hand and arm movements in tap dance. Riverdance and Lord of the Rings has made it a bit more acceptable in Irish dance. I still love seeing Flatley coming out that first time at Eurovision doing it all.
Ballet very much needs hands and arms for the various poses.
But it wasn’t against the “rules” to include hand and arm movements in tap dance. Riverdance and Lord of the Rings has made it a bit more acceptable in Irish dance. I still love seeing Flatley coming out that first time at Eurovision doing it all.
Ballet very much needs hands and arms for the various poses.
In fairness, unless you’re very drunk, you shouldn’t need your hands to be able to dance. See tap dancing also.
Soccer looks like Irish dancing to me. You can’t use your hands.
The World Cup is one of the few areas left where the United States is subjected to globally-televised humiliation (in terms of a stark disparity between its modest athletic prowess in this particular sport, on the one hand, and its generally obnoxious global hyperpower status on the other) on a regular basis, so it should be savored, really … even by Americans. Sadly, despite the increased profile of “soccer” in the US, most of my countrymen couldn’t care less about the World cup, the “USMNT” or “soccer” — not really, anyway. So the sense of humiliation that they should feel — really a kind of useful humbling — is pretty much absent and it just washes over a largely oblivious population. In fact, in the US, interest in this sport is generally divided along the same “culture war” dividing line as everything else in the US, with most of the interest coming from one side in that divide — so even as a source of national unity (which this event seems to foster in other countries), the World Cup fails to deliver in the US, where it just provides another vector along which the dysfunctional social polarization is reified.
Too late, after the disgrace of Iraq where Bush & Blair behaved like HITLER, (and should have been ‘hanged’ accordingly),we are forever tarnished.
Consummatum est!
Mr Stanhope, we mustn’t give hope, even if it seems impossible, what happened to that spirit that spawned the likes of Sir David Stirling and Sir Ranulf Fiennes. That’s the spirit we need! It can be done 🙂
Or as the Duke of Wellington put it at Waterloo:
“Up Guards and at ‘em! “
Or as the Duke of Wellington put it at Waterloo:
“Up Guards and at ‘em! “
I happened to be there all through the 1990’s. Odd how conveniently everyone forgets Saddam had two genocides going on at once. Both Kurds and Marsh Arabs.
He didn’t treat the Kuwaities too kindly either.
Good job we treated the Irish so kindly otherwise following your logic, the US could have nuked us!
Good job we treated the Irish so kindly otherwise following your logic, the US could have nuked us!
He certainly did and it was pretty well known, but that did NOT justify a completely unprovoked attack on an innocent country ,and the subsequent slaughter of perhaps 500,000.
Hitler had more justification for his attack on both Poland and Czechoslovakia, than Bush & Blair did for theirs on Iraq.
They should both face a Capital charge, no ifs no buts!
“Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Palmerston’s aphorism is good advice for anyone, regardless of what country they’re from.
You’re right about Iraq of course; but Iraq is being used by appeasers as a whataboutery excuse for current appeasement of the execrable Putin.
I completely agree, it’s pathetic how the ‘Rape of Iraq’ is now been used by the bed-wetting spastics to exculpate Putin and his pygmies!
Palmerston’s aphorism should be better known. I tend to use when describing the so-called ‘special relationship’ to some misguided souls who sincerely believe we actually have one with the USA!
I completely agree, it’s pathetic how the ‘Rape of Iraq’ is now been used by the bed-wetting spastics to exculpate Putin and his pygmies!
Palmerston’s aphorism should be better known. I tend to use when describing the so-called ‘special relationship’ to some misguided souls who sincerely believe we actually have one with the USA!
“Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Palmerston’s aphorism is good advice for anyone, regardless of what country they’re from.
You’re right about Iraq of course; but Iraq is being used by appeasers as a whataboutery excuse for current appeasement of the execrable Putin.
I was there too during that period. The Yanks really let down the Iraquis who had risen up in support of the coalition. No wonder the dont trust us.
He didn’t have those WMDs though did he? And it was supposedly Saudis that were in the planes that hit the towers. So the reasons the US sold to us for that invasion were lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Unjustified on the reasons they gave us. Blair forced it through parliament even after one of the largest peace demonstrations this country has ever mustered. Shi**ing all over our democratic institutions, encouraged by Americans. Footballs starting I must stop…….
It was a strategic imperative that Saddam ‘Insane’ be destroyed because the Israelis had convinced themselves that he was an existential threat who thought he was a new ‘Saladin’.
Apparently if ‘we’ hadn’t destroyed him, they were going to NUKE him!
Such is the power of ‘Kosher Nostra’.
I did not know that, that’s mental!
On the football front, very satisfying hearing the chants of usa drowned out by our national anthem I have to say, England fans are doing a good job, we better get our arses in gear now though….
Well we didn’t loose. That’s about all I can say, I’m going to mix gin into my beer.
surely its arses in queer now?
Whatever their arses were in last night, they needed a slap.
Whatever their arses were in last night, they needed a slap.
surely its arses in queer now?
I did not know that, that’s mental!
On the football front, very satisfying hearing the chants of usa drowned out by our national anthem I have to say, England fans are doing a good job, we better get our arses in gear now though….
Well we didn’t loose. That’s about all I can say, I’m going to mix gin into my beer.
It was a strategic imperative that Saddam ‘Insane’ be destroyed because the Israelis had convinced themselves that he was an existential threat who thought he was a new ‘Saladin’.
Apparently if ‘we’ hadn’t destroyed him, they were going to NUKE him!
Such is the power of ‘Kosher Nostra’.
He didn’t treat the Kuwaities too kindly either.
He certainly did and it was pretty well known, but that did NOT justify a completely unprovoked attack on an innocent country ,and the subsequent slaughter of perhaps 500,000.
Hitler had more justification for his attack on both Poland and Czechoslovakia, than Bush & Blair did for theirs on Iraq.
They should both face a Capital charge, no ifs no buts!
I was there too during that period. The Yanks really let down the Iraquis who had risen up in support of the coalition. No wonder the dont trust us.
He didn’t have those WMDs though did he? And it was supposedly Saudis that were in the planes that hit the towers. So the reasons the US sold to us for that invasion were lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Unjustified on the reasons they gave us. Blair forced it through parliament even after one of the largest peace demonstrations this country has ever mustered. Shi**ing all over our democratic institutions, encouraged by Americans. Footballs starting I must stop…….
Mr Stanhope, we mustn’t give hope, even if it seems impossible, what happened to that spirit that spawned the likes of Sir David Stirling and Sir Ranulf Fiennes. That’s the spirit we need! It can be done 🙂
I happened to be there all through the 1990’s. Odd how conveniently everyone forgets Saddam had two genocides going on at once. Both Kurds and Marsh Arabs.
Too late, after the disgrace of Iraq where Bush & Blair behaved like HITLER, (and should have been ‘hanged’ accordingly),we are forever tarnished.
Consummatum est!
Most British I have encountered are the self hating type. I advise Americans and British alike to listen to James Caan ‘s monologue at the end of Dogville (Lars Von Tiers). Your constant self flagelating is a sign of hubris, by doing it you treat the “other ” with condescension. Which is superiority with good manners. I’m a big admirer of America and Britain. We owe you so much.
Most of the problems described by the author were created by armies of teachers, social workers and public intelectuals that for decades spread anti western hate. I disagree with the author when he calls the American academics half crazed. They are fully crazy.
Well said Sir, and Rule Britannia!
Well said Sir, and Rule Britannia!
Most British I have encountered are the self hating type. I advise Americans and British alike to listen to James Caan ‘s monologue at the end of Dogville (Lars Von Tiers). Your constant self flagelating is a sign of hubris, by doing it you treat the “other ” with condescension. Which is superiority with good manners. I’m a big admirer of America and Britain. We owe you so much.
Most of the problems described by the author were created by armies of teachers, social workers and public intelectuals that for decades spread anti western hate. I disagree with the author when he calls the American academics half crazed. They are fully crazy.
The list of regrettable Americanisms we are absorbing is depressingly long. Why do we not resist this?’ Mac n cheese’ is pretty awful but my least favoutite currently is using ‘surgeries’ when you mean ‘operations’. Our GPs work in surgeries whereas American ones work from an ‘office’ so it completely distorts the meaning.
And I was rather gobsmacked recently when the today prog used the American pronunciation for ‘route’ a couple of times.
We tend to use the “r oot” pronunciation when it’s part of a highway name (well, we used to before it was all interstates) and ” “r out” when talking about trip planning.
We tend to use the “r oot” pronunciation when it’s part of a highway name (well, we used to before it was all interstates) and ” “r out” when talking about trip planning.
And I was rather gobsmacked recently when the today prog used the American pronunciation for ‘route’ a couple of times.
The list of regrettable Americanisms we are absorbing is depressingly long. Why do we not resist this?’ Mac n cheese’ is pretty awful but my least favoutite currently is using ‘surgeries’ when you mean ‘operations’. Our GPs work in surgeries whereas American ones work from an ‘office’ so it completely distorts the meaning.
Keep it coming, DS. Wonderfully insightful and entertaining writing, as always.
Keep it coming, DS. Wonderfully insightful and entertaining writing, as always.
Oh, for Pete’s sake, get over it.
Early American history is Canadian history. When an American is asked how many colonies existed before the American War of Independence ( it wasn’t a revolution by any means), they quote thirteen. Even forgetting Maine (used as a buffer state by the British), and Vermont (fighting a land dispute with the New York colony). There was Newfoundland, who gave up most of its sons in the Great War, remember? And Quebec (Ontario), who remained loyal to Great Britain and the UK in the Battle of Quebec 1774 against the Americans, and again in the War of 1812, when the British were tied up in another war, the scant British regulars, Canadian militia and fencibles, Quebecois, First Nations (Indians), American immigrants (honest) fought off 11 invasions attempts to capture Canada. Hudson’s Bay Charter and Ruperts Land, Nova Scotia (New Brunswick), Prince Edward Island, Burmuda, East and West Florida. No, not 13… more like 21.
In World War I… that country that survived the War of 1812 and other threats (American Civil War) came to Britain’s aid. I’ll make this short, Australia and Canada developed battle tactics and logistics far superior to any other country. Any country. Canada’s use of air support, armour, artillery and specialized and fully manned engineering battalion, and training so that each man knew the objective and could replace officers was later used by the Germans in WWII called Blitzkrieg, Google Canada’s 100 days offensive Wik. What the Canadians did in those last 100 days, and with 100,000, put the Americans 1,000,000 to shame. That corps of four heavy divisions took on and defeated 47 German divisions in those last 100 days, ending the war in 1918 instead of the expected 1919. To the very end, when the Canadians took Mons, where the British fought and lost its first battle. Australia had to pull off halfway through because of the poorly trained and inexperienced Americans who bit off more than they could chew, resulting in heavy losses for the Australians. But who knows?
There was a hint about the Suez…. that was Prime Minister Pearson’s doing. As a UN representative for Canada, he proposed an armed intervention force to separate the combatants in the Suez Canal fiasco. The UN appointed Canada to take that lead. Canada was looked upon by Britain as siding with the Americans, who were perfectly happy with the events that favoured them. He got the Nobel for that. But who knows?
No country in the world knows the Americans better than the Canadians. We have survived, come hell and high water, everything America could throw at us. Canada declared war on Japan one day earlier than the Yanks and lost two regiments in the Battle of Hong Kong. Who knows? Who knows that the existence of the UK today lies with Canada and Halifax, where convoys left for the mother country, defying German wolf packs while the Americans kept pilling up their Isolationist acts? Every British bomber crew had at least one Canadian. And as shock troops, they took the point with the British on her flanks on D-Day. The second hardest beach was Juno. And true to their reputation, they made the most gains that day of all the allies. But who gets the credit in Holywood movies?
Right up to President Trump, who did his best to pull Canada to her knees. We lost an airliner manufacturing sector to him, but we survived. We cancelled an order for F18 fighter jet replacements, and Australia gave us their F18s. On a humorous note, we have illegal immigrants crossing the US border into Canada and seriously considering building a wall and having the Americans pay for it.
We had to survive years of American culture bombardment above and beyond the petty things mentioned in this well-written essay. My compliments to you, Mr. Sandbrook. In the words of my country’s official language, of which we have two, Vous êtes une bande de pleurnichards à propos de la guerre culturelle américaine. Surmonter le grief.
PS: corrected spelling. You know… US spelling, Canadian spelling? Whatever.
Canada, the retarded giant on the doorstep.
Canada, the retarded giant on the doorstep.
Oh, for Pete’s sake, get over it.
Early American history is Canadian history. When an American is asked how many colonies existed before the American War of Independence ( it wasn’t a revolution by any means), they quote thirteen. Even forgetting Maine (used as a buffer state by the British), and Vermont (fighting a land dispute with the New York colony). There was Newfoundland, who gave up most of its sons in the Great War, remember? And Quebec (Ontario), who remained loyal to Great Britain and the UK in the Battle of Quebec 1774 against the Americans, and again in the War of 1812, when the British were tied up in another war, the scant British regulars, Canadian militia and fencibles, Quebecois, First Nations (Indians), American immigrants (honest) fought off 11 invasions attempts to capture Canada. Hudson’s Bay Charter and Ruperts Land, Nova Scotia (New Brunswick), Prince Edward Island, Burmuda, East and West Florida. No, not 13… more like 21.
In World War I… that country that survived the War of 1812 and other threats (American Civil War) came to Britain’s aid. I’ll make this short, Australia and Canada developed battle tactics and logistics far superior to any other country. Any country. Canada’s use of air support, armour, artillery and specialized and fully manned engineering battalion, and training so that each man knew the objective and could replace officers was later used by the Germans in WWII called Blitzkrieg, Google Canada’s 100 days offensive Wik. What the Canadians did in those last 100 days, and with 100,000, put the Americans 1,000,000 to shame. That corps of four heavy divisions took on and defeated 47 German divisions in those last 100 days, ending the war in 1918 instead of the expected 1919. To the very end, when the Canadians took Mons, where the British fought and lost its first battle. Australia had to pull off halfway through because of the poorly trained and inexperienced Americans who bit off more than they could chew, resulting in heavy losses for the Australians. But who knows?
There was a hint about the Suez…. that was Prime Minister Pearson’s doing. As a UN representative for Canada, he proposed an armed intervention force to separate the combatants in the Suez Canal fiasco. The UN appointed Canada to take that lead. Canada was looked upon by Britain as siding with the Americans, who were perfectly happy with the events that favoured them. He got the Nobel for that. But who knows?
No country in the world knows the Americans better than the Canadians. We have survived, come hell and high water, everything America could throw at us. Canada declared war on Japan one day earlier than the Yanks and lost two regiments in the Battle of Hong Kong. Who knows? Who knows that the existence of the UK today lies with Canada and Halifax, where convoys left for the mother country, defying German wolf packs while the Americans kept pilling up their Isolationist acts? Every British bomber crew had at least one Canadian. And as shock troops, they took the point with the British on her flanks on D-Day. The second hardest beach was Juno. And true to their reputation, they made the most gains that day of all the allies. But who gets the credit in Holywood movies?
Right up to President Trump, who did his best to pull Canada to her knees. We lost an airliner manufacturing sector to him, but we survived. We cancelled an order for F18 fighter jet replacements, and Australia gave us their F18s. On a humorous note, we have illegal immigrants crossing the US border into Canada and seriously considering building a wall and having the Americans pay for it.
We had to survive years of American culture bombardment above and beyond the petty things mentioned in this well-written essay. My compliments to you, Mr. Sandbrook. In the words of my country’s official language, of which we have two, Vous êtes une bande de pleurnichards à propos de la guerre culturelle américaine. Surmonter le grief.
PS: corrected spelling. You know… US spelling, Canadian spelling? Whatever.
Don’t forget Monty Python!
Japan underwent a similar cycle with a radical Americanization after WWII followed by the development of its own highly distinctive culture between the 1960s and the 1990s.
America was doing Richad Pryor at the time of Monty Python as I recall, not good.
Yes, BBC is going down a bad road like much of mainstream media.
America was doing Richad Pryor at the time of Monty Python as I recall, not good.
Yes, BBC is going down a bad road like much of mainstream media.
Don’t forget Monty Python!
Japan underwent a similar cycle with a radical Americanization after WWII followed by the development of its own highly distinctive culture between the 1960s and the 1990s.
There are two more words other than “cliché” that have become adjectives: “cringe” has also become an adjective only (replacing “cringeworthy”), and “fun” has completely lost its second use as a mass noun, so that it is now ONLY an adjective. Therefore fun is not something you have, it can only function as a descriptor for something. Thus: “so cringe” and “so fun”.
…. and don’t get me started on nucular, sodar (solder) and aluminum.
Also avoid going to the Libary. Specially in Febyary.
Only in the South. The deep South. The rest of us use library and February, although most of us still have the silent “r”.
Only in the South. The deep South. The rest of us use library and February, although most of us still have the silent “r”.
It’s the “solder” one that I find peculiar; before I saw it written I assumed the Americans spelt it “sodar”. They spell and pronounce aluminium differently, that’s ok by me, I must confess that I have not heard “nucular”, though.
I agree about the others, but I thought that solder with the silent ‘l’ was a survival of earlier English, along the lines of golf and wolf with the silent ‘l’.
Yes, watching clips on HOW to “sodar” (It’s a bit of a long story) alerted me to that one. Shocked me. I realise it may be archaic like “golf” or “wolf” (or even the original Norwegian “shee” to pronounce “ski”), but the UK (and everyone else like us Australians) have naturalised it to fit modern English speech patterns and standard pronunciation of consonants.
I’m comfortable with change, but only change I’m comfortable with 🙂
Golf and wolf with a silent “l”? I’ve never heard either of those, although the affectionate term for several Irish Wolfhounds is “wuffies” with no “l”.
Yes, watching clips on HOW to “sodar” (It’s a bit of a long story) alerted me to that one. Shocked me. I realise it may be archaic like “golf” or “wolf” (or even the original Norwegian “shee” to pronounce “ski”), but the UK (and everyone else like us Australians) have naturalised it to fit modern English speech patterns and standard pronunciation of consonants.
I’m comfortable with change, but only change I’m comfortable with 🙂
Golf and wolf with a silent “l”? I’ve never heard either of those, although the affectionate term for several Irish Wolfhounds is “wuffies” with no “l”.
Dont get me going about ‘erbs. Its HERBS………..!!!
And maths, not math.
And maths, not math.
“Nucular” was started by president Eisenhower, and large parts of the population followed his bad example.
I agree about the others, but I thought that solder with the silent ‘l’ was a survival of earlier English, along the lines of golf and wolf with the silent ‘l’.
Dont get me going about ‘erbs. Its HERBS………..!!!
“Nucular” was started by president Eisenhower, and large parts of the population followed his bad example.
I’ve heard nucular (sticking a “u” in that isn’t there). I’ve used sawder (no “l”). But as to aluminum, there’s only one “i” in it. It sounds weird to hear it with an extra syllable and an “i” added where it isn’t.
Also avoid going to the Libary. Specially in Febyary.
It’s the “solder” one that I find peculiar; before I saw it written I assumed the Americans spelt it “sodar”. They spell and pronounce aluminium differently, that’s ok by me, I must confess that I have not heard “nucular”, though.
I’ve heard nucular (sticking a “u” in that isn’t there). I’ve used sawder (no “l”). But as to aluminum, there’s only one “i” in it. It sounds weird to hear it with an extra syllable and an “i” added where it isn’t.
…. and don’t get me started on nucular, sodar (solder) and aluminum.
There are two more words other than “cliché” that have become adjectives: “cringe” has also become an adjective only (replacing “cringeworthy”), and “fun” has completely lost its second use as a mass noun, so that it is now ONLY an adjective. Therefore fun is not something you have, it can only function as a descriptor for something. Thus: “so cringe” and “so fun”.
I’ve met Americans who both love and ‘get’ Monty Python, British Rock bands and classic British cars, which are changing hands for ridiculous sums, and there’s always James Bond and the SAS.
I meet Brits who like none of those things and think mobile phones are gadgets. I prefer Burger King to MacDonalds but wish BK did milk shakes. Chicken wings à la Buffalo are to die for as are American muscle cars.
Football’s only reason to exist is to try to beat Germany, Italy and Brazil. The Yanks don’t ‘get’ soccer and nor do millions of Brits, especially the sheer stupidity of Qatar.
Hmmmm a Montrealer.
An American who loves all of those things … but … my son played soccer. And I don’t care how many other movies came out, to me there was only one real James Bond … the one played by Sean Connery.
We already had football (American football) going before soccer started showing up so we couldn’t exactly change the name of the older sport for the sake of a new one.
Hmmmm a Montrealer.
An American who loves all of those things … but … my son played soccer. And I don’t care how many other movies came out, to me there was only one real James Bond … the one played by Sean Connery.
We already had football (American football) going before soccer started showing up so we couldn’t exactly change the name of the older sport for the sake of a new one.
I’ve met Americans who both love and ‘get’ Monty Python, British Rock bands and classic British cars, which are changing hands for ridiculous sums, and there’s always James Bond and the SAS.
I meet Brits who like none of those things and think mobile phones are gadgets. I prefer Burger King to MacDonalds but wish BK did milk shakes. Chicken wings à la Buffalo are to die for as are American muscle cars.
Football’s only reason to exist is to try to beat Germany, Italy and Brazil. The Yanks don’t ‘get’ soccer and nor do millions of Brits, especially the sheer stupidity of Qatar.
I spent some time working with the US Forces in the Gulf. During that time I learned just how powerful UK culture was and ‘Python’ blazed the trail.
While chatting to our US colleagues one of the Brits remarked that he was being posted to ‘The Ministry’ on his return to the UK. ‘The Ministry?’ queried our USAF oppo…..yes, came the reply..The Ministry of Silly Walks…The Yanks were stunned because they all seemed to know their Monty Python and were delighted to know that it was a real place..It made me realise that we were all separated by a common sense of humour.
I spent some time working with the US Forces in the Gulf. During that time I learned just how powerful UK culture was and ‘Python’ blazed the trail.
While chatting to our US colleagues one of the Brits remarked that he was being posted to ‘The Ministry’ on his return to the UK. ‘The Ministry?’ queried our USAF oppo…..yes, came the reply..The Ministry of Silly Walks…The Yanks were stunned because they all seemed to know their Monty Python and were delighted to know that it was a real place..It made me realise that we were all separated by a common sense of humour.
It’s quite amusing, but I can’t help think that it’s mostly complaining about nothing. The fact is that Americans are on average almost twice as wealthy as Britons mainly as a result of reducing the cost of everything to as low as possible, and consequently there are large advantages for Britons in accessing the many things America has to offer. Nobody’s forced, so what’s the problem?
As an example, we gladly eat burgers, hot dogs, BBQ food and the many other forms of American cuisine, we love American TV, and we are avid consumers of American technology goods and services. We do not watch baseball or the wholly ludicrous game that American insist on calling football, we don’t buy American cars, and we find it odd and hilarious that Americans seem to revere the Royal Family itself while in any other conversation proudly asserting republican principles.
Just because the UK is an extremely junior partner in the global Anglosphere means nothing: we’re a small country which emphatically doesn’t actually want to be any bigger than we are, we are proud of the many quirks which Americans regard as eccentric at best, and we are smaller than other nations which have no cultural reach into the UK at all and we don’t care. The success of American culture in the UK is possible only because it’s so similar to our own in most important respects, and because we are free to demand it and do so.
So again I ask you, what’s the problem?
The destruction of one culture at the hands of another culture is inherently a bad thing from the perspective of an imperialist. I thought in 2022 we were all meant to see every culture as equal?
Who’s the imperialist?
I suspect R W might mean a generalised, composite late British Empire Imperialist such as Sir Alan Burns. There was a tendency to want to help run the colonies efficiently and fairly, reduce poverty, increase good government, end slavery etc, but leave the rest of the native culture and structures alone.
I suspect R W might mean a generalised, composite late British Empire Imperialist such as Sir Alan Burns. There was a tendency to want to help run the colonies efficiently and fairly, reduce poverty, increase good government, end slavery etc, but leave the rest of the native culture and structures alone.
So the Nazi culture was equal to British culture? I don’t think so.
Who’s the imperialist?
So the Nazi culture was equal to British culture? I don’t think so.
My problem is America exporting its political movements and narratives, just stop oil for example is one I live to give look up the CEF, main funding for many of these movements, coming from LA. That is being forced on us, they threw £500,000 at just stop oil uk and managed to muster a whole 26 activists one day, but managed to bring central London to a standstill, two people managed to bring the m25 to a stand still. I wouldn’t even be so angry but then on the website they like to brag about the press hits they have generated dispite their lack of on the ground support and Getty oil heiress no less is a prominent donor. This isn’t on, blm was also funded by American millionaires see Cadence owens the greatest lie ever sold. This is undermining genuine mass protest movements. It is aggressive funding as far as I can see aimed at nothing more than deliberately causing disruption and distraction, causing extreme polarisation.
My other problem is America gearing up to China, if it all goes down over Taiwan it will cause carnage to global shipping. Very bad. American corporations have got rich operating cheap from China, now they have the audacity to turn around and tell the rest of us, also reliant on China, to stop dealing with them.
Another problem I have is their interference in the brexit debate, saying we would be at the back of a queue for a trade deal, Iraq was based on lies, Afghanistan was disgraceful, our boys, our SAS, had to go out into that shit storm and try to get people back, they are the home of all the weird woke debate that’s exploded out of nowhere, their media and celebrities are increasingly insane, have you seen Britney these days? I’ve discovered one thing about myself posting on here, I’ve had enough America thank you. Think they should dial it down a bit, in my humble opinion.
The destruction of one culture at the hands of another culture is inherently a bad thing from the perspective of an imperialist. I thought in 2022 we were all meant to see every culture as equal?
My problem is America exporting its political movements and narratives, just stop oil for example is one I live to give look up the CEF, main funding for many of these movements, coming from LA. That is being forced on us, they threw £500,000 at just stop oil uk and managed to muster a whole 26 activists one day, but managed to bring central London to a standstill, two people managed to bring the m25 to a stand still. I wouldn’t even be so angry but then on the website they like to brag about the press hits they have generated dispite their lack of on the ground support and Getty oil heiress no less is a prominent donor. This isn’t on, blm was also funded by American millionaires see Cadence owens the greatest lie ever sold. This is undermining genuine mass protest movements. It is aggressive funding as far as I can see aimed at nothing more than deliberately causing disruption and distraction, causing extreme polarisation.
My other problem is America gearing up to China, if it all goes down over Taiwan it will cause carnage to global shipping. Very bad. American corporations have got rich operating cheap from China, now they have the audacity to turn around and tell the rest of us, also reliant on China, to stop dealing with them.
Another problem I have is their interference in the brexit debate, saying we would be at the back of a queue for a trade deal, Iraq was based on lies, Afghanistan was disgraceful, our boys, our SAS, had to go out into that shit storm and try to get people back, they are the home of all the weird woke debate that’s exploded out of nowhere, their media and celebrities are increasingly insane, have you seen Britney these days? I’ve discovered one thing about myself posting on here, I’ve had enough America thank you. Think they should dial it down a bit, in my humble opinion.
It’s quite amusing, but I can’t help think that it’s mostly complaining about nothing. The fact is that Americans are on average almost twice as wealthy as Britons mainly as a result of reducing the cost of everything to as low as possible, and consequently there are large advantages for Britons in accessing the many things America has to offer. Nobody’s forced, so what’s the problem?
As an example, we gladly eat burgers, hot dogs, BBQ food and the many other forms of American cuisine, we love American TV, and we are avid consumers of American technology goods and services. We do not watch baseball or the wholly ludicrous game that American insist on calling football, we don’t buy American cars, and we find it odd and hilarious that Americans seem to revere the Royal Family itself while in any other conversation proudly asserting republican principles.
Just because the UK is an extremely junior partner in the global Anglosphere means nothing: we’re a small country which emphatically doesn’t actually want to be any bigger than we are, we are proud of the many quirks which Americans regard as eccentric at best, and we are smaller than other nations which have no cultural reach into the UK at all and we don’t care. The success of American culture in the UK is possible only because it’s so similar to our own in most important respects, and because we are free to demand it and do so.
So again I ask you, what’s the problem?
It’s not really about the Americanisation of the UK but the infantilism occurring in America and creeping over here. A cowboy in a Louis Theroux documentary lamented the growing immaturity of the young in his own country (easy come, easy go). Brad Pitt’s movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, shows where this recidivism is going.
Europe and especially Britain is slow, careful and considerate, compared to the USA and its fast food, quickie divorces and rush to get nowhere in particular plus a language broken down into single words or abbreviations (fast minds as conspiracy theorists and jumping to mindless conclusions). This pursuit of youth is seen in botox, face lifts etc. Even in America you had an election choice between Biden and Trump or old age and impetuous youth. It is no wonder that the young are confused about their identity when they are dumping all sense of history.
It’s not really about the Americanisation of the UK but the infantilism occurring in America and creeping over here. A cowboy in a Louis Theroux documentary lamented the growing immaturity of the young in his own country (easy come, easy go). Brad Pitt’s movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, shows where this recidivism is going.
Europe and especially Britain is slow, careful and considerate, compared to the USA and its fast food, quickie divorces and rush to get nowhere in particular plus a language broken down into single words or abbreviations (fast minds as conspiracy theorists and jumping to mindless conclusions). This pursuit of youth is seen in botox, face lifts etc. Even in America you had an election choice between Biden and Trump or old age and impetuous youth. It is no wonder that the young are confused about their identity when they are dumping all sense of history.
Even on a jokey article about a match at the World Cup you can’t resist peddling your nonsense?
It’s quite cheering really – I think of this fellow as the eccentric one at Hyde Park Corner decades ago with a placard about proteins and hygienic living. Only this time with a US accent.
Is it nonsense? I’ve yet to see anyone actually try and debunk it. In any event, Carthago delenda est.
Yes, it is nonsense. Do some more reading.
Yes, it is nonsense. Do some more reading.
It’s quite cheering really – I think of this fellow as the eccentric one at Hyde Park Corner decades ago with a placard about proteins and hygienic living. Only this time with a US accent.
Is it nonsense? I’ve yet to see anyone actually try and debunk it. In any event, Carthago delenda est.
Even on a jokey article about a match at the World Cup you can’t resist peddling your nonsense?
I was in Florida a few years ago near Disney World and was much amused when I found that the local supermarket had a section labelled “Ethnic Food” featuring various English brands such as H.P Sauce and Cross & Blackwell vegetarian baked beans.
I had never thought of myself as “ethnic” for being born in England but perhaps I can now lay claim to one of those highly desirable “victim” categories.
I was in Florida a few years ago near Disney World and was much amused when I found that the local supermarket had a section labelled “Ethnic Food” featuring various English brands such as H.P Sauce and Cross & Blackwell vegetarian baked beans.
I had never thought of myself as “ethnic” for being born in England but perhaps I can now lay claim to one of those highly desirable “victim” categories.
The reason for the disparity between BBC coverage of American politics and of other nations’ politics is because the BBC refuses to employ people who speak foreign languages fluently and know those countries’ cultures preferring instead to employ white Oxbridge types. This is despite the huge number of bilingual people of dual heritage living in the UK.
The reason for the disparity between BBC coverage of American politics and of other nations’ politics is because the BBC refuses to employ people who speak foreign languages fluently and know those countries’ cultures preferring instead to employ white Oxbridge types. This is despite the huge number of bilingual people of dual heritage living in the UK.
Dominic – I’m afraid you are too late to worry about America. The world is now colonized by the algorithm overlords within TikTok.
Uhmmm. TikTok is Chinese.
Uhmmm. TikTok is Chinese.
Dominic – I’m afraid you are too late to worry about America. The world is now colonized by the algorithm overlords within TikTok.
Lovely article. It is interesting that most of the US could really care less about the World Cup. And compared to our other sports, we don’t throw a lot of money at it.
Almost makes me feel guilty that we tied England today without really trying.
Almost 😉
Go ahead and shake yourself of the US. I think you’d be wise to. We have plenty of other problems. Besides, America is headed towards a Hispanic majority. Very soon European ancestry will be a distant memory. And the UK? The land of Shakespeare will soon be quoting the Koran more than the Bard.
Lovely article. It is interesting that most of the US could really care less about the World Cup. And compared to our other sports, we don’t throw a lot of money at it.
Almost makes me feel guilty that we tied England today without really trying.
Almost 😉
Go ahead and shake yourself of the US. I think you’d be wise to. We have plenty of other problems. Besides, America is headed towards a Hispanic majority. Very soon European ancestry will be a distant memory. And the UK? The land of Shakespeare will soon be quoting the Koran more than the Bard.
The most truly evil characters in Hollywood films are British, Russian, or German in that order.
The most truly evil characters in Hollywood films are British, Russian, or German in that order.
The postwar cargo cult that makes so many divvy Brits (unwittingly?) wannabe Yanks is beyond sad. Mind you, their own country isnt too interested in averting this. As to the fascination with the place among the elite BBC sorts…I suspect coastal metropolitan multicult Dem-voting America represents peak liberal Modernity for them to aspire to and root for against the evil forces of conservatism. The common language is akin to the chain on a road gang. But as Benjamin Franklin said “Everyone has two countries – their own, and Lizzo’s enormous behind”.
The postwar cargo cult that makes so many divvy Brits (unwittingly?) wannabe Yanks is beyond sad. Mind you, their own country isnt too interested in averting this. As to the fascination with the place among the elite BBC sorts…I suspect coastal metropolitan multicult Dem-voting America represents peak liberal Modernity for them to aspire to and root for against the evil forces of conservatism. The common language is akin to the chain on a road gang. But as Benjamin Franklin said “Everyone has two countries – their own, and Lizzo’s enormous behind”.
I listen to the BBC exclusively in the car, and I love it for its refreshing un-American point of view, not to mention the absence of obnoxious and repetitive advertising. But I have noticed that the Beeb’s reporters use the same buzzwords and catch-phrases that we Yanks use. And more’s the pity. Are you doomed to become indistinguishable from us?
So much has changed over the four centuries since the sainted Pilgrims raised a middle finger to the excesses of Jacobin England. But then, change was ever afoot. As vulgar as our speech seems now, methinks Athelstan would have scowled at the language of Chaucer. Per Wikipedia — another verdammte American innovation that now bestrides the internet like a colossus — Ralph Waldo Emerson “was named after his mother’s brother Ralph and his father’s great-grandmother Rebecca Waldo.” Who knew that Waldo could even be a family name? And how many knew, even then, its descent from the much more impressive Anglo-Scandinavian Hvaltheofr [See: Walthew in the Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames by Reaney and Wilson]. Not old Hvaltheofr’s fault that an always-lost, large-spectacled, skinny, beanie-sporting cartoon character makes sure that the once-impressive name is a symbol of nerdy clownishness. A Spanish variant, Uvalde, now carries a far-less-comical connotation.
Bur I digress. Who is to say that things would have turned out much differently had the American colonies never broken away from Westminster and the royals? The sheer size of the north American continent — never mind its resources, natural waterways and harbors, safe distance from both Europe and Asia, etc. — practically guaranteed the divorce.
As to what we Yanks have become in the last four centuries or so, and as to our culture in particular, no explanation of it would be complete without a nod to the fact that, like America itself, there is so much of it: hundreds of millions of Americans, most of them equipped with a handheld portal to a worldwide audience. Like other American public utilities, American mass communications were democratized from the start, were given a huge boost by the development of radio and TV, and continue to be be democratized by the internet. And American corporation and the US military do bestride the globe. All of that together practically guaranteed that American culture would spew out beyond these shores and cover the rest of the world — including Britain — with its vulgar, omnipresent excess. The law of averages assures that the cultural output of America will be average at best. And it also assures that most of its consumers will like it better that way. That may explain why it seems to be that many Brits don’t notice their own Americanization. The world is not like Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon: by definition, all of the children can’t be above average.
It was fortune, as much as anything else, that gave the world its present lingua franca, the language that was born in Britain. And the future is in our hands: the world need not become just one big tacky strip mall dominated by American chain stores, blaring American pop music and strewn with greasy plastic trash while implicitly extolling the virtues of Americanness. The US has money and military might. But you, our British cousins, have The World’s Radio Station.
Seriously, we need to ban online fraternization. We used to be divided by our common language, but now English is turning into a common mush. Every time I go to write, for instance “the BBC is …” a little voice my head whispers “the BBC are …” And I swear, American English is starting to lose the subjunctive, the last thing I want. Ban online fraternization, for the sake of our common language?
Seriously, we need to ban online fraternization. We used to be divided by our common language, but now English is turning into a common mush. Every time I go to write, for instance “the BBC is …” a little voice my head whispers “the BBC are …” And I swear, American English is starting to lose the subjunctive, the last thing I want. Ban online fraternization, for the sake of our common language?
I listen to the BBC exclusively in the car, and I love it for its refreshing un-American point of view, not to mention the absence of obnoxious and repetitive advertising. But I have noticed that the Beeb’s reporters use the same buzzwords and catch-phrases that we Yanks use. And more’s the pity. Are you doomed to become indistinguishable from us?
So much has changed over the four centuries since the sainted Pilgrims raised a middle finger to the excesses of Jacobin England. But then, change was ever afoot. As vulgar as our speech seems now, methinks Athelstan would have scowled at the language of Chaucer. Per Wikipedia — another verdammte American innovation that now bestrides the internet like a colossus — Ralph Waldo Emerson “was named after his mother’s brother Ralph and his father’s great-grandmother Rebecca Waldo.” Who knew that Waldo could even be a family name? And how many knew, even then, its descent from the much more impressive Anglo-Scandinavian Hvaltheofr [See: Walthew in the Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames by Reaney and Wilson]. Not old Hvaltheofr’s fault that an always-lost, large-spectacled, skinny, beanie-sporting cartoon character makes sure that the once-impressive name is a symbol of nerdy clownishness. A Spanish variant, Uvalde, now carries a far-less-comical connotation.
Bur I digress. Who is to say that things would have turned out much differently had the American colonies never broken away from Westminster and the royals? The sheer size of the north American continent — never mind its resources, natural waterways and harbors, safe distance from both Europe and Asia, etc. — practically guaranteed the divorce.
As to what we Yanks have become in the last four centuries or so, and as to our culture in particular, no explanation of it would be complete without a nod to the fact that, like America itself, there is so much of it: hundreds of millions of Americans, most of them equipped with a handheld portal to a worldwide audience. Like other American public utilities, American mass communications were democratized from the start, were given a huge boost by the development of radio and TV, and continue to be be democratized by the internet. And American corporation and the US military do bestride the globe. All of that together practically guaranteed that American culture would spew out beyond these shores and cover the rest of the world — including Britain — with its vulgar, omnipresent excess. The law of averages assures that the cultural output of America will be average at best. And it also assures that most of its consumers will like it better that way. That may explain why it seems to be that many Brits don’t notice their own Americanization. The world is not like Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon: by definition, all of the children can’t be above average.
It was fortune, as much as anything else, that gave the world its present lingua franca, the language that was born in Britain. And the future is in our hands: the world need not become just one big tacky strip mall dominated by American chain stores, blaring American pop music and strewn with greasy plastic trash while implicitly extolling the virtues of Americanness. The US has money and military might. But you, our British cousins, have The World’s Radio Station.
On Thomas Fazi, why is America provoking China and the article how America can save Taiwan threads, please, go look, I won’t repeat myself again but literally spent way too much of my life making the case for this on here last few weeks. I think we really need to start seeing this is where the money is coming from guys that’s pushing the stuff we don’t like! America are have become a dangerous influence. Even use the phrase American overlords and point out to our American friends they were late for ww2…..
We better give them a kicking in the football, the country would have to commit suicide if we lost to America, it would be the only bearable option. I expect russia would happily do the honours at the moment!
On Thomas Fazi, why is America provoking China and the article how America can save Taiwan threads, please, go look, I won’t repeat myself again but literally spent way too much of my life making the case for this on here last few weeks. I think we really need to start seeing this is where the money is coming from guys that’s pushing the stuff we don’t like! America are have become a dangerous influence. Even use the phrase American overlords and point out to our American friends they were late for ww2…..
We better give them a kicking in the football, the country would have to commit suicide if we lost to America, it would be the only bearable option. I expect russia would happily do the honours at the moment!
…
Hispanic culture dominates.
No matter what the subject you seem to always come around to the same point.
The United States has been acting in a way that is hostile to the interests of Western countries since 1917 and not out of any sense of moral duty but out of pure self interest
Long before 2017. The rot started with reneging on the promise made to Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastwards, and look where that’s got us.
You have highlighted my error. I meant 1917 and have no corrected it.
It takes unanimous consent for a new nation to join NATO, so Britain voted for all those new countries joining NATO as well. That’s one that can’t be put on the US as if we were the only country running it.
You have highlighted my error. I meant 1917 and have no corrected it.
It takes unanimous consent for a new nation to join NATO, so Britain voted for all those new countries joining NATO as well. That’s one that can’t be put on the US as if we were the only country running it.
Long before 2017. The rot started with reneging on the promise made to Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastwards, and look where that’s got us.
Acknowledging indigenous influence and self-destructive factions, I don’t think it’s accurate to label Mexicans or Mexican-Americans–by far the majority of California Hispanics–as somehow ‘non-Western’. The prevailing Catholicism and European first-language fluency throughout Latin America and among Latino immigrants and their descendants (in Spanish, Portuguese, or English) places them decidedly in both the geographic and cultural West. Unless “Western” is a euphemism for whiter-than-thou.
Hispanic culture dominates.
No matter what the subject you seem to always come around to the same point.
The United States has been acting in a way that is hostile to the interests of Western countries since 1917 and not out of any sense of moral duty but out of pure self interest
Acknowledging indigenous influence and self-destructive factions, I don’t think it’s accurate to label Mexicans or Mexican-Americans–by far the majority of California Hispanics–as somehow ‘non-Western’. The prevailing Catholicism and European first-language fluency throughout Latin America and among Latino immigrants and their descendants (in Spanish, Portuguese, or English) places them decidedly in both the geographic and cultural West. Unless “Western” is a euphemism for whiter-than-thou.
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As a Brit I’d sooner be American than European.
As a Brit I’d sooner be American than European.
Thing is, you Brits have been oppressed by imperial overlords since whenever. Whatabout the Danes viking around Saxon England in The Last Kingdom? Whatabout the Frenchie William invading in 1066? Whatbout the racist-sexist-homophobe Queen Isabella invading England with her boy-friend to dispatch her gay husband Edward II? Whatabout Eleanor of Aquitaine becoming the wife of Henry II? Whatabout the Dutch William of Orange invading Devon in 1688? Whatabout the German Hanoverians that took over in the 18th century?
The Yanks are just the latest in a long Trail of Tears.
Thing is, you Brits have been oppressed by imperial overlords since whenever. Whatabout the Danes viking around Saxon England in The Last Kingdom? Whatabout the Frenchie William invading in 1066? Whatbout the racist-sexist-homophobe Queen Isabella invading England with her boy-friend to dispatch her gay husband Edward II? Whatabout Eleanor of Aquitaine becoming the wife of Henry II? Whatabout the Dutch William of Orange invading Devon in 1688? Whatabout the German Hanoverians that took over in the 18th century?
The Yanks are just the latest in a long Trail of Tears.
I might have thought that, at least as of a few years ago, the entire Anglosphere might worry about being Sinofied. But is the entire Anglosphere not now being absorbed by out own self-anointed caste of woke patricians?
I might have thought that, at least as of a few years ago, the entire Anglosphere might worry about being Sinofied. But is the entire Anglosphere not now being absorbed by out own self-anointed caste of woke patricians?
As a Canadian, standing firmly athwart the great divide that unites the Anglosphere (well, we did, until some drama teacher with “good hair” took the reins of the country; but I digress) I love this essay, which I assume was written with the tongue at least creeping into the cheek (Ewww).
From our northern vantage point, there’s plenty to irritate on either side of the Big Pond – and plenty to admire and treasure.
But while I’m here: my Brit-brothers and sisters, you can at least thank the Yanks for preserving the H’s, R’s and T’s that the mother country has dropped from our glorious language. (For some fun, ask an English person to say “That’s a lot of hot water bottles”).
As a Canadian, standing firmly athwart the great divide that unites the Anglosphere (well, we did, until some drama teacher with “good hair” took the reins of the country; but I digress) I love this essay, which I assume was written with the tongue at least creeping into the cheek (Ewww).
From our northern vantage point, there’s plenty to irritate on either side of the Big Pond – and plenty to admire and treasure.
But while I’m here: my Brit-brothers and sisters, you can at least thank the Yanks for preserving the H’s, R’s and T’s that the mother country has dropped from our glorious language. (For some fun, ask an English person to say “That’s a lot of hot water bottles”).
“Who decided that schoolchildren in Leamington Spa should care about Rosa Parks? Why did thousands of people take to the streets in Britain about the killing of a single black man in Minneapolis, when barely a handful bother to protest the sack of Mariupol or the incarceration of the Uyghurs? And why on earth, when a couple of half-crazed American academics announce that we must cancel the term Anglo-Saxon to describe Alfred the Great and Athelstan because it’s a racist “dog whistle” for “white, Western superiority”, do so many British historians fall limply into line?”
So … why haven’t we any leaders with the moral courage and political determination to call out this madness, address it and turn us around from such profound copy-cat politics in the UK?
“Who decided that schoolchildren in Leamington Spa should care about Rosa Parks? Why did thousands of people take to the streets in Britain about the killing of a single black man in Minneapolis, when barely a handful bother to protest the sack of Mariupol or the incarceration of the Uyghurs? And why on earth, when a couple of half-crazed American academics announce that we must cancel the term Anglo-Saxon to describe Alfred the Great and Athelstan because it’s a racist “dog whistle” for “white, Western superiority”, do so many British historians fall limply into line?”
So … why haven’t we any leaders with the moral courage and political determination to call out this madness, address it and turn us around from such profound copy-cat politics in the UK?
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I live in California and totally disagree with your claim that most here reject Western culture. Perhaps you can define Western culture, which you imply is only held dear enough–or at least not “rejected’–by white American with conservative or traditionalist leanings.
Not sure if you’re the blogger-of-record, M.M., but this assertion at your info link strikes me as xenophobic (at a minimum) and hyperbolic: “He [Biden] wants to put European-Americans at the mercy of people who reject Western culture and who, consequently, destroyed the societies in their own native lands before fleeing to the United States.”
Wow. That’s more like a straight-up rhetorical meltdown than research, analysis, or balanced argument.
I live in California and totally disagree with your claim that most here reject Western culture. Perhaps you can define Western culture, which you imply is only held dear enough–or at least not “rejected’–by white American with conservative or traditionalist leanings.
Not sure if you’re the blogger-of-record, M.M., but this assertion at your info link strikes me as xenophobic (at a minimum) and hyperbolic: “He [Biden] wants to put European-Americans at the mercy of people who reject Western culture and who, consequently, destroyed the societies in their own native lands before fleeing to the United States.”
Wow. That’s more like a straight-up rhetorical meltdown than research, analysis, or balanced argument.
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So Britain is not really being Americanized, eh?
I hear people on this thread saying this piece is entirely unserious?
(Thanks in advance for remedying my cloth ears, gentles.)
Such a charmingly British article. Sometimes Americans don’t understand British wit. I’m American and it took me a while to understand it and now I appreciate it. Big fan of British tv.
Such a charmingly British article. Sometimes Americans don’t understand British wit. I’m American and it took me a while to understand it and now I appreciate it. Big fan of British tv.
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All you do is re-locate your pre-fabricated post anytime there’s a response. A tired and ineffective move.
Dominic Sandbrook wrote, “So what would Athelstan, the first king of all England, say? I think we all know the answer to that. He’d say: ‘Lads, it’s time to decolonise ourselves [from the United States].'”
By 2040, the United States will cease being a Western nation, due to open borders. By 2040, most Americans will reject Western culture, and Hispanic culture will dominate. In California, 40% of the residents are currently Hispanic. Most residents of the state already reject Western culture, and Hispanic culture dominates.
The British fate will become the American fate if politicians like Rishi Sunak continue to become prime minster. He intends to open the British border to Indian citizens. They will change the United Kingdom (UK) into a non-Western nation.
The Tories must remove Sunak from the prime ministership, and the next prime minister must distance the UK from the United States. A non-Western United States will act in a way that is hostile to the interests of Western countries.
Get more info about this issue.
As usual on this site, an interesting essay followed by a dreary screed of right-wing group-think.
Yes, Britain has unquestioningly imported “woke”, but it has equally unquestioningly imported its ‘frenemy’, Trumpist nationalism. The two go hand in hand; for every repetition of US-derived ‘Progressive’ language around gender and race, there is invariably an equal and opposite repetition of the ranting language of ‘anti-woke’. The language of Brexit abounds with all the talk-show-style posturing about ‘elites’ and ‘cultural marxism’ and evil liberal plots, with a very American type of flag-humping nationalism.
Nearly everybody in the world will speak US English, with a US accent, within twenty years.
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Anyone who wants reliable “info” about this issue should go elsewhere–I’ve checked. That’s your cue to cut and paste this nonsense once more, M.M.
Happy Holidays.
Hispanics are largely Roman Catholic. How can they be an anti-Western vector?
Anyone who wants reliable “info” about this issue should go elsewhere–I’ve checked. That’s your cue to cut and paste this nonsense once more, M.M.
Happy Holidays.
Hispanics are largely Roman Catholic. How can they be an anti-Western vector?
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Jeez, I loved reading that, Dom. I especially liked the fact that a Yank wouldn’t have been able to understand it.
Jeez, I loved reading that, Dom. I especially liked the fact that a Yank wouldn’t have been able to understand it.
American culture is World culture. American culture and government are the logical culmination of British culture, as British culture is the culmimation of European (Western) culture. The republican virtues which formed America were British virtues. Most Americans dont realize that Led Zeppelin or the Stones or Ozzy are British bands, or even really that Britain is a separate country. The elected governments are not the real governments. The world economic elite imperialist oligarchy, working primarily through British or Israeli cabals, took over the US State Department during WW1, and the US Executive branch after WW2. They’ve been working against Americas progress and the concepts of equality and national sovereignty from the beginning. The “woke” spirit, fake viruses and stolen elections now infecting the world are NOT from an American source, but is entirely a plot of the Cabal, which is primarily run through the City of London/MI6/CIA/Mossad, and operating through organs of BIS, WEF, WHO, offshore and central banks. Theyve spent the last 70 years methodically extorting and xooptingAmtericans are just as shocked and dismayed by this strange invasion as anyone, as it disenfrachises all of us
Retreat from the weird corners of the Internet you’ve been living in. Organisations like Mossad, do what the f*** they like, the world is a very big place, with people throwing money and weapons around everywhere, you are looking at things far to simplistically. I love a conspiracy as much as the next person, but you are stating a theory as fact, with no evidence what so ever. There is nothing logical about what America has managed to culminate in. I am shrivelling up at the thought of America being the culmination of British culture. Britain is the culmination of British culture, you can’t have that too! Haven’t you got enough?
I suspect you are not far from the target. Keep bombing
What historic idiocy states that Israeli cabals had influence in WW1? Israel came into being in 1948!
No, this obvious antiSemite invoking Israel and Mossad participating in world domination with not a shred of evidence poses as an informed and indignant conservative, while blandishing bigotry, whereas this writer as a libertarian conservative rejects the falsities and prejudice displayed
Retreat from the weird corners of the Internet you’ve been living in. Organisations like Mossad, do what the f*** they like, the world is a very big place, with people throwing money and weapons around everywhere, you are looking at things far to simplistically. I love a conspiracy as much as the next person, but you are stating a theory as fact, with no evidence what so ever. There is nothing logical about what America has managed to culminate in. I am shrivelling up at the thought of America being the culmination of British culture. Britain is the culmination of British culture, you can’t have that too! Haven’t you got enough?
I suspect you are not far from the target. Keep bombing
What historic idiocy states that Israeli cabals had influence in WW1? Israel came into being in 1948!
No, this obvious antiSemite invoking Israel and Mossad participating in world domination with not a shred of evidence poses as an informed and indignant conservative, while blandishing bigotry, whereas this writer as a libertarian conservative rejects the falsities and prejudice displayed
American culture is World culture. American culture and government are the logical culmination of British culture, as British culture is the culmimation of European (Western) culture. The republican virtues which formed America were British virtues. Most Americans dont realize that Led Zeppelin or the Stones or Ozzy are British bands, or even really that Britain is a separate country. The elected governments are not the real governments. The world economic elite imperialist oligarchy, working primarily through British or Israeli cabals, took over the US State Department during WW1, and the US Executive branch after WW2. They’ve been working against Americas progress and the concepts of equality and national sovereignty from the beginning. The “woke” spirit, fake viruses and stolen elections now infecting the world are NOT from an American source, but is entirely a plot of the Cabal, which is primarily run through the City of London/MI6/CIA/Mossad, and operating through organs of BIS, WEF, WHO, offshore and central banks. Theyve spent the last 70 years methodically extorting and xooptingAmtericans are just as shocked and dismayed by this strange invasion as anyone, as it disenfrachises all of us