There's nothing wrong with Americanisms: it's management-speak that is the enemy of English – Telegraph Blogs Thursday 24 January 2013 | Blog Feed | All feeds Website of the Telegraph Media Group with breaking news, sport, business, latest UK and world news. Content from the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and video from Telegraph TV. Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Film Music Art Books TV and Radio Theatre Dance Opera Photography Hay Festival Video In the Know Blogs Home » Culture » History » Allan Massie Allan Massie Allan Massie is a Scottish writer who has published nearly 30 books, including a sequence of novels set in ancient Rome. His non-fiction works range from a study of Byron's travels to a celebration of Scottish rugby. He has been a political columnist for The Scotsman, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph and writes a literary column for The Spectator. There's nothing wrong with Americanisms: it's management-speak that is the enemy of English By Allan Massie Literature Last updated: May 29th, 2012 Comment on this Comment on this article Cupcakes? Or fairy-cakes? Who cares? A study of children’s writing by the Oxford University Press suggests that our language is being Americanised . Of course English as spoken here and as spoken in the USA have always played off each other – understandably – and the influence of American films and, in the case of children and adolescents, American comics has been noticed for a long time. Orwell was writing about it in the 1930s. Sometimes of course what is regarded – with disapproval? – as American usage turns out to be something once usual in English as spoken or written here. One example is the American habit of saying “I guess” where we might say “I think”. To anyone who objects to this, you should quote Chaucer, who used “I guess” in the American style. The examples of Americanisation culled by the researchers from OUP look pretty thin. Children apparently now write about cupcakes rather than fairy-cakes. Well, apart from the fact that cupcakes (or cup-cakes, as Chambers English Dictionary has it) are nothing new, I don’t think they are the same as fairy-cakes, which, as I remember, are little sponge-cakes which have a butter-cream topping with a slice of sponge inserted in it at an angle. If children write about a “tuxedo” rather than a “dinner jacket” (and presumably think of a DJ as a disc-jockey rather than a garment), one may concede that this is an example of an American usage replacing a British one, and the only surprise is that they should be writing about the article of clothing in the first place. Actually I think some of us would reserve the word “tuxedo” – more commonly “tux” – for a white dinner jacket. It comes incidentally from “a fashionable club at Tuxedo Park in New York". Again one may concede that writing “sidewalk” rather than “pavement” represents the adoption of an American usage – though surely an unobjectionable one – but some of the other examples they give are not really American at all. A “garbage truck” may be an American term, but “garbage” as an alternative to “rubbish” or “refuse” is not exclusively American, any more than “truck” for “lorry” is, even if more common in the States. Chambers English Dictionary is a good guide, because Chambers has always taken an interest in American English. The 1872 edition included an eight-page appendix of Americanisms, printed in small type, three columns to the page. Nowadays it notes “U.S.” or “esp. U.S.”, if a word is more commonly found in American rather than English usage. However, quite often you find “dial.” – that is, dialect – “and U.S.”. This suggests that a word found in some British dialect has been carried across the Atlantic and become standard usage there. This is the case with “snuck”, used as the past tense of “sneak”, and cited by the OUP researchers as an example of American infiltration. It would be equally true to say the word has been repatriated. Two other examples they offer as “smart” in the sense of “clever” and “cranky” meaning “irritable”. I should have thought that “smart” has always been used in this sense here, as in “smarty”, “smart-alec” and “smarty-pants”, while Chambers offers “cross” as one of the meanings of “cranky”. Be that as it may, there is nothing that should worry us about this sort of American infiltration of the language. Not only is a colloquial Americanism likely to be lively, useful and agreeable; it is often an English word or expression that has fallen out of use here and is now restored to us. The American language we really should guard against is the management-speak promoted by business schools to baffle outsiders. Unfortunately this has been seized on so enthusiastically by bankers, businessmen and bureaucrats here that we don’t question its origins. Colloquial American is splendidly alive; management-speak is an abomination, an offence against the first purpose of language, which is to communicate meaning. Tags: americanisms , chambers english dictionary , English , language Recent Posts Don't worry, Dan Brown sceptics: his codes, symbols and conspiracies will be forgotten in a few years January 17th, 2013 9:19 Comment on this About time we lost the law against insult: we'd have had to lock up Dr Johnson and Groucho Marx, otherwise January 16th, 2013 11:00 Comment on this Everyone enjoys a really savage review (except the subject). But there are certain rules to be observed January 11th, 2013 7:28 Comment on this It's worth teaching imperial measures in school, not least to remind children of the old ways January 10th, 2013 14:10 Comment on this Enoch Powell was no fascist. But it's not ridiculous for an author to imagine him in a pro-Nazi government January 7th, 2013 11:41 Comment on this Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Culture bloggers Lucy Jones Stephen Hough Allan Massie Adams James Rhodes Xanthe Clay Stephen Bayley Damian Thompson Harry Mount Michael White Neil McCormick James MacMillan Guy Stagg Culture categories Architecture Art Design Fashion Film Food and Drink History Lifestyle Literature Music Photography Political cartoon Radio Society Sport Theatre TV Culture Tags Barack Obama BBC BBC Proms Beatles Beethoven bob dylan Bono Chopin christianity Christmas David Bowie David Cameron Ed Miliband electronica ENO Film gordon brown Kate Middleton Lady GaGa Liszt literature london Michael Jackson Music Nick Clegg Olympics Oxford Paul McCartney photo competition Photography photojournalism Pope Benedict XVI Prince William Rachmaninov radiohead Royal wedding science Simon Cowell Steven isserlis Tchaikovsky the queen Tony Blair twitter U2 X Factor ON THE CULTURE BLOG A chic way to get cheque-books open for new music The tower block was a disastrous low point in British urban life Most of the strokes winners, none of them good enough It's true – rich people are thinner Do we treat 'faith' as a dirty word when it comes to music and the arts? Archives Select Month January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 May 2006 Culture Topics X-Factor BBC Proms Bafta Awards Oscars Back to top HOME News World News Obituaries Travel Health Jobs Sport Football Cricket Fantasy Football Culture Motoring Dating Finance Personal Finance Economics Markets Fashion Property Crossword Comment Blogs My Telegraph Letters Technology Gardening Telegraph Journalists Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Tickets Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast The death of the bath: another casualty of the pace of modern life – Telegraph Blogs Thursday 24 January 2013 | Blog Feed | All feeds Website of the Telegraph Media Group with breaking news, sport, business, latest UK and world news. Content from the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and video from Telegraph TV. Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Film Music Art Books TV and Radio Theatre Dance Opera Photography Hay Festival Video In the Know Blogs Home » Culture » Harry Mount Harry Mount Harry Mount's latest book is How England Made the English: From Hedgerows to Heathrow . He is also the author of Amo, Amas, Amat and All That: How to Become a Latin Lover and A Lust for Windowsills - a Guide to British Buildings from Portcullis to Pebbledash . A former leader writer for the Telegraph, he writes about politics, buildings and language for lots of British and American newspapers and magazines. The death of the bath: another casualty of the pace of modern life By Harry Mount Last updated: July 12th, 2010 Comment on this Comment on this article Reports of the end of the bath  mark a significant change in the way the British live. The average number of baths per person has gone down from nine a month, a decade ago, to five this year. Developers are increasingly squeezing showers into tiny spaces into new flats and houses. And people modernising their homes are ripping out baths to produce acres of new tiled flooring to pad around in. I sense an American influence here. When I lived in New York, four years ago, new apartments were being built that not only didn't have baths; they didn't even have kitchens - their young owners ate out for every meal. For a long time now, Americans have been amazed at the concept of a bath without a shower attached – why wallow around in your own dirt, they ask. Well, actually, most of the dirt ends up in the bath. And, in any case, a long contemplative bath is one of life's great pleasures. It's not just Archimedes who thought up extraordinary ideas in the bath. There's something about lying in hot water, staring into space, that somehow seems more worthwhile than hanging around doing nothing outside a bath. And it is then, with your body relaxed, and your mind free from guilt at its complete leisure, that inspiration arrives; well, sometimes it arrives. And, if it doesn't, a book or a newspaper in the bath brings a new heightened pleasure to reading. As well as being a casualty of property developers, the bath is also a casualty of the quickened pace of modern life; of people feeling the need to do something useful the whole time. Or, if they're not doing something useful, they feel they should at least be texting someone; and people are understandably nervous about dropping their mobiles in the bath. As the last bathwater dribbles down the plughole, a lot of great ideas and thoughts will disappear with it, too. Tags: Archimedes , death of the bath Recent Posts The tower block was a disastrous low point in British urban life January 24th, 2013 9:58 Comment on this It's true – rich people are thinner January 23rd, 2013 10:41 Comment on this David Attenborough is wrong – the human race has never been so successful or healthy January 22nd, 2013 9:21 Comment on this The Pope's right – Latin is the perfect language for Twitter January 21st, 2013 15:33 Comment on this Trog, Britain's greatest living cartoonist January 8th, 2013 10:45 Comment on this Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Culture bloggers Lucy Jones Stephen Hough Allan Massie Adams James Rhodes Xanthe Clay Stephen Bayley Damian Thompson Harry Mount Michael White Neil McCormick James MacMillan Guy Stagg Culture categories Architecture Art Design Fashion Film Food and Drink History Lifestyle Literature Music Photography Political cartoon Radio Society Sport Theatre TV Culture Tags Barack Obama BBC BBC Proms Beatles Beethoven bob dylan Bono Chopin christianity Christmas David Bowie David Cameron Ed Miliband electronica ENO Film gordon brown Kate Middleton Lady GaGa Liszt literature london Michael Jackson Music Nick Clegg Olympics Oxford Paul McCartney photo competition Photography photojournalism Pope Benedict XVI Prince William Rachmaninov radiohead Royal wedding science Simon Cowell Steven isserlis Tchaikovsky the queen Tony Blair twitter U2 X Factor ON THE CULTURE BLOG A chic way to get cheque-books open for new music The tower block was a disastrous low point in British urban life Most of the strokes winners, none of them good enough It's true – rich people are thinner Do we treat 'faith' as a dirty word when it comes to music and the arts? Archives Select Month January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 May 2006 Culture Topics X-Factor BBC Proms Bafta Awards Oscars Back to top HOME News World News Obituaries Travel Health Jobs Sport Football Cricket Fantasy Football Culture Motoring Dating Finance Personal Finance Economics Markets Fashion Property Crossword Comment Blogs My Telegraph Letters Technology Gardening Telegraph Journalists Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Tickets Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast Is the Internet Americanising (or Americanizing) British English? – Telegraph Blogs Thursday 24 January 2013 | Blog Feed | All feeds Website of the Telegraph Media Group with breaking news, sport, business, latest UK and world news. Content from the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and video from Telegraph TV. Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Politics Obits Education Earth Science Defence Health Scotland Royal Celebrities Weird Blogs Home » News » Politics » Daniel Hannan Daniel Hannan Daniel Hannan is a writer and journalist, and has been Conservative MEP for South East England since 1999. He speaks French and Spanish and loves Europe, but believes that the European Union is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free. Is the Internet Americanising (or Americanizing) British English? By Daniel Hannan Politics Last updated: March 13th, 2011 Comment on this Comment on this article Divided by a common language? Not for much longer... The Internet – much to the consternation of Euro-integrationists – is drawing the English-speaking peoples into a common conversation. And a good thing, too: it was always fatuous to pretend that geographical proximity was more important than history or sentiment, blood or speech. Where the EU is united by government decree, the Anglosphere is united by organic ties, by language and law, by shared habits of thought. Here, though, is a question, posed to mark the centenary of the Commonwealth. Is the common online dialogue also leading to a more direct harmonization of the English language? This blog, in a typical week, attracts 80,000 readers from the UK, 30,000 from the US and 10,000 from elsewhere, mainly from other Anglosphere nations: a proportion that is fairly representative of British websites. In consequence, British bloggers and readers are far more familiar with the American Weltanschauung . But are we also starting to write like Americans? Is the combination of the Internet and US-designed spell-check programmes (or programs) hastening the Americanization of British English? We all have our personal bêtes noires . Damian Thompson, the Blogs Editor, deplores the increasingly common use of double spacing . Others rage at the use of upper case letters after colons. My own particular bugbear is the employment of American sporting metaphors (“stepping up to the plate”, “getting to first base” etc). I mean, we invented practically every team game on Earth: it seems perverse in the extreme to plunder the vocabulary of one of the very few we don’t play. Then again, there is quite a lot of evidence that baseball was, in fact, invented in England: it’s mentioned in one of Jane Austen’s novels, for example. Which only goes to show how difficult it is to disentangle our idioms, to identify an expression that has genuinely evolved in North America without roots in the mother country. Take “I guess”, in the American sense of “I suppose”. One occasionally hears the phrase used that way in Britain, but always with the aura of a foreign import, like “sure”, to mean “yes”. But here’s the thing: go back to Chaucer, and you will find “I gesse” used exactly as the cousins now use it. You will, likewise, still hear “gotten” in parts of Lancashire and even, in some Dorset and Somerset villages, “fall” to mean autumn. Now “fall”, on any measure, is far prettier than “autumn”. It is descriptive and, like the names of the other three seasons, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin. I should be very happy to see it return and displace the French interloper. By the same token, but the other way around, “lift” is far prettier than “elevator”. If the Internet means a more efficient market in vocabulary, we should expect the more useful, more expressive and more attractive phrases to spread. I mean “attractive” here in the literal sense of attracting people. In recent years, for example, I have noticed some Americans taking up that undeniably expressive, but hardly pretty, British epithet “wanker”. There is nothing new in this process. In his 1908 magnum opus , H W Fowler inveighs against such American imports as “placate”, “transpire”, “honey-coloured”, “antagonize”, “just how much” and “do you have?” (instead of “have you got?”) Hardly anyone these days thinks of these phrases as Americanisms. Yet “sidewalk”, “back of” (for behind) and “excuse me?” (if you haven’t heard someone) have failed to penetrate at all. “Mad” still means insane rather than angry, “smart” means well turned-out rather than clever, "pissed" means drunk rather than cross, and “suspenders” hold up a woman’s stockings rather than a man’s trousers. Nor has there been much approximation of pronunciation. A major survey by the British Library lists a lengthy series of words that almost everyone in the British Isles pronounces differently from Americans: advertisement, buoy, era, glacier, nuclear, research, schedule, vase, Z and so on. What we’re seeing, I think, is what we see everywhere as a result of the web: a more perfect market, in which innovation spreads more swiftly, and memes travel further. Let me finish on a positive note. In my own lifetime, there has been a comprehensive shift in Britain towards “ise” instead of “ize” in such words as, well, Americanize. You can see why it has happened: using both forms means having to remember which words can only be written with “ise”; but using “ise” is never wrong. None the less, it can be clumsy, and the OED has always preferred to maintain the distinction. The movement towards “ise” seems now to have reached its limit and, under the influence of American software, we are starting to return to the form that our grandparents regarded as correct. If we can do so with language, why not with politics? Let’s bring back elected sheriffs, local control of welfare, proper parliamentary control of the executive and the rest of the Direct Democracy agenda . It’s not Americanization; it’s repatriation. Tags: Americanisms , Anglosphere , British Library , dialect , English language , internet Recent Posts David Cameron has given the most Eurosceptic speech ever by a British prime minister January 23rd, 2013 11:21 Comment on this Here are a couple of brisk and efficient charities that don't engage in lobbying January 22nd, 2013 10:32 Comment on this An EU-US free trade deal is a good idea, though it strengthens the case for British withdrawal January 21st, 2013 17:25 Comment on this Labour's inexplicable support for the unprogressive, undemocratic, elitist EU January 18th, 2013 15:45 Comment on this Guy Verhofstadt unintentionally makes the case for British withdrawal January 16th, 2013 19:45 Comment on this Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus OUR NEWS BLOGS Addiction Arts and entertainment Celebrities Defence Education Environment Health and lifestyle History Language Media Pictures Politics Religion Royal family Science Society Sport uk US politics World Archives Select Month January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 News bloggers UK Politics Benedict Brogan Iain Martin Norman Tebbit Daniel Hannan James Kirkup Janet Daley Dan Hodges Graeme Archer David Hughes Mary Riddell Andrew Gilligan Will Heaven More news James Delingpole Damian Thompson Andrew M Brown Tom Chivers Janet Daley Ed West Brendan O'Neill Cristina Odone Jenny McCartney Robert Colvile Geoffrey Lean Judith Potts US Politics Peter Foster Tim Stanley Nile Gardiner Foreign David Blair Con Coughlin Charles Crawford Rob Crilly News Tags afghanistan Barack Obama BBC Boris Johnson china climate change coalition Conservative Party Conservatives David Cameron david miliband Ed Balls Ed Miliband eu euro european union Eurosceptic General Election 2010 George Osborne global warming gordon brown Hillary Clinton Iran Islam Israel Ken Livingstone labour Labour Party Liberal Democrats Libya Margaret Thatcher Michael Gove Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich NHS Nick Clegg Pope Benedict XVI Sarah Palin Syria tea party tony blair Tories twitter US politics William Hague News Topics David Cameron Liberal Democrats Conservative Party Labour Party Barack Obama Pictures Defence Climate Change Royal Wedding Religion China Afghanistan Back to top HOME News World News Obituaries Travel Health Jobs Sport Football Cricket Fantasy Football Culture Motoring Dating Finance Personal Finance Economics Markets Fashion Property Crossword Comment Blogs My Telegraph Letters Technology Gardening Telegraph Journalists Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Tickets Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast Top 10 most annoying Americanisms – Telegraph Blogs Thursday 24 January 2013 | Blog Feed | All feeds Website of the Telegraph Media Group with breaking news, sport, business, latest UK and world news. Content from the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and video from Telegraph TV. Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Politics Obits Education Earth Science Defence Health Scotland Royal Celebrities Weird Blogs Home » News » World » Toby Harnden Toby Harnden Toby Harnden was the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC, from 2006 to 2011. Click here for Toby's website . Follow him on Twitter here @tobyharnden and on Facebook here . He is the author of the bestselling book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story Britain's War in Afghanistan. Top 10 most annoying Americanisms By Toby Harnden World Last updated: December 23rd, 2008 Comment on this Comment on this article Michelle Obama just sent me an email wishing me "Happy Holidays" and asking me to give money "to causes that are especially meaningful to me and my family" (food banks and deployed troops – not the Obama campaign this time). She doesn't mention Christmas at all, instead talking vaguely of "a time to celebrate our blessings, the new year, and a new era for our country". The term "Happy Holidays" is certainly one that grates on this British ear and I confess it's not the only one. Every day, I have to navigate the common language which, as George Bernard Shaw put it , divides our two nations. But I don't mean simple Americanisms like stroller (pushchair), diaper (nappy), ladybug (ladybird), Mom (Mum), entrée (main course), Santa (Father Christmas), takeout (takeaway), pre-owned (secondhand), mad (angry), chill (calm down), Santa (Father Christmas) etc etc but the phrases that really make you want to go postal . Here are the top 10 that, after nearly seven years here, infuriate me most: 1. " Happy Holidays ." Translation: "Merry Christmas but I realise you might be Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Bahai, something even more exotic, agnostic or Godless and I don't want to offend you." 2. " Have a Nice Day ." Translation: "I would like you to have a pleasant time today" or "I hate you" – or anything in between. 3. " You're welcome ." Translation: Meaningless Pavlovian response to thank you. 4. " Do the math ." Translation: "Work it out yourself, stupid." 5. " Let's visit with each other ." Translation: "We should spend time together." 6. " How are you today ?" Translation: "We mean nothing to each other, but let's pretend." 7. " Good luck with that ."Translation: "You have no chance at all." 8. " Oh my gosh! " Translation: "I fear you may feel that taking the Lord's name in vain is blasphemous." 9. " Can I use your bathroom? " Translation: "I would like to use your lavatory." 10. " Not so much ." Translation: "That's completely wrong." Used on me in classic fashion by a Clinton aide back in February. Maybe there are others that make your blood boil – or some Britishisms that really get under your skin. Recent Posts Farewell to the Telegraph December 31st, 2011 21:49 Comment on this American Way: The Luck of Mitt Romney December 31st, 2011 20:26 Comment on this Newt Gingrich on his history-making presidential bid: George Washington and Pearl Harbor combined December 27th, 2011 4:37 Comment on this Newt Gingrich: All you really want for Christmas is me December 22nd, 2011 23:16 Comment on this American Way: Prepare for a Republican war of attrition in 2012 December 10th, 2011 20:04 Comment on this Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus OUR NEWS BLOGS Addiction Arts and entertainment Celebrities Defence Education Environment Health and lifestyle History Language Media Pictures Politics Religion Royal family Science Society Sport uk US politics World Archives Select Month January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 News bloggers UK Politics Benedict Brogan Iain Martin Norman Tebbit Daniel Hannan James Kirkup Janet Daley Dan Hodges Graeme Archer David Hughes Mary Riddell Andrew Gilligan Will Heaven More news James Delingpole Damian Thompson Andrew M Brown Tom Chivers Janet Daley Ed West Brendan O'Neill Cristina Odone Jenny McCartney Robert Colvile Geoffrey Lean Judith Potts US Politics Peter Foster Tim Stanley Nile Gardiner Foreign David Blair Con Coughlin Charles Crawford Rob Crilly News Tags afghanistan Barack Obama BBC Boris Johnson china climate change coalition Conservative Party Conservatives David Cameron david miliband Ed Balls Ed Miliband eu euro european union Eurosceptic General Election 2010 George Osborne global warming gordon brown Hillary Clinton Iran Islam Israel Ken Livingstone labour Labour Party Liberal Democrats Libya Margaret Thatcher Michael Gove Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich NHS Nick Clegg Pope Benedict XVI Sarah Palin Syria tea party tony blair Tories twitter US politics William Hague News Topics David Cameron Liberal Democrats Conservative Party Labour Party Barack Obama Pictures Defence Climate Change Royal Wedding Religion China Afghanistan Back to top HOME News World News Obituaries Travel Health Jobs Sport Football Cricket Fantasy Football Culture Motoring Dating Finance Personal Finance Economics Markets Fashion Property Crossword Comment Blogs My Telegraph Letters Technology Gardening Telegraph Journalists Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Tickets Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast Do you speak American? - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog « Do we want politicians to be busy, actually? | Main | Time to grow up » 01 June 2006 11:45 AM Do you speak American? Read Peter Hitchens only in The Mail on Sunday Until a very short time ago, trains stopped at railway stations. Now almost everyone under 30 refers to these places as 'train stations'. Why? I think they have picked it up from American TV programmes. This is very strange for anybody who knows about America. There, they do indeed refer to 'train stations'. But they hardly ever use them. In fact I remember spending a large chunk of the afternoon in a medium-sized Massachusetts town, trying to locate the station. Nobody knew where it was, and some even doubted that there was one. Not surprising, really. When I finally discovered the place, with the aid of the Oldest Inhabitant and also by listening out for locomotive hooters, it was a bleak, platformless shed in a slightly menacing industrial suburb, presumably chosen deliberately to discourage anyone from having anything to do with rail travel. The train - which called there only three times a week - was three hours late, and my timetable said it was necessary to stand in the middle of the tracks to flag it down as it approached. Which I did with growing alarm as it didn't seem to be slowing down and was whistling frantically at me, its giant headlight glaring. As it happened, it was all worth it and I wasn't run over. The guard, or what the Americans call the conductor, kindly explained to me that they had recently changed the rules and there had been no need for me to stand and wave, which was why they were hooting at me. And the trip was the beginning of a long love-affair with the sighing, wheezing, broken down but wonderful trains of North America which is not over yet and has carried me from the Columbia River Gorge to the mouth of the Mississippi, across the great plains, through the Rockies and past a forest of flowering cactus. But I still call them railway stations, not train stations. Why is it that watching TV can change a person's language so easily? June 1, 2006 Comments (38) Categories: Culture , Language , Railways , USA | Permalink Share this article: Facebook Twitter Google+ Messenger LinkedIn Digg it Newsvine Fark Nowpublic Reddit Comments You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. Dear Mr Hitchens, please help!! Why does everything in today`s media have to be "amazing"? On TV every other word is "Amazing" Please start a campaign to stop this nonesense. Thankyou Drew Cansfield. Posted by: Drew Cansfield | 18 November 2011 at 10:16 AM I have been losing my hearing since an accident just after my 21st birthday... 35 years ago. I am far from being biased, or a xenophobe. I always enjoy visiting my friends in Romania... because they speak proper and correct English. I have no trouble hearing and understanding them. However, many people in Britain are difficult to understand. These people tend to speak one of two languages, Hollywood or Caribbean. That does not include the multitude of foreigners living here who cannot speak English at all. It is really the British and their inability to speak their own Queen's English properly, that annoys me. Many foreigners speak better English than most native Brits. Posted by: Portsmouth Pete | 03 October 2011 at 01:11 AM What about "right now". It is a fact that Americans cannot utter a sentence without adding "right now". My brain hurts. Posted by: Mick Grantham | 31 August 2008 at 07:29 AM My dearest English cousins: I have to use the english word train the english word station. I have no complaints sitting here in Pennsylvania USA. Thank You England for giving me a way to communicate with the world. Posted by: Joseph Schultz | 24 June 2006 at 10:08 AM It truly is staggering the amount of phrases used in everyday conversation in other English-speaking countries which have their roots in America. I've heard several people use the phrase "right now" when they mean "immediately" or "right this minute". This is perhaps the biggest example I can think of. I blame American junk like "Friends" (perhaps the only thing that has me switching stations more often than updates on Wayne Rooney's foot) and the disgusting, though brilliantly acted and unfortunately realistic, "The Sopranos". It is still true, in fact more so than ever, that, as in my youth, America and all of its cultural output forces our traditional cultures (in my case, Irish) to sink like a stone. On a broader level, these things, simple though they are, are immeasurably powerful and in my view destructive. When I attended crowded masses as a boy, the other youngsters would pay not one bit of notice to what the priest was saying, and then hurry home to gather round the TV and watch things like "The A-Team" and "The Simpsons." Perhaps America, great in so many other ways, has wrought more cultural damage on the UK and Ireland than even the best attempts of our own beloved liberals. Posted by: David | 17 June 2006 at 02:18 AM It is strange to be able to view a whole evening's TV only to realise later that most of it has been in a foreign language (American). We use the term Super Power to describe America, but really they are more like an empire in denial. No offence to American contributors intended. Posted by: Kevin Peat | 16 June 2006 at 10:21 PM It must be the same reason why Peter used the term soccer instead of football? Posted by: Mark Simpson | 13 June 2006 at 01:24 PM I agree. From even the hardiest of fogy-ish TV presenters these days one hears 'go for it', 'makeover', 'tell me about it', 'ohmygod!', 'it's just so not fashionable...' and a host of others irritations. Linguistic cross-fertilization is nothing new - I remember my parents, some thirty years ago, apologizing for laughing when I too lapsed into using 'train station' instead of 'railway station' - but things are out of hand. England, like Australia, takes its cultural cues almost exclusively from the United States these days. And this, Peter, I regret to say, includes using phrases as sentences, as in... "The train - which called there only three times a week - was three hours late, and my timetable said it was necessary to stand in the middle of the tracks to flag it down as it approached. Which I did with growing alarm as it didn't seem to be slowing down and was whistling frantically at me, its giant headlight glaring." Posted by: Edward Gibson | 11 June 2006 at 12:48 AM http://www.slfp.com/UnionStation.html Click on this link for details of the magnicent St. Louis Grand Union Station, designed in 1894 and now an admittedly attractive and upmarket shoppping mall on the lines of Covent Garden. And if you want to catch a train? You walk down the line for a couple of hundred metres to an unlovely portacabin affair which is what passes for the railway station now. As we say in South Africa - Ag shame! Posted by: Dallas Nash | 09 June 2006 at 08:33 AM Kerry d'Souza - We've imported loads of Hindi words - bungalow, pajamas, cot, juggernaut (Jaganath),thug, chinz, curry, dungaree - as well as looting words from everywhere else, including America and Australia. I notice there are a lot of Britishisms used on American blogs these days - so it's a two-way street. That is what is so beguiling about English: the melange gives us the biggest and richest language in the world, which is why everyone wants to speak it. We have a carpetbagger approach to words. And there are the French, stuck in their narrow little rut, being told which new words the Academie has approved for use. I recall the French government tried to stop the use of the word email as being too foreign. They tried to make people use the word 'couriel' instead. Nobody did. Posted by: Verity | 08 June 2006 at 09:38 PM Now that article really was a "bonkers Hitchens" classic, what next? "Why oh why do our police officers no longer wear size 14 boots?" Posted by: nick kennerley | 07 June 2006 at 12:41 AM Dear Mr. Hitchens I regularly read and enjoy your column in the MoS (and mostly agree with your viewpoints!) However I feel that you are unjustly discrediting the English language and the absorbsion of 'Americanisms' into the language. English is (and will always be) a living language. A living language evolves with the times and incorporates new words and expressions as they come about. What was considered slang 50 years ago has now become part of the formal English language. For example the word 'guru' has been incorporated into modern English usage and was originally (30 years ago) a Hindi word. It is not just Americanisms which change our language, but a whole host of words and expressions from other cultures. Would you prefer that English was a 'dead' language (like Latin) which failed to evolve and move with the times? Would you prefer that English people speak in Shakespearian tounges. Then should language STOP evolving & why should it stop now? The Americanism 'Train Station' is more grammatically precise than the English 'Railway Station'. Trains come to a standstill at stations (are stationary) but railways don't!! Unless you live in St. Leonards as I do! Posted by: Kerry D'Souza | 06 June 2006 at 11:17 PM I agree with you Peter, it always annoys me when people refer to a Railway Station as a Train Station. I also find it very annoying, when people are asked how they are, reply "I'm good". Presumably they are stating that they are not evil. Television is the great brainwashing medium, absorbing the same images day in and day out has to have some effect. TV subtly imposes politically correct, liberal attitudes on us all... if we allow it to. Posted by: John Salkeld | 06 June 2006 at 08:58 PM Huw Morgan's got you Peter - get out of that one! But regarding Des Brittains comment, whilst I agree with new building, what about the beautiful old-fashioned railway stations of Britain? York for instance? My father has a fantastic photograph of that station but I don't suppose Peter could post it here, however, I guess you're familiar with that station, are you not Peter? And hang on, didn't you say something about modern architecture?? Posted by: Loco Motive | 06 June 2006 at 11:27 AM Perhaps "Train" has caught on so easily simply because it's one syllable, and this quicker to say than is "Railway." Posted by: J Shaw | 06 June 2006 at 11:15 AM As usual you are the hypocrite, complaining about the Americanisation of our language while the paper you write for is adopting the American way of printing the date, June 4th!!!! Posted by: J Allison | 05 June 2006 at 07:26 PM I understand it must be frustrating to hear the English language changing, but not all changes are negative. Had English not evolved we would still be speaking the language found in Shakespeare's plays. "Train station" isn't that bad either, what do you catch at this station? A train. What do you catch at a "Bus Station", a bus, it isn't called a "road station". A "Petrol Station" is where you get petrol, that too, in theory could be called a "road station" but it would be preposterous. At least "Train Station" makes sense, even if it is an Americanism. Posted by: Huw Morgan | 05 June 2006 at 09:51 AM The train system in America is Sovietized in a way that even the Soviets would never have dreamed of. I am certain that trains in Romania, perhaps even Somalia, are better run. However, I should point out that there would be no transcontinental train service at all if the State had not taken it over. There was no market for it after the beginning of mass air travel. Don't forget how huge the US is, geographically. It took days to cross the country on a train, whereas it can be done in hours on a plane. On the other hand, there is no accounting for our American taste for road travel. Posted by: John Richards | 04 June 2006 at 10:40 PM Mr Stott and Mr Broughton - It's a two-way street. Americans also adopt a lot of our catchphrases and slang. We in the Anglosphere are thieving magpies. We hear a bright new word or phrase and we want it. Now! Unlike countries with more formal language structures, like, oh, France springs to mind, that try to keep anything new out and preserve the language in amber, English grows and thrives by the tremendous inventiveness of its users. Where did the unusual usage, "Good on ya, mate!" come from? Oz. Thus spelt because the Australians started spelling it thus as shorthand and we had all adopted it by the end of the following week. A new, smart-sounding usage from the US State Dept, or Hollywood and it is being routinely used in Indian newspapers a few days later. Snap! Incorporated! We have the liveliest language in the world, and by far the largest. Colin Broughton, I understand your concerns but this disgarding of the present for something new is the price we pay for having such a huge range of words to use. The young and ignorant who adopt American phrases because they think they sound rather smart (these are almost inevitably people who have never been to the United States) are a tiny minority. And the old words don't go away We're still talking the language of Shakespeare, after all. Posted by: Verity | 04 June 2006 at 10:21 PM The Americanisation of English English has been going for as long as I can recall. (I am now elderly, or what we now refer to in the American fashion, which often combines euphemism with a multiplication of syllables, as a 'senior cititizen'. This country, far more than most,is dominated by America economically, politically and, especially, culturally. It is likely therefore that the Amaricanisation of the way we speak will continue indefinitely. We do not have to rejoice in this manifestation of our subservience, however. The process is greatly hastened by the news media, in my opinion. News Reporters, for example, were almost exclusively responsible for the replacement of the British, 'in the street'for an address, by the American 'on the street.' They were using the American expression on TV long before anyone else. There is no advantage whatever in this change, which is purely gratuitous and used by the reporters to seem 'with it.' ie not British. Colin Broughton Posted by: Colin Broughton | 04 June 2006 at 02:40 PM For those of you interested in the topics discussed here can I signpost you to Bill Bryson's excellent 'Made in America'. It's about the development of American English and the history of the USA with a chapter all about the great American railways. Posted by: Mike James | 03 June 2006 at 08:17 PM While I agree with Andrew Platt in his complaint about the vaccuous facility with which TV watchers adopt Americanisms, (I also think said Americanisms grate in an English/ wannabee American accent) what irritates me is, it points to these people having never been instilled with an instinct for their national language. On the other hand, I really don't mind the to-ing and fro-ing of words; the Americans, after all, took our entire language with them not long after the Shakespearean age. I think it lovely that they have, unwittingly, simply through usage, preserved some lovely words now lost to the English. Fall was used for autumn during Shakespearese's time. It still is in the United States. The word gotten has been preserved, too. We shortened it, inexplicably, considering that we still say forgotten. The Americans still use the whole word. Americans are equally magpie-like (as is the entire Anglosphere). Posted by: Verity | 03 June 2006 at 02:29 AM What about the beautiful old fashioned American railway stations? I love them. Big and spacious with stylish old wooden benches. They are grand places so different from our main stations that nowadays resemble cluttered shopping malls. Posted by: Des Brittain | 02 June 2006 at 11:54 PM Peter you're just showing off again. I'd join you in being nostalgic about trains, Watch with Mother, Trumpton and Camberwick Green if I wasn't trying so hard to press button 'B' and get my money back! Posted by: Loco Motive | 02 June 2006 at 03:37 PM Eric Adam is like many "Red State" Americans: he votes for a conservative president and then doesn't seem to realise that the president then acts in a totally non-conservative way. Bush has ignored the US constitution, increased government spending and supported mass immigration. What's conservative about that? 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EDITORS' BLOG Languages Espanol Brazil Caribbean More Last Updated: Thursday, 12 April 2007, 10:55 GMT 11:55 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version 'Death to US': Anti-Americanism examined The US is perceived by many as an international bully, a modern day imperial power. At this critical moment in history, Washington correspondent Justin Webb challenges that idea. He argues anti-Americanism is often a cover for hatreds with little justification in fact. His three part series takes him to Cairo, Caracas and Washington but it begins where anti-Americanism began - in Paris. Protests against nuclear weapons often focus on American weapons In the Abbey Churchyard in the lovely English city of Bath, groups of demonstrators, many - though not all - of them Quakers, regularly gather to protest against the iniquities of the world. My dear mother Gloria Webb, who died last year, was one of the protesters. In her day, she was an energetic duffle-coated figure who wanted to ban the bomb, stop wars of all kinds and suffering anywhere. She was a wonderful person, my mum, and so were her friends. Yet it always struck me, when she told me about these protests (and when, I freely confess, I attended them with enthusiasm as a youngster) that there was an odd one-sidedness to the game. The protests against nuclear weapons, for instance, concentrated on American weapons. The anti-war rallies were against American-led wars. The anti death penalty campaign focused on Texas. A pattern was emerging and has never seriously been altered. A pattern of willingness to condemn America for the tiniest indiscretion - or to magnify those indiscretions - while leaving the murderers, dictators, and thieves who run other nations oddly untouched. In the beginning And if anti-Americanism is alive and well among surprisingly mild-mannered people in Britain - how much more virulent must it be in tougher parts of the world? Criticism of American power and American life lives on in Paris To find out, I have visited Venezuela, where the nation's leader Hugo Chavez compares George W Bush to Hitler, and Egypt, where the regime warns of a tide of stars and stripes burning if its hold on power is weakened. And Paris. Paris? Yes Paris - where it all began. Anti-Americanism was born in France. And here's a fascinating fact: it was born well before the United States existed. It was not caused by Coca-Cola, or McDonald's, or Hollywood or George W Bush. The prevailing view among French academics throughout the 18th Century was that the New World was ghastly. It stank, it was too humid for life to prosper. And, as one European biologist put it: "Everything found there is degenerate or monstrous." In their heart of hearts, many French people still believe that to be true. A French intellectual once compared the United States with Belgium. Wounding. But you see what he meant: the French capital has a grandeur about it that demands attention on the world stage. Belgium does not, nor does most of America. Washington is grand but Washington was designed by a Frenchman and his vision didn't fit the rest of the nation. America is ordinary. Go on say it out loud on the streets of Paris: "America is ordinary". It celebrates the pursuit of small-scale happiness - in families and communities - and that is what the anti-Americans can't stand. Dislike In the heart of Paris, there is the Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt, the man who helped defeat Nazi Germany and liberate Parisian streets, is celebrated here. And the point many French people make is that they would celebrate George W Bush, too, if they agreed with him. The source of anti-Americanism is plain they say. As one interviewee told us: "It's the policies, Stupid." Bernard-Henri Levy says more balance is needed in the French debate on America Well up to a point: in Paris there is plenty of evidence to be found that anti-Americanism is way more than that, that it's not simply reasonable opposition to the things America does. The kind of anti-Americanism fostered by French intellectuals down the centuries revolves around intense dislike of what America is - not what it does . Sitting in the Cafe de Flore, in the very seat where Jean-Paul Sartre once held sway, the self-described writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy puts it like this: America became the nightmare that French right-wing intellectuals long feared, a nation built not on respectable ties of blood and tradition but on the self-conscious desire to create something new. Antagonism Levy is sympathetic to the US, and a book he wrote on his travels there, American Vertigo, is a balanced and thoughtful piece of work. But such balance is, according to Levy, missing in the French political debate on American power and American life. He describes a process whereby this antagonism to the fundamentals of the USA - to the kind of democracy that celebrates and encourages ordinariness - migrates hither and thither in the French body politic. It began on the right but now in the shape of Jose Bove (the anti-McDonald's campaigner, and presidential candidate) and other luminaries of the left, it lives on. And this is not a recent migration brought on by Mr Bush. In May 1944 (just weeks before American GIs landed on the beaches of Normandy), Hubert Beuve-Mery, the founder of Le Monde newspaper - certainly no mouthpiece of the right - wrote this: "The Americans represent a real danger for France, different from the one posed by Germany or the one with which the Russians may - in time - threaten us. The Americans may have preserved a cult of Liberty but they do not feel the need to liberate themselves from the servitude which their capitalism has created. " It is time that we understood that this attitude, this contempt for what democracy can do, is at the heart of at least some of the anti-Americanism we see in the world today. "Death to America": Anti-Americanism examined will be broadcast on Radio 4 over three weeks starting on 16 April at 2000 BST. Return to top E-mail this to a friend Printable version SEE ALSO Anti-Americanism 'feels like racism' 16 Apr 06 | UK Internationalist manifesto causes a stir 04 May 06 | Europe TOP AMERICAS STORIES US lifts lid on WikiLeaks probe Iran scientist heads home Argentina legalises gay marriage MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW MOST SHARED MOST READ Would you work 10 hours for one beer? Dolphin 'asks divers for help' The offal truth about American haggis What were 2012's top 10 films? 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Home News Sport Radio TV Weather Languages [an error occurred while processing this directive] Low graphics | Accessibility help One-Minute World News News services Your news when you want it News Front Page Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia UK Business Health Science/Nature Technology Entertainment Also in the news ----------------- Video and Audio ----------------- Have Your Say In Pictures Country Profiles Special Reports RELATED BBC SITES SPORT WEATHER ON THIS DAY EDITORS' BLOG Last Updated: Monday, 16 June, 2003, 13:25 GMT 14:25 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Is globalisation Americanisation? Will Hutton, author and chief executive of The Work Foundation, and Michael Elliott, an editor for Time magazine in New York, exchange views on whether globalisation is simply exporting the American business model and if that benefits the world, or not. Dear Michael, Good to see you in New York the other day. I am in favour of globalisation, of opening up, of more trade and of all the pressure for the acceptance of human rights and rule of law that globalisation brings in its wake. Without globalisation, Asia could not have bootstrapped itself out of poverty, life expectancy would not have risen around the world and living conditions for many women outside Islamic countries would not have improved. My objection is to none of the above. Rather it is to the way globalisation has increasingly become a cloak for the export of the American business model as the benchmark besides which all other countries must judge the success of their approach to capitalism and society. Globalisation needs to be de-Americanised - and genuinely globalised It is perfectly possible to believe in the wealth-generating powers of entrepreneurship and markets, and also to believe that societies need strong social contracts and a powerful expression of the public interest. The international common sense - created by the rise of the new American conservatism in the US which has become the so-called Washington consensus policed by the financial markets - believes in the first set of propositions, but not in the latter. Thus the pressure not to introduce universal health care systems and to have minimal social safety nets; thus the pressure to live with high levels of inequality; thus the pressure to put the interests of business before those of society which reflects itself in myriads of ways in both the developed and less developed world. My concern is two-fold. First, that this approach will de-legitimise and may ultimately derail the globalisation process. And secondly, it is wrong in its refusal to countenance a diversity of approaches to capitalism and organising society. Globalisation needs to be de-Americanised - and genuinely globalised! Yours Will Dear Will It was good to see you too and I hope the new book's going well. There's a lot in your first message that I agree with, of course, your points on the role that globalisation has played in raising living standards around the world are right on the money. But I think we have differences in three respects: First, it's surely a little out of date to imagine that there is some iron-clad "Washington consensus" of neo-liberal policies imposed upon developing countries (and non-American developed ones) by financial markets and international financial institutions. For one thing, there's always been less consensus in the consensus than its opponents like to believe. There are plenty of people who buy into the broad outlines of a market-led programme, for example, without signing on to either financial market liberalisation or the free flow of capital. John Williamson, who invented the phrase "Washington consensus", never intended it to include capital flows, and Jagdish Bhagwati - a fundamentalist when it comes to free trade in goods and services - has long argued that capital flows raise different issues. Why have the Europeans (say) been so pathetic at convincing the world that their model is the right one to follow? Moreover, not just the World Bank and the IMF but private financial institutions now appreciate - as perhaps they did not 10 years ago - that non-economic matters like healthcare, access to education (especially for women), democracy, transparency and old-fashioned infrastructure projects, are all vital to development. I don't hear the simon-pure, market-and-nothing-but-market voices raised as loudly as I did in Washington in the late 1980s. Second, accepting your point that safety nets and universal health care systems are human goods, isn't there a genuine question of sequencing? The Bismarckian (or Lloyd-Georgian) social welfare reforms that Europeans are (very rightly) proud of came after the development of domestic markets, and there is surely a reason for that. Social welfare projects are expensive; an economy needs to have developed to a certain degree before they can be afforded. My third point is of a different nature. Let's say that you are right, and that by some strange process (that I don't really understand) the American version of globalisation has swept all before it. And let's say that you're also right in your implication that there is a "better," more humane version of globalisation out there. My question is: Why have the Europeans (say) been so pathetic at convincing the world that their model is the right one to follow? Why have the Americans swept all before them? Or am I wrong in thinking that you think they have? All best as ever, Michael Dear Michael, Good reply - as I expected. I took short cuts in 200 words but my answers are these: Firstly, the Washington consensus has become more sophisticated, I grant you, but the same themes remain at its core. There is a manic distrust of the public sector, a celebration of the private and a belief that countries industrialise through market-led policies alone. Taxation to pay for education and health is abhorred. Aid budgets have fallen, reversed only partially by 11 September, access to western markets remains difficult and we invite developing countries to grow as if they were developed countries. Globalisation has been primarily shaped by American conservatism The IMF remains unreconstructed - essentially an arm of the US Treasury. Telecoms liberalisation for example (the precondition for the bubble), was forced on the rest of the world by US trade diplomacy. Globalisation has been primarily shaped by American conservatism. Secondly, I infer from this that you are for sweated labour, no child protection and a Hobbesian world of all against all. Welfare states and minimum standards will vary according to wealth - but the principle must stand, surely? Thirdly, Europeans have a crisis of confidence, wrongly in my view. The American model has seemed charismatic, job-generating and all-conquering. It certainly has advantages, but the US is not so strong as widely believed. Control of most of the main avenues of communication and near idealisation by the financial markets are helluva advantages! I rest my case - in 200 words! All the best Will Dear Will, You make me sound like a Gradgrind stamping on the face of the poor of Coketown! You know I'm not, but in any event, here are my thoughts on your latest. First, we're not going to agree on the extent to which the US is gripped by a rabidly conservative, devil-take-the-hindmost mindset. I don't think that's the country I live in, though I admit that I sometimes have doubts. Whenever I think that the US has gone completely selfish and inward-looking, all I have to do is to speak at a church or school or college where people are more engaged in the rest of the world, more sensitive to global issues, and more generous with their time and money in trying to ameliorate them, than I have ever known before. And I've been living in the US on and off for nearly 30 years. Whenever I'm in Paris or Hamburg, I don't look around and think "Hmmm; what a failed model" Second, no, of course I'm not for sweated labour and the rest. But I do think that it behoves us all to have a sensible set of expectations about what degree of social expenditure and social protection can reasonably be afforded at any particular stage of development. Third, you're the expert on Europe's lack of self-confidence. It beats me. Whenever I'm in Paris or Hamburg, I don't look around and think "Hmmm; what a failed model." The world would be a better place if Europeans (and Canadians, actually) were "noisier" about the successes of their economic and social institutions, but, somehow, they leave it all to the US. We're all - and I include those of us who live in the US - worse off as a result. All best, as ever Mike What The World Thinks of America was broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on Tuesday, 17 June, 2003 at 2100 BST. You can also watch the programme again from this website. E-mail this to a friend Printable version KEY CONTENT Watch the programme America Answers Back About the programme Your greatest American Test your knowledge HAVE YOUR SAY What do you think of America? Programme home page RELATED INTERNET LINKS: The Work Foundation Time The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites PRODUCTS AND SERVICES E-mail news Mobiles Alerts News feeds Podcasts News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia UK | Business | Entertainment | Science/Nature | Technology | Health Have Your Say | In Pictures | Week at a Glance | Country Profiles | In Depth | Programmes BBC Copyright Notice MMIX Most Popular Now | 72,400 pages were read in the last minute. 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The second edition of the dictionary - considered to be the foremost single-volume authority on the English language - includes many new words and phrases which started life on television. The hit American TV show, The Sopranos, has given us "bada bing" while British television has been responsible for the phrase "lovely jubbly" entering the language, courtesy of sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Erstwhile American children's TV show The Muppets has also helped establish the word "muppet" as meaning an incompetent or foolish person. Schedules are now dominated by "reality television", while entertainment is full of "bootylicious" women, "popstrels", and "turntablists", who claim to be "da bomb", meaning the best. We analyse millions of words of text to find out what is becoming established in the language Angus Stevenson New Oxford Dictionary of English But how do researchers decide when such words and phrases have become so widely used and understood that they deserve to be included in the dictionary? Angus Stevenson, one of the dictionary's editors, said: "New words are spread worldwide by the media, and some are directly taken from TV such 'boom boom' and 'lovely jubbly'." 'Bada bing' is the name of the strip club run by the lead character in the Sopranos, but is now used in America in a similar way to how 'hey presto' is used in Britain. Mr Stevenson said: "These are all words taken from TV programmes but we use the same criteria for these as we would for any sort of word. "We analyse millions of words of text to find out what is becoming established in the language. "We read science, technical stuff, novels, papers and mags, and even TV scripts - and only put words in the dictionary if there is good evidence of their use in a number of sources over a period of a few years. Cyberslacker "'Boom boom!' (from Basil Brush) has been around for years and now we feel we have enough evidence of its use to say that it warrants a place in the dictionary." Thousands of new words will be thrown up by the process but only a small percentage make it, while the more ephemeral and poorly evidenced words are put on the back burner. Others among the 3,000 new words to make it this time include "cyberslacker", "fatoush", "blamestorming", "SARS", "cantopop", "bupkis", "noughties", "muggle", and "robata". Many familiar words, meanwhile, now have new uses and meanings. You can "guilt" someone or "version" something, and "groom" has taken on a more sinister meaning, being linked to paedophilia. The research also confirms the Americanisation of English continues apace. Foo Fighters Terms such as "nerd", "geek", "bad hair day", and "24/7" are now as common in Britain as they are across the Atlantic. The impact of the internet is also clear, with the web becoming a place of "hacktivists", "shovelware" and people who "egosurf". Another sign of a word's acceptance appears to be when the use of a hyphen is seen as no longer necessary, hence, "e-mails" have become "emails" and we are now "online" not "on-line". The latest edition can also help clear up the mysterious origins of such terms as "a Brazilian" when used in a beauty salon, tell you who the original "Foo Fighters" were and explain what the "Duckworth Lewis" method is in cricket. In science and technology, the fast-moving field of genetics has given us some colourful new terms such "pathogenicity islands", "shotgun cloning" and "terminator genes". E-mail this to a friend Printable version SEE ALSO: Quiz: English 21st century style 20 Aug 03 | UK Dictionary of weird words published 03 Dec 02 | England Blairite and Jedi enter dictionary 27 Sep 02 | UK News Girl power goes mainstream 17 Jan 02 | UK News It's in the dictionary, d'oh! 14 Jun 01 | Entertainment RELATED INTERNET LINKS: Oxford English Dictionary Foo Fighters The Sopranos The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites TOP UK STORIES Major manhunt for Afghan soldier Unemployment dips to 2.47 million PM condemns sympathy for Moat PRODUCTS AND SERVICES E-mail news Mobiles Alerts News feeds Podcasts News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia UK | Business | Entertainment | Science/Nature | Technology | Health Have Your Say | In Pictures | Week at a Glance | Country Profiles | In Depth | Programmes BBC Copyright Notice MMIX Most Popular Now | 72,400 pages were read in the last minute. 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She says the level of anti-Americanism she has experienced "feels like a kind of racism". "I don't want anyone to feel sorry for Americans, or me, I just want people to realise that we are dealing with hatred too." Read some of your comments at the bottom of this page. Typical British pub banter is one thing, says Christian Cox, but the "pure hatred" she says is directed at her for being American is really starting to wear her down. The former model moved to London a year ago, where she is setting up her own business, and has been surprised at how some people have reacted to her nationality. Ms Cox, 29, says she has been called, among other things, "terrorist", "scum", "low life", and feels that she is constantly being held to account for the actions of President Bush and for US foreign policy. This is despite the fact that she doesn't agree with the war in Iraq and didn't vote for Bush. I think you are the poorest people I have ever met in my life American critic However she adds: "Bush is our leader and I respect that. It's a bit like the way you feel about your father. You don't always agree with him, but you would defend him." She has travelled widely in other parts of Europe, Mexico, Canada and Australia but says this is the first time her pride in her country has been challenged in such a vitriolic way. "People would make jokes about Americans but I didn't experience the pure hatred I have had since I came to live here. "I appreciate that British people often don't understand why I have so much pride, they think it's brainwashing. "And I do think some people in the US need to be more educated about what's going on in the world. "But some people just fly off the handle without even talking to me - it's as if they had been waiting to run into an American all day to let their feelings out," she says. To avoid confrontations she says she lowers her voice on the Underground and in pubs. But in one incident an older man asked her directly if she was American. "When I said yes he said: 'I just want you to know that I think you are the poorest people I have ever met in my life' - meaning we were low-life. "I said I was sorry he felt that way, but that I disagreed." The man started shouting obscenities at her group. The row developed into a brawl and Ms Cox suffered a black eye as she tried to pull two people apart. "After that I cried for two days, then booked a flight back to the States. I felt so hated, I needed to be with people who loved me." Some friends now advise her to tell people she is Canadian, to deflect potential abuse, an option she calls "sad". 'Culture shock' However it is advice that teacher Francesca Terry, 28, who grew up in Seattle, recognises. She has lived in London for four years and is married with a daughter. "I was aware before I moved here that when you travelled abroad it was always better to say you were Canadian if you could get away with it. But we treated it more like a joke." She was subjected to verbal abuse in the first year or so in Britain, but things calmed down particularly when she had her daughter and stopped going out to pubs so much. "When I first came here it was part of the culture shock. I felt really naive, I had thought I would go unnoticed here. "I would go out and I'd just get picked on by people taking pot shots. I just didn't speak when we went out. What shocked me was that people would just say the rudest comments." But she adds that she has a close group of girlfriends from the US, many of whom say they have not had similar experiences. She says she is still cautious when she's out and about: "If people ask where I'm from I say 'the States, but the part near Canada'." "I feel bad about saying that, but it is out of a kind of guilt, I just don't want to get into it with people. When I do, I tell them these are not my choices. I understand my president makes bad decisions, but that's not me." The US embassy in London declined to comment on the story. The following comments reflect the balance of opinions received. It is so sad to meet bigotry in any form Lynda Blackwod, Shetland Isles I am Scottish and proud of it. I spent fourteen years living in the USA, I married a dual national. Whilst I lived there I met many individuals who became my friends but I also met many arrogant, ignorant individuals who knew nothing about the world outside of the USA. It is so sad to meet bigotry in any form, but it is on both sides of the "pond", being a Scot I have met the same when I lived and worked in England, sad but true. Lynda Blackwod, Shetland Isles I am American and have lived in the UK since 1988. I have not experienced anything but warm hospitality and acceptance by the British. I certainly find Londoners to be some of the most tolerant people on earth. May I suggest that Ms Cox simply get out of the pub because the best time to witness the British (or Americans) at their worst is when they are drunk. Kay Konop, London, UK I'm an American who has lived in London for over 6 years and suffered no ill treatment like Ms Cox has described from Britons or from Europeans. Most of the time if there are comments they are about American politics or behaviour. A large percentage of the time individuals are more interested in finding out about life in America. As a Hispanic American I have felt more welcomed and respected living and working in Europe than I have in my own "home" country. Alicia, London Living in London changed my perspective on the world Robert, Chicago, IL, USA When I lived in London, I never met the same type of hostility that Ms Cox has experienced. Only once did I feel that someone made an inappropriate remark to me concerning the actions of the US government. For the most part, my experiences were positive and I found that I could easily discuss politics with my British colleagues - regardless of whether or not we agreed. However, at the same time, I have to say that living in London changed my perspective on the world and helped me to see a much larger picture that most Americans will never know by simply following the news in the US media. Robert, Chicago, IL, USA All of us, by identity, carry the flag of our own countries. But, people forget that that doesn't mean we are all agree with our administrations. If we can vote them in, we can also vote them out! What worries me is when a person has to lower her voice to hide her identity. That's just reflects how tunnel-visioned we remain. Mel Shore, USA Hatred against Americans is not rife here. I've worked with and know personally many Americans and I know them to be charming, courteous people. I've heard no complaints from them, but then they've been here longer than Christian Cox and aren't trying to attract attention for their new business. Julie, UK I'm an African-American who has been living in London for a year now. I've yet to experience one iota of in-person prejudice or harassment. Then again, I'm living in Hackney. Most people feel sorry for me - even though Hackney is the most wonderful, diverse, culturally rich places I've been in London! I think the root of Ms Cox's difficulties are rooted in both her power and privilege. Even unconsciously acted upon - it is still read by others as arrogance. Christina Springer, London, UK I am an American living in Bradford (Muslim population 300,000, American Population 1) So perhaps I'm in a good position to comment. I have noticed anger towards America increasing over the last few years, but I have never felt that I was treated badly, or as a walking representative of disastrous American foreign policy. Richard, Bradford Anti-American sentiment clearly runs high in the UK, but there can be no defence of people abusing Ms Cox. But why would any intelligent person blindly defend the actions of another? Bush is no benevolent "father figure" worthy of unquestioning love, he is a politician, and the man who orchestrated the invasion of Iraq. The line between "national pride" and the tacit approval of Bush's actions are blurred in her comments. Until Ms Cox can reconcile this conflict perhaps it would be best if she continues to "keep her voice down". Gavin Scott, Edinburgh, UK Anyone that abuses a person because of their nationality is guilty of racism regardless of which nation that person comes from David McLean, Liverpool, UK As a Muslim studying abroad I can sympathise with her. However, she has only suffered a black eye and had hurtful words thrown at her, whereas I have family members who are now buried six feet under in Basra due to her government's actions. Ahmed, UK I had no idea that the British people felt that way about Americans. It is difficult for others to understand that in any country (yours, mine) the people are not the voice of the government. Why do people insist on taking their anger out on the citizens? Brucine Lukaart, Michigan, USA I think the English also love America and feel connection with it Tom Hewson, London, UK I know exactly what she means. I have lived here for more than 20 years and there is no question it exists. However, over time I have to see it less as hatred and more sibling rivalry. I think the English also love America and feel connection with it. I can't say the constant little digs don't hurt sometimes, but all in all I love England and compared to how other races fare here, we don't do too bad. (Try being French... or dare I say of coloured skin from India or Pakistan) Tom Hewson, London, UK If you want a cheap joke, nothing is easier than to take a swipe at Bush or America. Many British comedians that should know better are aware of this. In my opinion, most people who feel inclined to say such things are generally ill-informed on political matters, and such comments are an attempt to hide their ignorance. Dan Jones, York I am Japanese and have lived in this country since I was three. I have experienced various kinds of verbal taunts and racist remarks all throughout my life. It sad that two grown women are focusing in on their experiences as if they were unique. They should understand that to be a foreigner in any other country will invite those jingoistic and hateful to target them no matter what. If a three-year-old girl could make it, so can they. Saki Baba, London There are millions of Americans who are disgusted by the actions of their government. As Brits we should be careful not to cast stones because we elected Mr Blair, and if one country had it in its power to prevent the war in Iraq it was ours. Ben Gould, London It's very unfortunate that individuals should be singled out like this purely because of where they come from. But I would say to Christian Cox, don't defend Bush if you don't agree with him, and don't express unqualified pride in your country which is - like ours - great, but flawed, and you might get a better reception from most Brits! David Ewen, London I would agree that in general Americans are a loathsome, naive, petulant bunch, but then the fact that we in Britain allow ourselves to be so influenced by them makes us 10 times worse. Craig Eastman, Liverpool, UK If you suspect your 'Canadian' is actually American, ask them to name three provinces (excluding Ontario). Or ask them what the capital of Saskatchewan is. You'll soon know. (We don't like the either, by the way.) Jim Connolly, Toronto, Canada I've been in a few tense situations since moving to the UK, but nothing on the level of the harassment Ms Cox has had to endure. I usually defuse the situation by saying "Yes, I'm an American - and I'd like to apologise". You can always ask them if they've ever voted for Tony Blair. Treat such people like you would any other rude person - get away from them. There's a time and a place to discuss how you as an expat relate to your country: in a pub with an angry stranger probably ain't it. Rose Judson, Birmingham, UK I can understand how upsetting it is for people such as Ms Cox. However, I think Americans need to be educated in such a way that equips them better to travel without appearing to treat to rest of the world like an extension of Disneyland. I frequently hear patronising, insensitive comments made by American tourists who are tarnishing the reputation of their compatriots. Tom Watson, Rome, Italy If you are English and go to live in Scotland you are likely to get exactly this kind of treatment. It is pure racism. Oliver, UK I'm an American living in Belgium and it shocks me to see that Americans probably receive more "racist" comments in Europe than the immigrants we so often read are being discriminated against. My grandfather fought here in WWII and sometimes I think of the irony that it is their freedom he secured than makes me feel so insecure in Europe. Charles, Brussels, Belgium I don't defend my father when he is wrong, only when he is right, only a fool would do otherwise. How is Bush to learn if even those who didn't vote for him become his apologists. John Sinclair, Dundee, UK As a Brit living in the US I receive only good things about my country and am proud to say I am British as people are even nicer to me because of it. Therefore I find it very sad that my country cannot offer the same courtesy to Americans in England. Stephanie Cottrill, Miami, USA Although I disagree with US politics and foreign policy, I would always be friendly and welcoming to Americans in our country. Any Americans who are feeling offended in the UK are welcome round my house for a traditional steak and kidney pudding and some nice English ale! Martin, Chesterfield, UK How about interviewing an American that supports our president instead of making a point of interviewing two Americans that apparently feel they have to make concessions by saying they disagree with him? Your story makes it seem as if the anti-American anger is justified but simply misdirected away from the president. Allen T, CA, USA Is it any surprise that Americans get held to account for their country's rapacious and evil foreign policy? As individuals every American I have met in this country have been perfectly nice but your government's actions condemn you all. If you don't like it then you need to campaign harder at home. I would be ashamed of being English abroad at the moment, because of the actions of OUR government. And just think, if Americans are hated this much in the UK what do you think the opinion of the Arab and Persian world might be? Chris Blackman, London, England It is little wonder that there is such a dislike and misunderstanding of Americans and American foreign policy when you consider the thread of anti-Americanism that runs through almost every related story that the BBC presents. Who do you think you are? Eddie Chalmers, Dundee, UK I am married to a British national and did a posting with the Canadian High Commission in London from 2000-2004. I suffered verbal abuse on a few occasions when people thought I was American. It got to the point where my husband asked that we not talk on the Tube into London and I wore a Canadian Maple Leaf lapel pin. Pam Saunders, Singapore Ms Cox is perhaps a tad naive to take the abuse she receives so personally. Americans are easy targets right now and thanks, not in small part, to the British press it's easy for people to target one US national for the others' actions. But it's not just Americans who get this, prejudice is rampant in this country. For example, I live in Wales and I've seen English people here being beaten up for being English. Andy, Cardiff, UK My American relatives visit the UK frequently. When here they go to pubs, restaurants, stores, historical sites etc and never once have they been subjected to criticism or insults. So one is led to ask, "Is this reported abuse of Americans a London phenomenon?" PW, East Midlands As a Seattleite living in London I often find that I can get away with pretending to be Canadian as well. And I do. I am ashamed to be American. I didn't vote for Bush and I don't support the Iraq war and I feel American foreign policy is abhorrent. But I also find that people will assume I'm a thick headed, right-wing, McDonald's loving, anti-Islamic, fundamentalist Christian, intolerant, homophobic idiot. That couldn't be further from the truth, but I never get a chance to show people who I really am. Emilie Dingler-Meek, London, England Christian Cox should have confidence in her country and treat the people who express such anti-American remarks with the contempt they deserve. She must expect criticism, but not insult - and she must say that she is American and proud of it, and walk away. Arguing with bigots is a complete waste of energy. Mike Fox, London, England. I feel no pity for Americans working abroad - they get to see first hand what their foreign policies are doing to the rest of the world. Ian Anderson, Aberdeen, UK Cry me a river. How much American tolerance and openness do Iranian visitors to the US experience these days? We can't pick and choose the aspects of our national image we want to be identified with. This extreme form of individualism - 'I'm only responsible for what I myself did, not what my government does in my name' - is precisely the sort of thing which gives Americans such a bad name. Scott, Stirling, UK As a rule, any opinion expressed in a British pub should be ignored. Andrew , Montreal, Canada Ms Cox shouldn't really be surprised in the current climate. More and more people are coming to realise the US administration is the biggest terrorist organisation in the world. Unfortunately, their citizens will increasingly take the backlash, even though many of them are against US foreign policy - just as many Muslims are against such atrocities as 9/11 and Bali. John Lockett, Burnley, UK I am shocked and disgusted at the people on this board, in particular Scott in Stirling and Ian Anderson, who condone this vile behaviour. Perhaps they wished the USA hadn't interfered in WWII? When you visit America they are the most welcoming of hosts and very friendly towards us Brits. Furthermore when America follows isolationist policies the rest of the world complains they don't do enough. I'm sure the Bosnian Muslims would like to thank America for pushing NATO to take action in the Balkans when the rest of Europe turned a blind eye. Alex Taylor, Bolton, UK I have a question for my esteemed British cousins - what is it that 'America' is doing that you yourselves are not? We invaded Iraq. So did you. We invaded Afghanistan. So did you. We support Israel with money and weapons. So do you. We have nukes. So do you. Our military is deployed in other people's countries in order to make them do what we want. As is yours. The more I think about it, Britain is about the least qualified nation on earth to condemn 'American' foreign policy. John, Los Angeles, USA Craig Eastman's comment "that in general Americans are a loathsome, naive, petulant bunch", ironically indicates the very thing Americans are accused of elsewhere in this discussion - being insular and having stereotypical views of the world. Has Mr Eastman ever strayed far from Merseyside. Perhaps he should visit the USA? Dave Taylor (British), Seattle, USA I think some Americans intentionally mis-read negative comments about Bush as being anti-American and then whine about it. I love my country and am as pro-American as one can get, but I hate Bush and what he has done to my nation's reputation around the world. People are not anti-American, they are anti-Bush and that is NOT the same thing. Randal S. Los Angeles, USA Interesting that some people can portray them selves as other nationalities to avoid dealing with situations. Sometimes I wish I had the same luxury and was able to change colour. Ahmed, London, UK I honestly think its all about the tone and volume. Americans are always WAH WAH WAH on the train, in the restaurants. You can hear them a mile off. Its as irritating as when someone is talking on their mobile loudly in a train. It gives the impression they are better than everyone else. What I would advise Americans to do is to talk less, listen more, and talk more softly. Don't get me wrong, I love Americans, I never generalise, but I have met many arrogant ones and it is such a shame they give this impression. Stevo, London, UK I am very sorry to hear how Ms Cox has been treated. I think that kind of behaviour amounts to full on racism and should be treated as so. We have to understand that everybody is an individual and not to stereotype. I am a Asian Muslim in England, but it would be wrong to hold me responsible for the actions of a few. I most likely hate the London bombers more than a white English person, as those bombers have given my colour, motherland, and religion a bad name. I hope Ms Cox does not experience any more hassle. Jahan Khan, Whitechapel I can't tell you how sad this story made me. I have been an Anglophile all my life. My fondest dream is to spend time in the UK. I respect your people and culture so much. I am descended not only from England, but Scotland, Ireland and Wales as well! But I am to suffer abuse for it, because I was born in the US? I guess I have to go on loving the dream of England and not make the trip. By the way, I didn't vote for Bush. As a veteran, I would find it very hard to say I was from Canada. Chin up all you Americans in the UK. Maybe you are just running into the loony few? I hope so. Jana Palumbo, Georgia, USA E-mail this to a friend Printable version YOUR NEWS Come to the seaside with us... Have you ever drank and dialled? 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Or so Hollywood would have us believe. Colditz, the infamous German PoW camp, is set to be given the Tinsel Town film treatment with a cast including the American superstars Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Colditz escapes: Britain 109, America 0 The numerous and daring escapes by imprisoned British servicemen from the castle stronghold have become a cornerstone of our national "stiff-upperlipery". Few Americans were held at the top security camp and, more controversially for the film makers, none broke out. Fancy a bet that Cruise and co will be donning British battledress for the movie? Though latecomers to the global conflict, America has long portrayed itself as World War II's main protagonist, thanks to the dominance of its movie industry. Great escapism Hollywood's renewed interest in the war promises to convince the Playstation generation that America overcame Germany and Japan single-handed. Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Saving Private Ryan was accused of marginalising the efforts of British and Canadian troops on D-Day. The British and Canadians also went ashore on D-Day The upcoming naval drama U-571 has sailed into an even greater storm. It has US sailors capturing a Nazi submarine and its Enigma code machine, whereas in real life the raid was pulled off by the Royal Navy even before America's entry into the war. Jeffrey Walsh, a Manchester Metropolitan University academic who has studied America's self-image in war films, says Hollywood's take on the conflict is skewed. Moral minefield "These films need to be treated with a considerable amount of scepticism and caution. Exploring American myths and narratives is more important to them than historical fact." Mr Walsh says the relative moral simplicity of the war is one of the reasons "Hollywood has gone for World War II in a big way". "They see it as a rather straight-forward war between good and evil. Conflicts such as in the Balkans are difficult for American audiences to understand. They wouldn't make the best films." American "heroes" have had it tough since Vietnam The fight against fascism also gives Hollywood directors the opportunity to exorcise the ghost of less glorious but more recent conflicts. "There's a definite change in the representation of war in these films as opposed to the angst-ridden movies about Vietnam." Alf Louvre, who co-wrote Tell Me Lies About Vietnam with Mr Walsh, agrees. War hero "The glut of World War II films is part of an attempt to overcome the unique defeat in Vietnam. They have re-invented the notion of the heroic American which that war put on ice for a long time." Mr Walsh says Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line have given the American male a welcome respite. "They're getting quite a good press. In the past 25 years American soldiers have been portrayed as deeply troubled or even psychotic." Hitting the beach and forgetting the Brits Total Film critic Cam Winstanley says profit is the bottom line in the Hollywood Americanisation of World War II. "I'd put it down to insular American audiences. Americans want to see films about Americans. That's where the money is." Mr Winstanley points to Saving Private Ryan, which contained only one reference to the British forces in Normandy, "and that was a disparaging comment about Montgomery". A losing battle A film attempting to show the complexity of the war or redress the balance for America's wartime allies would probably make few inroads into these entrenched attitudes. "To get made at all, most British films need at least one American star. Despite sharing a language, most of our films are regarded as foreign to US cinemagoers." Not all Hitler's enemies were American Admittedly the British film industry of the 40s and 50s, which made its own version of the Colditz story, was responsible for skewing the facts in our favour. However, the global reach of Hollywood threatens to engulf the truth about World War II. "Spielberg's Schindler's List is taken as a historic document, shown in American schools. It's quite possible that Saving Private Ryan is seen in just the same way," says Mr Winstanley. Hollywood directors may still have a battle on their hands. The dramatic licence in U571 has created a row involving questions in the Commons and President Clinton himself. "As you know," wrote the President to Labour MP Paul Trusswell, "Universal Studios has stated that the film is not intended to be an accurate portrayal of historic events." Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Clinton? WATCH/LISTEN ON THIS STORY Kenneth Lockwood, secretary Colditz association "I think we have had enough films about Colditz" See also: 25 Feb 99 | Entertainment Hollywood hijacks history 11 Feb 00 | Europe Stalingrad meets Hollywood 08 Sep 98 | Entertainment Veterans back Spielberg war epic 19 Mar 99 | Entertainment Veterans riled by Ryan 20 Aug 99 | Americas US military goes to Hollywood 15 Mar 00 | Entertainment Beckinsale's 'big break' 30 Jan 00 | UK Colditz 'escape' foiled a second time 20 Apr 00 | UK Hitler ordered 'Great Escape' massacre Internet links: U-571 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top UK stories now: No rush to war, says Blair 10,000 chased for congestion fine Omagh detectives make arrest Beckham forgives Ferguson Waiter jailed for underage sex Britons 'baffled over euro rate' Sleepy drivers who kill face jail Man charged after boy stabbed Links to more UK stories are at the foot of the page. E-mail this story to a friend Links to more UK stories In This Section No rush to war, says Blair 10,000 chased for congestion fine Omagh detectives make arrest Beckham forgives Ferguson Waiter jailed for underage sex Britons 'baffled over euro rate' Sleepy drivers who kill face jail Man charged after boy stabbed Climbdown on care home rules Ex-Gurkhas take MoD to court Foster anger over Cheriegate film Fame or misfortune beckons for weblogs? Sex workers say 'let us stay' Expat e-mail: Afghanistan EU warning to Iraq considered ^^ Back to top News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Entertainment | Science/Nature | Technology | Health | Talking Point | Country Profiles | In Depth | Programmes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> | To BBC World Service>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy BBC News | EDUCATION | Universities look to US system low graphics version | feedback | help You are in: Education Front Page World UK UK Politics Business Sci/Tech Health Education Correspondents How the Education Systems Work Sport Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo Wednesday, 16 February, 2000, 15:49 GMT Universities look to US system Are British universities becoming more and more like their American cousins? First there was the introduction of student fees. Now the government has put up signposts pointing universities towards shorter degrees and on-line courses. Could the next step be top-up fees at elite universities? As the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, set out his vision for the future of British universities, I was struck by the similarity to what I experienced recently during a four-month fellowship at the University of Michigan. A British university education still looks like a Rolls Royce service for a Mini Clubman price. But things are changing fast. Although it is not an Ivy League institution, Michigan is one of the United States' most prestigious public universities. Public universities are much cheaper than their private counterparts, but by British standards they still look expensive. Students from the state of Michigan pay annual fees of $6,000 (around £3,600) a year. Those from outside the state pay $20,000 (£12,000). Living costs come on top of this. So an out-of-state student at Michigan will pay almost £50,000 in fees to obtain a typical four-year Bachelor's degree. This does not buy them small classes or one-to-one tuition. First year classes are several hundred strong, and even higher level undergraduate courses will have enrolments of up to 100. Most other contact with professors will be by e-mail. 'Awkward transition' By these standards, a British university education still looks like a Rolls Royce service for a Mini Clubman price. But things are changing fast. Our universities are still in the awkward transition between the old, elite service for the few and a cheaper mass system for the many. Just consider the numbers: in the 1960s just 5% of the age cohort went to university. Those lucky enough to make it received free tuition and grants to cover living costs. Now, with over 30% going into higher education, students must pay fees and, apart from low-interest loans, are largely on their own in paying their living costs. 'Professors and students communicate almost entirely by e-mail' The new two-year vocational degrees are intended to broaden access to university to help the government meet its target of 50% of adults experiencing higher education. They are also recognition of the fact that many young people are not willing to invest three years' worth of fees and delayed earnings to get a degree. In the US there is already a two year "associate" degree option. Students can pursue these in either the fast-growing community college sector or at universities. It is quite common for people to get their associate degree, work for a few years, and then return to upgrade it to a full degree after a further two years study. Another American import is the growing use of the internet for educational and commercial purposes. At Michigan, the university already operates by using e-mail and the internet, even for students resident on campus. Undergraduates are the cash-cows of American universities, herded through vast, impersonal courses. For example, course descriptions exist only on the university website; there are no printed copies. Professors and students communicate almost entirely by e-mail. Like other universities, Michigan is now looking at delivering distance degrees via the internet. It is a potentially very lucrative market. David Blunkett made it clear in his recent Greenwich speech that he expects British universities to start to raise more of their own funds. He also announced the creation of "e-universities" to be run by consortia of "real" universities. The government has recognised that learning has become "big global business" and wants to ensure Britain gets a slice of the action. But the Americans were there first and have more financial muscle. Alumni associations Watch out too for another characteristic of American universities: alumni associations. Former students now find themselves on university data-bases which are used to offer commercial services, such as university credit cards, and to promote fund-raising events. British universities are still amateurs at this game by comparison with American universities, which all have thriving alumni associations. At Michigan, for example, former students keep their university e-mail address for life. Commercial companies would pay the university a fortune for access to its e-mail lists; so far the university has refused, seeing greater opportunities to make money by providing its own services to almuni. Such is the interest of the alumni that University of Michigan football matches attract a regular home game crowd of 111,000. Former students will travel hundreds of miles to see their old college team play. A pay-TV service of college sport is one of many commercial ideas the university is considering. The growing Americanisation of our universities may be inevitable, but there are costs. Undergraduates are the cash-cows of American universities, herded through vast, impersonal courses. Students, aware of their growing debts, often want to speed through their courses as efficient note-takers but with little interest in time-consuming intellectual discussion. The spread of internet lecture note services has even taken away the need for students to turn up on campus at all. While few would want to go back to the narrow and exclusive university system of the past, the dangers of universities become "global businesses" is that the students get less and less as they pay more and more. Search BBC News Online Advanced search options BBC RADIO NEWS BBC ONE TV NEWS WORLD NEWS SUMMARY BBC NEWS 24 BULLETIN PROGRAMMES GUIDE See also: 15 Feb 00 | Education Universities told to catch the e-wave 15 Feb 00 | Education Critics attack short vocational degrees 15 Feb 00 | Education Blunkett feels tuition fees pressure Internet links: University of Michigan The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Links to other Education stories are at the foot of the page. E-mail this story to a friend Links to more Education stories In This Section Schools' budgets may be frozen Students 'stressed by exam overload' Anger at education scheme benefit cut New 'focus' for school tests Boost for ethnic minority teachers Healthy eating in schools 'backfires' Link between poverty and truancy Language study for the 21st Century Ofsted inspections 'damage' schools Peak season brings school trip fears The dilemma of private tuition Private tuition 'distorts' results Exam papers binned in marking mix-up Blairs join private tuition boom Former pupils lose bullying case Costly summer child care Mother's jail warning over truant son Union row over specialist schools Head suspended over 'altered' exams AS-levels 'here to stay' Teacher investigated over e-mails Blair children 'given private tuition' Tests 'at expense of creativity' Schoolgirls fight to wear trousers ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy BBC NEWS | UK | England | Essex | Fight to save English spelling Home News Sport Radio TV Weather Languages [an error occurred while processing this directive] Low graphics | Accessibility help One-Minute World News News services Your news when you want it News Front Page Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales UK Politics Education Magazine Business Health Science & Environment Technology Entertainment Also in the news ----------------- Video and Audio ----------------- Programmes Have Your Say In Pictures Country Profiles Special Reports RELATED BBC SITES SPORT WEATHER ON THIS DAY EDITORS' BLOG Last Updated: Thursday, 5 June, 2003, 20:30 GMT 21:30 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Fight to save English spelling Teachers at Eight Ash Green in Essex insist on proper spelling A campaign is being launched to protect English words from being replaced by American spellings. Colchester MP Bob Russell wants to prevent youngsters from being shown words such as "utilize", "color" and "traveling". He wants to force computer companies to install spellchecking software which offers English instead of American definitions. Mr Russell said: "I also want the government to lead by example so all our schoolchildren, and the public generally, use the English spelling and not the American spelling." Many operating systems, such as Microsoft's Windows, already allow users to select the language they use on the computer. Endangered spelling? UK colour vs US color UK centre vs US center UK travelling vs US traveling UK analyse vs US analyze UK plough vs US plow But often popular web sites utilise American English. The primary school at Eight Ash Green in Essex, in Mr Russell's constituency, is sticking up for traditional British English. Headteacher Nick Rudman told BBC Look East that when pupils there leave the "u" out of the word labour, they are soon put right. E-mail this to a friend Printable version BBC Essex Sport, travel, weather, things to do, features and much more SEE ALSO: Bridging the language divide 24 Apr 03 | UK An education in the States 13 Apr 02 | Education Divided by English 19 Jul 01 | UK News What does 'snog' mean? 17 Jul 01 | UK News Internet + English = Netglish 23 Mar 01 | UK News RELATED INTERNET LINKS: Comparison of British and American usage The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites TOP ESSEX STORIES British woman killed in Hong Kong Concern for missing 14-year-old UK soldier killed in blast named PRODUCTS AND SERVICES E-mail news Mobiles Alerts News feeds Podcasts News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia UK | Business | Entertainment | Science/Nature | Technology | Health Have Your Say | In Pictures | Week at a Glance | Country Profiles | In Depth | Programmes BBC Copyright Notice MMIX Most Popular Now | 72,400 pages were read in the last minute. 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He was commenting on the threat to world order posed by the continuing rift between Europe and the US in the wake of the Iraq war. Relations between America and France reached an all time low following French President Jacques Chirac's outspoken criticism of the US-led conflict. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was concerned about "trite anti-Americanism" in the UK, arguing it had "become fashionable". It's a sort of racialist view that the USA is wrong in principle and wrong in practice Lord Robertson Lord Robertson and Mr Straw were speaking in "Which Way are We Facing", a BBC Radio 4 programme examining the British public's attitudes to the US and to Europe. The programme, to be broadcast at 1900GMT on Monday, also looks at how much British anti-Americanism there is. 'Generic attack' Lord Robertson, a former UK defence secretary, said: "Anti-Americanism I see not as a criticism of individual policies or even an individual president. It's a sort of racialist view that the USA is wrong in principle and wrong in practice. "It is a generic attack on America and American standards and American values and approaches. "I'm very worried about anti-Americanism because I think it is deeply corrosive to a relationship that is critically important for the overall security of the world. Chirac - out in the cold? "These attitudes are deeply worrying, deeply corrosive and have to be tackled head on. If they're not, then the future is bleak indeed. "If they continue to be criticised in that unreasoning and emotive way then I see disengagement being the outcome and that being much more dangerous to all of us than American involvement or interventionism." Mr Straw echoed this concern and reminded people of the "immense" contribution made by the US "for the good". 'Obsession' "I am worried about trite anti-Americanism in this country," he told the programme. "I think that people get obsessed about the United States because of its immense wealth and power. I think it's just become fashionable, this kind of anti-Americanism, and it's a convenient parody. "If you look at the United States of course there are things that we would not necessarily approve of, but if you look at the US's contribution to where we are today, it has been immense and for the good. "First of all they did literally save Europe from the most terrible tyranny in the Second World War but in addition if you look at IT, you look at biotech, the things that these days keep us going, make our lives happier and healthier, it's to America that we owe a huge amount. "People need to remember that." Email this to a friend Printable version STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ KEY STORIES Fresh bombings hit Iraq pilgrims Deadly bombings hit Iraq pilgrims Blair 'misread' Iran view on Iraq US soldier on Iraq leaks charges FEATURES AND ANALYSIS Day at the races The remarkable survival of Baghdad racecourse Dangerous stalemate after election Water still muddy after Sadr vote Sadrist vote could anoint new Iraq PM Iraq views: Voters' uncertainty lingers Can Allawi heal Iraq's wounds? The Iraqi bridge to stability Baghdad diary: Three generations GUIDES AND BACKGROUND Iraq: Key facts and figures Guide to groups in Iraqi polls Q&A: Iraqi parliamentary polls VIDEO PROFILES Paper seller: 'God knows who will win' Tailor: 'Business was good under Saddam' Tennis player: 'I have the same dream' SPECIAL REPORT Struggle for Iraq TOP UK POLITICS STORIES Prison 'not linked' to crime drop Whitehall 'supported Guantanamo' Government wins VAT Commons votes PRODUCTS AND SERVICES E-mail news Mobiles Alerts News feeds Podcasts News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia UK | Business | Entertainment | Science/Nature | Technology | Health Have Your Say | In Pictures | Week at a Glance | Country Profiles | In Depth | Programmes BBC Copyright Notice MMIX Most Popular Now | 72,400 pages were read in the last minute. 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Our criticisms and stereotypes of Americans are not helpful and actually hinder British policy-making, writes Chris Smith. Is Britain inextricably becoming more like America? Do we want to become more like America? These are accusations and challenges we have been hearing increasingly (from various sections of political society) since the coalition took power last May and embarked on its path of public service reform. Speaking as someone sceptical of American-style capitalism, interventionist foreign policy and consumer culture I have found myself susceptible to the cry that Britain’s right-wing wants us to be more like America, and unless we make efforts to the contrary we will become the USA. Such thinking is an oversimplification of what American life truly is and also a disservice to the nation and its citizens because it implies America’s is a societal model to fear. As the most acute commentators of the left, such as Nick Cohen, have observed the most prevalent attitude towards America involve accusations that life in America is worse than in an Arab Emirate or a war-torn African republic. More rational and fully-rounded thinking is required on this issue – there is more to becoming “Americanised” than only being able to shop in Wal-Mart or not being able to afford healthcare. The biggest issue of all of course healthcare. Any British government who announces plans to reform the NHS is instantly met by cries that it seeks to privatise the service and replace it with an American style system that will result in those unable to pay for treatment getting kicked from hospital bed to gutter in the time it takes to decline a debit card. Like most large political issues this is hysteria that has moved away from rational debate. The American system does fail substantial numbers of citizens, and I will defend the NHS as a national treasure that we should be more proud of – but this is to miss the point. The majority of us have only superficial knowledge of how healthcare in America works and like most other issues we confuse how the United States is a union of individual States (like the EU) with different politico-economic make up. The state of Massachusetts for example provides universal healthcare and did so before President Obama made the issue a federal mandate that was signed into law by Republican governor Mitt Romney. Only in America, huh? What is the most prominent thing we all know about America? That there is a gun on every street corner? That it is being fired in the air by a bible-thumping, gay hating, evangelical soccer mum driving an SUV that guzzles gas like Starbucks coffee and will turn that gun on you if you mention socialism, global warming or a woman’s right to an abortion? Take your pick.  These things are all true, aren’t they? And they are a glimpse of things to come here if we do not take measures against it. Those measures include stopping Rupert Murdoch at every turn or else he will turn Sky News into Fox News UK. Or opposing all government proposals to reform healthcare because it will make us a less caring society (and more like America) if we even accept the idea government spending needs rethinking. I do think social services should be protected but all we get from the Labour party and popular left (as I call the British political mainstream opposing the coalition) is scaremongering in the place of actual alternative policy. The public deserve more than this, they deserve a higher level of debate about where their country is headed rather than blind assertions that the coalition is going to Americanise us. Ultimately all who genuinely fear that the UK will sleepwalk into an American dystopian state need only examine our cultural history to be reassured that such an idea is mere propaganda. As Britons we don not have it in us to be like Americans or create the type of nation they have. America is the only nation in the world founded on an idea, the idea that freedom is sacred in all forms: political; economic; social; religious; press; thought speech and expression. In Britain we are a nation increasingly uncomfortable and unfamiliar with our history and national evolution. I suggest this insecurity makes us fear becoming another America (even when that nation is the most successful in the world). Fear does strange things to all of our minds, but what makes it worse is our politicians, who should quell our fears, are stoking them for political advantage. New Labour politicians defunct of energy or ideas know all they need do to marshal opposition to coalition healthcare policy is to claim “this will make us more like America”. We need to be more mature about our scorn of America especially for political advantage. Does anybody seriously think a world in which China or Russia is dominant would be better? Thought not. We need to ignore the hyperbole about, and lazy criticisms of, America when debating the proposed changes to Britain’s healthcare system. Share this article Tweet Discussion Trackbacks/Pingbacks [...] Read my first contribution to [...] Healthcare: Why we shouldn’t fear the cry “Americanisation” « chrissmithwriteshere - July 26, 2011 Post a Comment Click here to cancel reply Name * E-mail * Website Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting. Subscribe Via Email Don't miss out on a single post, sign up and get the latest news and articles delivered straight to your emails. Enter your email address: Join Us On Facebook Follow Us On Twitter © 2013 Politics On Toast. All Rights Reserved. Advertise | Awards | Contact | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Google XML Sitemap "Doctor Who Movie Won't be Americanised", says Moffat | The Film Review Film News Gossip Red Carpet Upcoming films Weekend Box office Film Reviews Action & Thriller Sci-fi & fantasy Comedy Romance Animation Kids & teens Independent British films World cinema Documentary Trailers DVDs Features Top tens Interviews The lowdown Competitions Fun Quiz Submit Your Own Quiz Polls The film review “Doctor Who movie won’t be Americanised”, says Moffat — Written by May Sollawn On 5th December 2011 Head of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat took to Twitter to dispel worries the planned film adaptation of the hit BBC series, would be an Americanised version unfaithful to the source material. We reported last month that the Doctor’s adventures in the Tardis are to be made into a film with Harry Potter director David Yates at the helm. Yates was quoted as saying the film would stand alone from the TV series, and that he would work alongside LA-based BBC Worldwide to find a writer for the screenplay. It will be noted that LA is a long way from the warehouse in Cardiff where the hit Sci-Fi series is brought to life. “Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch,” David Yates said. This understandably led to a mass panic among devoted ‘Whovians’ who are concerned the film which is set to be a big Hollywood production will be Americanised and not do justice to the iconic British series. Head of Doctor Who Steven Moffat however took to Twitter on Friday to calm fans down. “To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot,” he wrote. And in relation to David Yates’ comments regarding the subject added: “David Yates, great director, was speaking off the cuff, on a red carpet. You’ve seen the rubbish I talk when I’m cornered.” Phew! Fellow Whovian’s can breath easy now our devoted leader has asserted his authority. It is yet to be seen if the current Doctor, Matt Smith will star in the film or if he and his companion Amy ( Karen Gillan ) will have moved on by then. Who knows maybe even Steven Moffat won’t be the Head anymore once the big screen adaptation comes to fruition. So, who do you think is telling the truth? Yates or Moffat? VN:F [1.9.13_1145] please wait... 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Continue Reading Watch the latest trailers. Watch Trailers now! Coming soon About Us Contact Us Advertising Privacy Terms & Conditions BBC - Nick Bryant's Australia: The American in Australia British Broadcasting Corporation Home Accessibility links Skip to content Skip to local navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk search Help Accessibility Help IN ASSOCIATION WITH « Previous | Main | Next » The American in Australia Nick Bryant | 07:34 UK time, Monday, 7 December 2009 For the first time in its history, Australia's most populous state has a female premier, a photogenic 40-year-old called Kristina Keneally, who is trying to become the acceptable face of what many voters in New South Wales look upon as an ugly and repellent political machine. More so than her gender, it is the criticism that she merely is a puppet of the two backroom powerbrokers who installed her as Labor leader that has been attracting the most comment. That, and the fact that she was born in Las Vegas, raised in Ohio and speaks still with a distinctive American accent, even though she is married to an Australian, has an Aussie mother, and became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2000, the year that she joined the Australian Labor Party. By strange coincidence, last week was a good one for foreign-born political leaders in Australia. Tony Abbott, who could declare himself a Londoner if ever he so desired, became the Liberal leader. In Kevin Rudd's absence, Julia Gillard, a product of Barry in South Wales, filled in as acting prime minister. In the immediate aftermath of the rejection of the emissions trading scheme, it was the Senate leader, the British-born Chris Evans, who led the attack on the opposition. And he was quickly joined by the climate change minister, Penny Wong, who was born in Malaysia. But while Australians have long been used to European-born politicians, and are getting increasingly used to Asian-born leaders - the Hong Kong-born John So served for over seven years as the Mayor of Melbourne - will they countenance an American-born leader? To pre-empt some of your comments, Kristina Keneally is perhaps a special case because she speaks in the accent of her homeland. To many, it sounds like pure American Pie . But could there also be an anti-Americanism at work in much of the US-focussed commentary? Like virtually every country in the world, Australia has fallen prey to America's rampant post-war cultural imperialism. And, often, willingly and happily so. The Australian box office is dominated by Hollywood movies. Cormac McCarthy is perhaps as popular these days as Thomas Keneally, Kristina's Booker prize-winning uncle. Channel Nine claims in its on-air promotions to be "Proudly Australian", but its schedules are packed with US imports, while its flagship news programme, Sixty Minutes, is a replica of the US original, right down to the tick, tock, tick of its iconic stopwatch. Likewise, Channel Seven's successful Sunrise programme breakfast show is modelled on NBC's Today show, with Martin Place in Sydney substituting for New York's Rockefeller plaza for the out-of-studio walkabouts. The thumping theme music of its evening news was composed by the American film composer John Williams, and is heard in America each night at the start of NBC's primetime bulletin. The two most headline-making visitors to Australia this year were both Americans, Britney Spears and Tiger Woods, while the country has recently said farewell to one of its most-loved entertainers, the New Yorker Don Lane. Yet for all that, the American influence is by no means overwhelming. Not even close. My ears tend to prick up whenever I hear an American accent in Australia, because it happens so infrequently. If you look at the 20 most popular television programmes this year in Australia, no American show even makes the list (nor does a UK programme, for that matter). On the ABC, the national broadcaster, the preference is for the UK- rather than US-made. Even its finest US import, the mesmerising detective series The Wire, is buried away on ABC 2, while lesser British-made programmes, like say Spooks, are given better primetime slots on ABC 1. Listening to talk-back radio, so many of the comedic references are British rather than American, whether they come from Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, The Goons, The Goodies, The Office or Yes Minister. Last week, Malcolm Turnbull's attempts to cling on to the Liberal leadership were commonly compared to the decapitated Black Knight in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. In sport, despite Frank Packer's confident post-war assertion that baseball was the coming thing, cricket remains dominant. And while Kerry Packer might have borrowed some US-style razzmatazz when he launched World Series cricket, it was still an emphatically Australian product - popularised by the ringing anthem, "Come on Aussie, Come on". Basketball has failed to take off in Australia's most populous cities, and American Football does not have much of a following. Sporting colloquialisms also have an Aussie and British ring. Occasionally, you will hear a "that's out of left field", but rarely a "go the whole nine yards" or a "full court press". More commonly in Australia you will find yourself on "a sticky wicket" or suffering the humiliation of being "bowled a googly". In politics, Australia has a Senate and a House of Representatives, but that's pretty much the extent of the "Wash" contribution to the "Washminster model" of government. That said, Labor politics in New South Wales does a pretty good imitation of Tammany Hall. We've noted before that Australians do not tend to warm to the grand and flashy trappings of US presidential politics - a point driven home on Friday afternoon when I bumped into Kevin Rudd on a pedestrian crossing in central Sydney, while he was out doing what looked like some Christmas shopping. Happily, the roads were not shut, sharp-shooters did not peer down on him from roof-top vantage points and he, like the rest of us, had to wait for the light to turn green. And just look what happened to Starbucks, which was forced to lighten its Australian footprint, largely because the local competition was way too hot and Australians rejected this American transplant. Now the American coffee giant has largely been reduced to operating in Australian tourist traps, where it plays on its familiarity with overseas visitors. Starbucks has never managed to build up a really big, loyal, local clientele, partly because it was seen as an unwelcome intrusion from the US. Will Kristina Keneally give it a better shot? Bookmark with: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit - What's this? Comments Sign in or register to comment. Previous Next 1. At 08:35am on 07 Dec 2009 , Whitlamite wrote: Let's summarise: * Australians wary of Americans * Australians accepting of British and Asian born leaders * Australians embrace American Culture * Australians reject American business * Australian system of government still mostly British * Americans are rare in Australia * Australians are lax in securing the personal safety and security of their Prime Minister * Kristina Keneally = Starbucks Blimey. What sort of schizophrenic country are you living in, Nick? Because it can't be Australia. The Australia I know embraces Americans and the United States more generally. I know an enormous number of Americans who live in Australia, and countless more whom I encounter whilst visiting. Australia's system of government has always had a strong American influence, dating back to the early parliamentarian (American) King O'Malley, the man who put the 'Labor' in Australian Labor Party. Indeed the sensational visits to Australia by Mark Twain left us with some incredible insights into the trans-pacific relationship. During the US election in 2008 Republican Candidate John McCain wrote an article for the Australian press detailing the impact the visit of the 'Great White Fleet' of the US Navy had both on the servicemen and on the Australians who greeted it in 1908. On the one hand you indeed note the popularity of someone like Don Lane, but you also suggest that Australians are wary of Kristina Keneally. I am confused. I disagree with you on several counts. I find Americans and their accents commonplace in Australia, I along with millions of my countrymen embrace the arrival of starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, and Krispy Kreme; I believe that despite protestations by antiques to the contrary Australian politics is becoming more Americanised - and a good thing too. I am a democrat, and not a born-to-rule Imperialist like our traitorous Opposition Leader. I believe the Prime Minister of Australia is far more like the President of the United States than he is like the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As Australia (unlike the United Kingdom) does not have a resident native head of state, the head of government assumes a role similar to that in a popular sense. So again, I am confused about the actual point you're trying to make, Nick. Are you saying that Australians embrace Americans whilst rejecting them simultaneously? Are you saying that the British really are still in charge of Australian culture? Are you saying that... What are you saying? Are you perhaps trying to tell us that the British in Australia are wary of Americans in Australia? Tea thrown overboard into Sydney harbour perhaps? W. Complain about this comment 2. At 09:14am on 07 Dec 2009 , cryogyny wrote: @Whitlamite - just what are you trying to say? I am not sure where you come from but being born and bred in Sydney I certainly wasn't surrounded by American accents (besides those coming from the 'idiot box'). And please speak for yourself about Starbucks. And the Australian PM being more like the US President? That really has me stumped. Complain about this comment 3. At 09:34am on 07 Dec 2009 , 11pete11 wrote: 1 Whitlamite: Yes there are some very 'British' aspect to Nick's post that confirm what I have said in many of my posts. Namely that Brits still believe Australia is 'their' country. Take for example: "the fact that she was born in Las Vegas, raised in Ohio and speaks still with a distinctive American accent," Yet no mention of the accents of the ex Brits that were mentioned. Julia Gillard has a very Aussie accent, as does Tony Abbott. However, Chris Evans and a few others on both sides of Parliament, have made no attempt to speak 'Australian'...Have you ever heard Rupert Murdoch's mother speak...straight out of Buckingham Palace. Walk down any street in Australia and you're bound to bump into a 'pommy' accent more than an Aussie one. As so far as the American thing, yes there is some schitzoid aspects to what Nick is trying to say here. Complain about this comment 4. At 10:46am on 07 Dec 2009 , Ellis Turrell wrote: Australia turns to the US and the UK because they have nobody in their own country to call a celebrity. All the commercial networks are obsessed with Hollywood gossip because they just can't compete. Complain about this comment 5. At 11:04am on 07 Dec 2009 , FormerlyOldHermit wrote: I hope the new NSW Premier manages to keep her job. Last time I was in NSW nearly two whole Cabinets worth of ministers resigned in three weeks. Talk about a high turnaround! Complain about this comment 6. At 12:10pm on 07 Dec 2009 , redhotgreen wrote: Whitlamite, I think Nick's point is that there are contradictions in the relationship between Australia and the United States, hence his 'for and against' examples of the relationship. His question, i think, was whether the people of NSW would view Kristina Keneally through the positive or negative lens of the AU-US relationship. I would hope that her birthplace had nothing to do with her popularity. For a country that asks its migrants to integrate into Australian society, the Australian way of life, it would be a cruel irony to then deny them the opportunity to serve in a parliament. As for Starbucks; i think they arrived in Australia too late. The cafe culture had been well established in Australia for too long, and with a better product, for Starbucks to compete. For that, we can probably thank the Italian immigrants who refused to believe that coffee should come in only one variety; instant. Complain about this comment 7. At 12:52pm on 07 Dec 2009 , Oz Dave in London wrote: On the issue of Kristina Keneally, I don't care that she is American-born or a female, I find the bigger issue is what you noted about Kristina being the puppet of the Eddie & Joe show. Twice now, NSW Labor has dumped a Premier on NSW that we have not voted for, I feel Kristina is a lame duck who will suffer the indignity of a wallopping if the Libs can bring out a policy to go against the ALP. On the American issue, I think some of us don't realise the infiltration the American culture has in Aussie as well as other Western nations. If we banned all American product then pickings of entertainment, food and recreation would be reduced significantally but we'd find a way around it. I love the USA for visits and friendships I have there but I am proud Aussie is influenced not just by American culture, but as you pointed out Nick, by British, by European, by parts of Asia and by internal Aussie culture; it's what makes us Aussie :-) Complain about this comment 8. At 12:54pm on 07 Dec 2009 , jnhk201 wrote: I think on the whole, Australia embraces American culture wholeheartedly...just as it warmly welcomes nearly every other culture that comes to its shores! We're an open and progressive country. Complain about this comment 9. At 7:20pm on 07 Dec 2009 , Chinook wrote: I'm in a similar position as the Premier, a dual citizen spending most of my life in the States but a notable amount in Oz as well. The above comments sum it up nicely, Australia has a dynamic identity that not everyone agrees on. American culture inevitably leaves its mark, as it does in many places around the world. At the same time, despite their idealistic philanthropy, white Australians are generally less willing to accept Americans as 'Aussie' than other migrants. I have my own theories regarding tall poppy syndrome and an understandable concern for the blurring of identity. In the end, this tempest in a teacup gives us something to talk about and they get to take the mickey out of me. Complain about this comment 10. At 9:59pm on 07 Dec 2009 , pciii wrote: Gosh! Whitlamite and Pete, you really do need to try and be a little thicker skinned, you guys seem to find some kind of hidden colonial agenda in everyone of Nick's posts. Redhotgreen summarises very nicely the point Nick was raising. As for the assertion that "that Brits still believe Australia is 'their' country" because Nick does not detail which of the Brits or Malaysians still have their 'native' accents misses the point rather - this is about Americans (besides, it's pretty hard to miss Gillard's accent isn't it?) As for the issue in hand, there's undoubtedly a lot of US influence on culture here Australia. There's the obvious TV programmes/films and in my profession at least, legislation and techniques are often borrowed from over the (big) pond. Even some aspects of the school system here seem more American to these European eyes. But Crygyny is right, you don't hear an American accent all that often - even at the major tourist sites there's more Europeans and Asians milling about (do they know what they are missing?). For this reason, I suspect that Australians will be naturally less trustful of an American politician, at least until she's proved herself. Complain about this comment 11. At 10:00pm on 07 Dec 2009 , Treaclebeak wrote: Nick, Kristina's Keneally's accent doesn't sound like "pure American pie" to me, some sentences are completely Oz ,however she still uses the very distinctive American "r" sound. Most Australians are probably pro and anti-American culture at the same time,it's all very quantum really.We do seem to have a genius for rejecting some of America's best ideas, such as a Bill of Rights or simplified spelling,instead we adopted Starbucks and Halloween. Complain about this comment 12. At 10:21pm on 07 Dec 2009 , Agent 00Soul wrote: Why is it that whenever an article is written about possible anti-Americanism, their accent is inevitably one of the first things mentioned? Sometimes I read or watch the BBC and it seems like they want one standard for American citizens and one standard for the entire rest of the world. As for Australia, it's a nation of immigrants and, as far as I can tell, is pretty used to people from all over the world in important positions. Complain about this comment 13. At 11:11pm on 07 Dec 2009 , wollemi wrote: Australian politics goes beyond accents and previous nationalitiy, as expected in an immigrant country The main question about Kristina Keneally is what the departing Nathan Rees stated (and Nick notes) - is she a puppet of Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi. I think she is more than a puppet, rather an active particpant in the factional mess that is NSW Labor and which has paralysed progress in NSW. They've been a blight on Federal Labor and the Labor movement Kristina Keneally has been a disastrous Planning Minister, and as the Upper House inquiry indicated, filters information so as not to 'see' her staff involved in dodgy meetings with lobbyists for developers who have paid political donations. When put on the spot she then utters Biblical quotes from her theological training! Regarding Starbucks, I agree with redhotgreen #6, a cafe culture developed here around the 1970s, influenced by Italian migrants who introduced superb coffee. Starbucks was too late - and a poor comparison Complain about this comment 14. At 01:56am on 08 Dec 2009 , David wrote: One reason that Australians find so few Americans in Australia, is .. That it is so far away and so expensive to travel to. Airplane fare is sooo expensive for an American wanting to go to Australia. And most Americans, are, of course, not rich. But, funnily enough, we think of Australia as a paradise of beaches and coral reefs. So, we all want to go there. :) Complain about this comment 15. At 03:55am on 08 Dec 2009 , GaffaOz wrote: @ Whitlamite I think Nick is closer to the mark than you think. It's not so much that Australia is schizophrenic than a lot of countries are similar when it's comes to American culture. Certainly UK and France lap up American culture and yet freely sneer at it as much as, if not more so, than Australia. And although the Queen may live in the UK - her role is pretty much ceremonial - in that the country is for all practical purposes is run by the government. So I would say Australian politics is far closer in style to UK than US - because there is a recognisable formal opposition with the Punch and Judy style of Westminster politics and that elections don't run for a year with all the razzmatazz of US elections. What the Australia shares with the US is a federal system. @Pete111 Still with the bias BBC? I don't see how you can equate Nick's post somehow means that the Brits believe Australia is their country. Fact is - Keneally heritage gets more coverage by Australians reporters in Australia media than other Australian politicians of a British heritage. And due to Australia's heritage - Australians do speak within a range from distinctive Aussie accents to softer - even dare I say, more British accents. That's your heritage. To expect everyone to speak with a typical accent is silly and unpractical. Because I come from Somerset in the UK - do I have to speak like a rustic farmer? Complain about this comment 16. At 07:16am on 08 Dec 2009 , Eliza_nsw wrote: I am absolutley so happy - Brass balls Bishop, Ruddock are back yippeeee, and Barnaby, now we need, Fielding & Xenophan (?) and we have ideal Govt, who gives a hoot about the "fly by night" NSW premier. She could be from Mars, she's Labor - she's on borrowed time in power. remember the tune, people, come on Aussie, come on, come on, come on Aussie come on... Vote out the Prime Menace, and his cohorts. Complain about this comment 17. At 09:53am on 08 Dec 2009 , 11pete11 wrote: 16 Eliza_nsw: Are you serious??? Complain about this comment 18. At 7:20pm on 08 Dec 2009 , bryson wrote: Australia is a beautiful country and on my many visits, I have found the Australian people to be friendly, salt of the earth, patriotic, and proud of their history. As a Brit living in the USA that makes frequent visits to family living Australia, I was struck by the outward appearances at least, just how like America Australia is. The American influence is obvious in its buildings, shopping malls; even the colour’s that they are painted. You could be anywhere in the USA with the same buildings, colour schemes etc. The Australian TV is definitely American influenced. Which I’m guessing translates in to the use of American words such as “cookies, chips” etc. I think it is a great shame and something every culture needs to be mindful of not loosing its own national identity whilst embracing other cultures. It is possible to live side by side and retain your own identity but I believe when you have been given the compliment of living in someone else’s country you should become a citizen of that country and not try to change it in to the country you have just left Australia is great, its people are the best, I’d live there tomorrow if I had the money. Sadly it costs far to much to migrate there with fees in the high thousands or a ten year waiting list for the likes of parents that would like to be close to their children. So the Aussies don’t have to be concerned about any more bloody pommes moving to Aus or that they still think it’s their country as one writer wrote. That is why immigration is down from Europe and up from China there is only the Chinese and Americans that can afford the high fees that the Australian government charges for visa applications etc. Complain about this comment 19. At 8:51pm on 08 Dec 2009 , pciii wrote: #17: I fear she is. Complain about this comment 20. At 8:55pm on 08 Dec 2009 , DCHeretic wrote: Nick makes it seem like the US - Australian relationship is a one-way street. Americans in general have a lot of affection for the Aussies and Australian entertainers have made their mark on the US. Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Newton John, Dame Edna, and the late Heath Ledger are beloved by legions of US fans. Australian singer/actress Helen Reddy served as California Parks and Recreation Commissioner for three years. When I ask my friends and family to name the overseas destinations that they dream about, Australia is often at the top of the list. I myself hope to visit in a year or two. America and Australia are bound together by their common cultural heritage, frontier spirit, shared language, and as nations built by immigrants. Complain about this comment 21. At 9:01pm on 08 Dec 2009 , Jordan Cook wrote: the real distinction between the US and Australia is the influence of British culture. Nick's blog looks at American culture, which is relatively new in it's global hegemony. perhaps this discussion is better left to the future, when the pressure of world culture will drown out that of America on the Australian psyche. it's interesting how vehemently people get when they feel their "culture" is under attack; as if this abstract, human invention is all that defines us as an human being. Australia's culture is whatever the people there choose to absorb. Complain about this comment 22. At 9:54pm on 08 Dec 2009 , 11pete11 wrote: 19: 16 Eliz_nsw mentions Bishop, Rudd, Joyce, Xenephon, Fielding as if they will somehow replace the NSW State Government. I asked was she serious because ALL of them are currently Federal Reps of Senators...no way can they topple Keneally...they are in different Governments. Complain about this comment 23. At 11:25pm on 08 Dec 2009 , redhotgreen wrote: Kristina Keneally has a much bigger fight on her hands than the idea of her being an American. As Nick correctly points out, the NSW Labor government is seen as an 'ugly and repellent political machine' rather than a servant of the people. Back room political deals at the hands of factional interests have long been a feature of Australian politics, regardless of their ideological orientation. The difference now is that the back room has spilled over to the front lawn and the ugliness, in all its sordid splendor, is now for all to see. As for the American cultural imperialism, I suspect it is more to do with the size of the respective populations that determines the extent of Australian TV's content composition. America is, after all, around 15 times the size of Australia (population and economy wise that is). It is not unreasonable to expect the amount of American TV content in Australia to be around the same ratio. I don't suppose you could find out Nick? I think Australian culture is more British than American. I think the Australian 'tall poppy syndrome' is due to entrenched English reserve railing against perceived American brashness. Australian's love a winner, so long as you don't appear boastful, like an American. So perhaps Kristina Keneally will be fine, so long as she is humble. Complain about this comment 24. At 11:58pm on 08 Dec 2009 , lochraven wrote: Nick, was it your intent to cause dissension between Australia and the US? I most certainly think you did. Shame on you. Complain about this comment 25. At 02:28am on 09 Dec 2009 , LenDaHand wrote: It isnt because she is American - its because she is a puppet of the same people who have controlled NSW for last 15 years. Oh im nobodys puppet eh? ok your a wind up doll the Kristina. Nick we have been welcoming Americans here since the gold rush - even had a US President working here in early 1900's. We are about to see the death throws of a government - well we have for last 2 years. Kristina will be just the pig on the spit! Complain about this comment 26. At 10:29am on 09 Dec 2009 , Mick wrote: I think Nick makes a good point about whether Australia will accept an American-Australian politician as readily as they have accepted say Italian or Chinese Australian politicians. Kristina doesn't sound pure American Pie to my ears, in fact she veers quite weirdly between Yank and Strine. I've found that Australians get on well with Americans on a personal level (we have quite a few US-Australians in our office) but many seem to have that patronising Jeremy Clarkson-style antipathy towards "Americans". This is all rather academic for Kenneally, however. She is seen a a puppet of the hated Labor-right faction in NSW and unless she can persuade us otherwise she will get the boot at the next election, regardless of whether she is accepted as a fair dinkum Aussie. Complain about this comment 27. At 10:43pm on 09 Dec 2009 , Floyd wrote: The only part I found to criticise was the bit about Starbucks. McDonalds, every bit as much of an American import and much slagged-off on that account, has flourished like cown-of-thorns starfish. For ine, Starbucks has had to draw back a bit because we already had what they offered; ie really good coffee in cute atmospheric surroundings. I loved Starbucks when it arrived in Japan (where the alternative was the sort of coffee you'd serve your mates in a student house, but at six bucks a cup and in a smokey room) but would never darken their doors here - not out of anti-Americanism but because, well, what would be the point? Complain about this comment 28. At 11:04am on 12 Dec 2009 , Evan wrote: #20 - Spot on! Complain about this comment 29. At 00:13am on 15 Dec 2009 , David wrote: I like Austalians without regard to observational generalizing stuff--let people be people. And she IS right wing, so dislike of her is not based on anti-Americanism--it is only *helped* by anti-Americanism--in my center/left bent thinking. 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Latest contributors Nick Bryant BBC iD Sign in Search term: bbc.co.uk navigation News Sport Weather Travel TV Radio More… CBBC CBeebies Comedy Food Health History Learning Music Science Nature Local Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Full A-Z of BBC sites BBC links Mobile site Terms of Use About the BBC Advertise With Us Privacy BBC Help Ad Choices Cookies Accessibility Help Parental Guidance Contact Us BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. BBC News - Viewpoint: Why do some Americanisms irritate people? Accessibility links Skip to content Skip to local navigation Accessibility Help bbc.co.uk navigation News Sport Weather Travel Future Autos TV Radio More… Search term: Magazine Home UK Africa Asia Europe Latin America Mid-East US & Canada Business Health Sci/Environment Tech Entertainment Video Magazine In Pictures Also in the News Editors' Blog Have Your Say World News TV World Service Radio Special Reports 13 July 2011 Last updated at 10:41 GMT Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Viewpoint: Why do some Americanisms irritate people? Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The offal truth about American haggis Burma learns to protest - against China First records, and where you bought them Twilight of the wombat British people are used to the stream of Americanisms entering the language. But some are worse than others, argues Matthew Engel. I have had a lengthy career in journalism. I hope that's because editors have found me reliable. I have worked with many talented colleagues. Sometimes I get invited to parties and meet influential people. Overall, I've had a tremendous time. Lengthy. Reliable. Talented. Influential. Tremendous. All of these words we use without a second thought were not normally part of the English language until the establishment of the United States. The Americans imported English wholesale, forged it to meet their own needs, then exported their own words back across the Atlantic to be incorporated in the way we speak over here. Those seemingly innocuous words caused fury at the time. The poet Coleridge denounced "talented" as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described "reliable" as vile. Continue reading the main story Find out more Listen to Matthew Engel discuss 'Americanisms' on Four Thought on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 13 July at 2045 BST Listen again via the BBC iPlayer Or download the podcast My grandfather came to London on the outbreak of World War I and never lost his mid-European accent. His descendants have blended into the landscape. That's what happens with immigration. It's the same with vocabulary migration. The French have always hated this process with a very Gallic passion, and their most august body L'Academie Francaise issues regular rulings on the avoidance of imported words. English isn't like that. It is a far more flexible language. Anarchic even. That's part of the secret of its success. It has triumphed where Latin, French and the artificial language of Esperanto all ultimately failed, and become the natural medium of global communication. This is the version of English sometimes known as "Globish". Apart from the occasional falling out, the US and the UK have usually been friends To use it requires only a rudimentary knowledge of grammar and, so it is said, a vocabulary of a mere 1,500 words. But what the world is speaking - even on levels more sophisticated than basic Globish - is not necessarily our English. According to the Oxford Guide to World English, "American English has a global role at the beginning of the 21st Century comparable to that of British English at the start of the 20th". The alarming part is that this is starting to show in the language we speak in Britain. American usages no longer swim to our shores as single spies, as "reliable" and "talented" did. They come in battalions. In the 1930s, the talkies took hold and represented the first overwhelming manifestation of American cultural power. This was reinforced in the 1940s by the presence of large numbers of US servicemen in Britain and the 1950s marked the heyday of the western. There may have been a brief pushback after that, in the era of Swinging London, as Bill Haley and Elvis faded, and the Beatles and Stones conquered the world, along with words like "fab" and "groovy". In the years since, however, the movement seems to have become overwhelming, unstoppable and almost wholly one way, with the exception of Harry Potter. Continue reading the main story The coining of the term J Witherspoon, writing in the Pennsylvania Journal, 1781 The first class I call Americanisms, by which I understand an use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences, in Great Britain. The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scotticism. American culture is ubiquitous in Britain on TV and the web. As our computers talk to us in American, I keep having to agree to a license spelt with an s. I am invited to print something in color without the u. I am told "you ghat mail". It is, of course, always e-mail - never our own more natural usage, e-post. As an ex-American resident, I remain a big fan of baseball. But I sit over here and listen to people who know nothing of the games talk about ideas coming out of "left field". They speak about "three strikes and you're out" or "stepping up to the plate" without the foggiest idea what these phrases mean. I think the country has started to lose its own sense of itself. In many respects, English and American are not coming together. When it comes to new technology, we often go our separate ways. They have cellphones - we have mobiles. We go to cash points or cash machines - they use ATMs. We have still never linked hands on motoring terminology - petrol, the boot, the bonnet, known in the US as gas, the trunk, the hood. Yet in the course of my own lifetime, countless routine British usages have either been superseded or are being challenged by their American equivalents. We no longer watch a film, we go to the movies . We increasingly have trucks not lorries. A hike is now a wage or price rise not a walk in the country. Ugly and pointless new usages appear in the media and drift into everyday conversation: Faze , as in "it doesn't faze me" Hospitalize , which really is a vile word Wrench for spanner Elevator for lift Rookies for newcomers, who seem to have flown here via the sports pages. Guy , less and less the centrepiece of the ancient British festival of 5 November - or, as it will soon be known, 11/5. Now someone of either gender. And, starting to creep in, such horrors as ouster , the process of firing someone, and outage , meaning a power cut. I always read that as outrage. And it is just that. I am all for a living, breathing language that evolves with the times. I accept that estate agents prefer to sell apartments rather than flats - they sound more enticing. I accept that we now have freight trains rather than goods trains - that's more accurate. Many British people step up to the plate and have ideas out of left field I accept that sometimes American phrases have a vigour and vivacity. A relative of mine told me recently he went to a business meeting chaired by a Californian woman who wanted everyone to speak frankly. It was "open kimono". How's that for a vivid expression? But what I hate is the sloppy loss of our own distinctive phraseology through sheer idleness, lack of self-awareness and our attitude of cultural cringe. We encourage the diversity offered by Welsh and Gaelic - even Cornish is making a comeback. But we are letting British English wither. Britain is a very distinct country from the US. Not better, not worse, different. And long live that difference. That means maintaining the integrity of our own gloriously nuanced, subtle and supple version - the original version - of the English language. This is an edited version of Matthew Engel's Four Thought broadcast. More on This Story In today's Magazine The offal truth about American haggis Traditional Scottish haggis is banned in the United States. With Burns Night looming, how do fans satisfy their taste for oatmeal and offal? Burma learns to protest - against China Lucy Ash examines what the explosion in popular protest over a Chinese-backed copper mine says about democratic changes in Burma. First records, and where you bought them The Magazine's recent article about buying first records, prompted a response from readers with their own memories Twilight of the wombat Georgina Kenyon meets conservationists in Australia fighting to save the wombat. 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links Skip to content Skip to local navigation Accessibility Help bbc.co.uk navigation News Sport Weather Travel Future Autos TV Radio More… Search term: US & Canada Home UK Africa Asia Europe Latin America Mid-East US & Canada Business Health Sci/Environment Tech Entertainment Video 26 December 2010 Last updated at 07:57 GMT Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print How the US cemented its worldwide influence with Spam By Kevin Connolly BBC News, Austin, Minnesota Most people can probably remember the moment when they first realised the seductive power and global pervasiveness of American culture. I had bought a bootleg CD of The Beach Boys' surfing songs in the remote north-eastern Russian republic of Sakha and had my photograph taken with a goat herder in Djibouti who was wearing a Six Million Dollar Man T-shirt. It is an extraordinary form of soft power which will endure even if the looming powerhouses of China, India and Brazil come to overshadow America's global economic dominance. Spam, Spam, Spam - The Spamjam restaurant in Manila serves almost everything with Spam After all, even when you're watching a Chinese flat-screen TV and driving an Indian car powered with Brazilian biofuels you almost certainly won't be wearing Indian-style clothing or humming Chinese pop songs as you go. Or watching Brazilian movies either. Next time you see television pictures of an anti-American demonstration anywhere on earth look closely at the crowd. Among the flag-burners you'll almost certainly see someone wearing an LA Lakers shirt or a Yankees baseball cap. My first exposure to American culture came back in the Doris Days of the early 1960s, growing up in a Britain that was still shaking off the lingering effects of rationing and the costs of post-war reconstruction. We had Elvis, of course, and Hollywood but the world was a lot less global then. It was still possible, for example, for British recording artists to have hit records by simply recording their own versions of songs that were already hits for American stars on the far side of the Atlantic. Spam Central But the flagship of American influence in my own life was Spam, the bright-pink pork luncheon meat that was a staple of the British working-class diet for several decades. It's still going strong in many markets around the world - including the United States - and although the odd concession has been made to changing times (it's less fatty and salty than it used to be) it's still essentially the same as it always was. I came to know it in the early 1960s, in the days before the invention of obesity. In common with millions of other British families we used to slice it, coat it in batter and then deep-fry it, thus producing that miracle of British culinary ingenuity known as the spam fritter. So when the time came to find a way to round off my three years as the BBC's North America correspondent, it seemed somehow fitting to head not for the bright lights of New York or Chicago but for the less showy charms of Austin, Minnesota, home of the Hormel Food Company. Spam Central, in short. Fighting fit - Spam and egg for breakfast It would be fair to say that Austin, like a lot of cities in the northern Mid West, is not flattered by the grim, flat light of early winter. But the Spam Museum, which is its main tourist attraction, is a riot of cheery colour. Inside you are treated to the services of a "Spambassador" (I said it was colourful, not subtle) and you enjoy a movie presentation that draws heavily on the musical work of a group of ladies called the Spamettes. And it turns out that it's not fanciful at all to see Spam as a symbol of the spread of American influence. Our Spambassador Chris George tells us that the product was already popular in the United States in the 1930s - the first radio jingle, in fact, is a kind of ode to Spam set to the tune of My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean. Versatile and delicious "It was World War II that made Spam international because American GIs brought it all over the world," he says. "And when there was food rationing in Britain and continental Europe, Spam was versatile, delicious, easy to transport and it kept a long time. Those are important qualities." Continue reading the main story Spam Fritters Make batter out of flour, egg milk, water, or beer Coat slices of spam in batter Fry for two to three minutes per side Marguerite Patten's wartime recipe Even allowing for the Spambassador's genius for turning every sentence about the stuff into a commercial, you can see the truth of that. The museum is honest enough to acknowledge that the GIs themselves got a little sick of Spam which they ate almost every day. But you can almost map the progress of their campaigns through the trail of portable, porky protein they left behind. Spam went to Europe of course but it went East as well and left its mark in Hawaii (home of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor), Japan, Guam and eventually Korea. It conjures up a strange new perspective on World War II - GIs struggling to get over the beaches of Normandy and across the sands of Iwo Jima before their arteries clogged up. But it makes you wonder if this is the reason why they put Spam in brick-shaped tins, because America used it to build its influence in a hungry post-war world. Cheeky brand Indeed it was the very ubiquity of Spam that made it seem so risible to Monty Python. But if they thought they had killed the brand with ridicule, they were sadly mistaken. Their celebrated sketch has pride of place in the museum. Evidence, muses Spambassador Chris philosophically, of the cheekiness of the brand. Continue reading the main story Spam trivia The US supplied huge amounts of Spam to the USSR in WWII Its original name was Hormel Spiced Ham - the name Spam was chosen in a competition Production in the UK (in Liverpool) ceased in 1998 Hormel Foods sued Jim Henson in 1995, after an "evil" boar called Spa'am featured in a Muppets movie Spam email is said to have been named after the Monty Python sketch, where the word takes over the dialogue A web archive of haiku about spam (or "spam-ku") contains 19,000 poems The Spam haiku archive You are perhaps unlikely to stumble across the home of Spam unless you find yourself driving from Minneapolis to Des Moines but it's genuinely worth a visit as a case study in how an iconic brand helped to introduce a wider world to American brands and ideas. It's quite a while since we stopped marvelling at the convenience of convenience food and started worrying about it was doing to us, but Spam continues to keep its place in a changing world. It is not much use as a nation-building tool in America's modern wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for example (pork, remember) but these are tough times in America and domestic sales are going rather well. More on This Story Related Internet links Spam Spam Museum The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print More US & Canada stories RSS Kerry faces confirmation hearing US Senator John Kerry is appearing before the Senate foreign relations committee, where he is expected to win easy confirmation as secretary of state. US to end ban on women in combat Irish nanny denies baby assault Top Stories Jordan refugee crisis 'critical' UN inquiry into drone killings Britons urged to leave Benghazi Pakistan 'holding 700 militants' Mali Islamist militants 'split' Features & Analysis Offal truth Why are Americans making their own version of haggis? 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Accessibility links Skip to content Skip to local navigation Accessibility Help bbc.co.uk navigation News Sport Weather Travel Future Autos TV Radio More… Search term: US & Canada Home UK Africa Asia Europe Latin America Mid-East US & Canada Business Health Sci/Environment Tech Entertainment Video 26 July 2011 Last updated at 02:52 GMT Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Viewpoint: American English is getting on well, thanks American and British English are siblings from the same parentage. Neither is the parent of the other Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The offal truth about American haggis Burma learns to protest - against China First records, and where you bought them Twilight of the wombat There's been much debate on these pages in recent days about the spread of Americanisms - outside the US. Here, American lexicographer and broadcaster Grant Barrett offers a riposte. When Matthew Engel wrote here earlier this month about the impact of American English on British English, he restarted a debate about the changing nature of language which ended in dozens of suggestions from readers of their own loathed Americanisms. Most of those submitted were neither particularly American nor original to American English. But the point that Americans are ruining English is enough to puff a Yank up with pride. We Americans lead at least two staggeringly expensive wars elsewhere in the world, but with a few cost-free changes to the lexis we apparently have the British running in fear in the High Street. Soon we'll have Sainsbury's to ourselves! Our victory over English and the English is almost complete. "The original version" is what Engel calls British English, which is like calling one's firstborn "the original child". English is, in truth, a family: American English and British English are siblings from the same parentage, neither is the parent of the other. They are two siblings among many modern-day varieties. But the larger point, as Engel puts it, is the "sloppy loss of our own distinctive phraseology through sheer idleness, lack of self-awareness and our attitude of cultural cringe". He writes, "We are letting British English wither." The "we", in my opinion, is best thought of as the scribbling class that includes Engel. Point of enquiry Somewhere along the way the writing and thinking folks (on both sides of the Atlantic) have ceded most of the public conversation about language to the carpers, whiners and peevers. Worse, many of the scribbling class have become whingers themselves. Many Americans are proud - some defiantly so - of the English language the British imparted them I know the complainers well, as they are among the listeners who direct more than 10,000 telephone calls and emails a year to the national show about language I co-host here in the US. We treat the complainers, a small but keyboard-happy minority, with tenderness and some concern. They're afflicted, but there's a remedy - it uses gut feelings about language as a point of enquiry rather than as an end. "I hate this word" is not productive but "Why do I hate this word?" is extraordinarily so. Elite complainers should be asking "Why?" and then explaining what they discover. Why does it seem like someone's language is wrong? Why does the other person think it is right? Why does it seem it's being used more? What do the real linguists and lexicographers say about it? What do the aggregate data show? In other words, they should be explaining what is happening in language rather than complaining about it. Language fieldwork On the radio show, we encourage this tactic in our listeners. Some now do what amounts to basic fieldwork when they are annoyed by language. More than 16% of the US claims Hispanic origin, and American English resounds with Spanish words They ask themselves, can I find more data about this? Are there patterns? Can I draw conclusions about the data and patterns? Some even keep a journal of their linguistic enquiries, much like one might keep a word list when reading. Instead of peeving about supposed incorrect usage, they find themselves using better dictionaries, consulting better usage guides, and looking at cost-free high-quality online materials - such as language corpora - to figure it out. 'A mongrel bitch' If people submitting Americanisms had done this, they would have found that in some cases the terms they warned against predated Americans and American influence. In others the history is so muddled that it can only be said that both Englishes conspired. In closing, Dear Britain: The mongrel bitch you gave us as a parting gift is getting along quite well. She seems to be fond of bringing every kind of critter home with her, raising them up as if they belonged and turning them into the sort of good company that'll keep your feet warm on cold nights. Motley bunch, though! You wouldn't think a bulldog-husky-poodle mutt could train up a brood of raccoon kits and opossum joeys, but she's such a one. She's now gravid to the point of collapse, so we'll likely have a few more pups to set aside for you soon. We think the daddy's a Chihuahua. Sorry that last litter didn't work out to your liking. You can always refuse delivery on the next bunch. We'll be glad to take them back. Best wishes, Grant Barrett Grant Barrett is a radio announcer, editor and lexicographer. He co-hosts an American public radio show about language, A Way with Words . More on This Story In today's Magazine The offal truth about American haggis Traditional Scottish haggis is banned in the United States. With Burns Night looming, how do fans satisfy their taste for oatmeal and offal? Burma learns to protest - against China Lucy Ash examines what the explosion in popular protest over a Chinese-backed copper mine says about democratic changes in Burma. First records, and where you bought them The Magazine's recent article about buying first records, prompted a response from readers with their own memories Twilight of the wombat Georgina Kenyon meets conservationists in Australia fighting to save the wombat. What Johnny Cash did for prison reform US country music star Johnny Cash was well-known for his activism on prisoners' rights - but what impact did he actually have? Related Stories Why do some Americanisms irritate people? 13 JULY 2011 , MAGAZINE 50 of your noted Americanisms 20 JULY 2011 , MAGAZINE Around the BBC BBC Radio 4: Four Thought The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites Comments This entry is now closed for comments Jump to comments pagination All Comments 338 Order by: Latest First Highest Rated Lowest Rated rate this 0 rate this 0 Comment number 338. BienvenueEnLouisiana 27th July 2011 - 0:46 I have loads of fun with this discussion, but I get annoyed when Latin Americans bring up the term "American" and say it's an example of US arrogance. The nerve of those people is astounding. Shall we change our name because they don't like what we've called ourselves since the 1770s? It also shows an ignorance of history and linguistics. United Statesian is not proper English it's Spanglish! Report this comment (Comment number 338) Link to this (Comment number 338) rate this 0 rate this 0 Comment number 337. Bisquick McBob 27th July 2011 - 0:41 How many here have missed the point of the article: that instead of sitting around complaining, we should ask ourselves why we are bothered. If we insist on judging everyone's speech, great: let's judge. I'll give a prize to the Canadians for speaking the best English on the planet. Second place, why not New Zealand? England belongs somewhere in the top ten, maybe just below Holland. Report this comment (Comment number 337) Link to this (Comment number 337) rate this +1 rate this +1 Comment number 336. Alexys 27th July 2011 - 0:39 I am an "American" and I lament the destruction of the English language. I am not concerned with "aeroplane" being spelled as "airplane," but I am frightened by the most basic of words being abbreviated. "U" instead of "you," for instance. What's so hard about adding two more letters? Even our advertisements cater to the progressively illiterate. The beauty of language is disappearing quickly. Report this comment (Comment number 336) Link to this (Comment number 336) rate this 0 rate this 0 Comment number 335. MH 27th July 2011 - 0:34 Faz 281 (from the former postmoderna, now MH), Your gentle note compels me to admit that you've busted me. I lived for 2 years in England & by a shame-faced process of moving my beans ever nearer to my morning toast, came to LOVE beans on toast. For the rest, I adjusted my vocabulary to the foreign tongue but didn't supress my American accent--that's when I realized that I'm a patriot. Take care! Report this comment (Comment number 335) Link to this (Comment number 335) rate this +1 rate this +1 Comment number 334. worldcitizen007 27th July 2011 - 0:12 As an Indian (from India) in the US, I have often been asked, with great astonishment from the questioner, where I learned English. Annoying but you learn to ignore the ignorant. My first language lesson in the US was on "for here or to go?". I explained that I did not understand the question but wanted to eat my food at home. Didn't help. To the stereotypical waiter, I wasn't speaking "English"! Report this comment (Comment number 334) Link to this (Comment number 334) Comments 5 of 338 Show more Add your comment Sign in with your BBC iD, or Register to comment and rate comments All posts are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules . 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Halloween celebrations - Gail Walker, Columnists - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk Belfast Hi 4 °C | Lo 2°C Other group sites Photosales niJobfinder niCarfinder Home Delivery Propertynews JOIN US ON FACEBOOK Skip Links Skip to navigation Skip to primary content Skip to secondary content Skip to tertiary content Skip to footer Navigation News Northern Ireland Ulster Covenant Republic UK World US Election Politics G8 Summit Campaigns Big Clean Up Transfer Chaos Tuition Fees Seven Wonders 100 Jobs in 100 Days CLIC Sargent appeal Making The Difference We're Backing Belfast Health Education Surviving Exams Post-Primary Selection Graduations Free Textbooks Environment Big Clean Up Technology Nostalgia Other Titles Sunday Life Community Sport Football Premier League Local football Scottish FA Cup European International Football Legends World Cup Milk Cup Rugby World Cup RaboDirect Pro12 Six Nations Heineken Cup Rugby Schools Cup GAA Racing Golf Motorsport North West 200 Other Sports Tennis Cricket 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Editor Letters Editors Viewpoint Woman TeleBest Classified Services Family Notices Promotions & Competitions Jobs in Northern Ireland Cars NI Property Northern Ireland Get paper delivered Weather Media kit GrabOne Farm & Plant Finder Leaflet Distribution in Belfast The digital gateway to Northern Ireland news, sport, business, entertainment and opinion Home > Opinion > Columnists > Gail Walker Latest: 15:32 Jury undecided on hoax bomb message 15:32 Clegg: School choice not political 15:22 Unions demand council living wage 14:42 Fanning and Kline to play lovers 14:42 Chloe Moretz has signed up to stay 14:42 Rosario is Ryan's new leading lady 14:42 Tulisa wants to do more acting 14:42 Kimberley Walsh song criticised Search Go Give me a treat and cut out all of these Halloween celebrations By Gail Walker Wednesday, 24 October 2012 Halloween or Hallowe'en or how ever you spell it... Just another reason why I hate the season of ghosties and goulies. There was a time when Halloween was one of those poor emaciated holidays when a straggle of kids would ring on the door and tell the restive householder that indeed Halloween was coming and their efforts would be rewarded with a handful of sweets and that was that ... But not anymore. Just like Valentine's Day and Mother's and Father's Day, Halloween is becoming a holiday when we are forced to do our civic and patriotic duty and spend a fortune to keep the retail sector going. But like Valentine's Day, you're no longer talking about one day. Oh no, for about a fortnight beforehand, your street sounds like a cheap recreation of the Battle of Somme as bangers ruin the silence and scare the cats and dogs. Nowadays, you're some kind of miseryguts if you don't have a luminous skeleton or at the very least an electric pumpkin in your window. Don't be surprised if a friend throws a Halloween party and you're expected to trot off to the party costume shop to spend £30 on badly-fitting nylon. Or you have to throw an E-number filled bash for the little dahlings. Or you find your letterbox is stuffed with some council-sponsored holiday programmes ... Even worse is the growing Americanisation of what used to be a sweet little pagan holiday. Shiny faced kids in professionally made Spiderman costumes now come to your door demanding 'Trick or Treat?' Trick or Treat? What happened to a wee ditty about the goose, the penny and your old man's hat? Where do they think they are? Seattle? Memphis? Albuquerque. Yeah, I know it's a bit early but I can't resist ... Bah! Humbug! Print Text Size Normal Large Extra Large Comment Forum Explained Breaking News News Sport World UK and Ireland 15:32 Jury undecided on hoax bomb message 15:32 Clegg: School choice not political 15:22 Unions demand council living wage 14:42 Kimberley Walsh song criticised 14:42 Gaga's album 'needs a lot of work' 14:42 Houston mum's anger over death 13:42 Diame happy at Hammers 13:32 Gloucester to open quarter-finals 13:22 Fotuali'i makes move to Northampton 12:42 Heineken Cup dates confirmed 12:22 Lambert 'thriving' on Villa pressure 14:02 Defiant Greek strikers face jail 12:32 China cuts Cloud Atlas love scenes 12:12 Nokia makes 170m but sales drop 09:52 Group splits from Mali fighters 09:22 Five go on trial over India rape 15:32 Jury undecided on hoax bomb message 15:32 Clegg: School choice not political 15:22 Unions demand council living wage 14:32 Man gets UK's first bionic limb 14:12 Airport in planning 'handcuff' plea more breaking news English Premier League Results Tables Fixtures Top Scorers Bad Boys Analysis Irish League Results Tables Fixtures Top Scorers Bad Boys Analysis Scottish Football Results Tables Fixtures Top Scorers Bad Boys Analysis League of Ireland Results Tables Fixtures Top Scorers Bad Boys Analysis World Cup Qualifers Champions League In Pictures: Northern Ireland Nitelife What's On Search Find out what's on, where and when in Northern Ireland Type of Event All Events Family Music Festivals Dance Clubs Sport Leisure Theatre Comedy Venue or Town Search Old School Pics: Van Morrison To launch gallery click image or select school below Methodist College, Campbell College, Grosvenor, Bangor Grammar, Dunlambert, St Augustine's, St Dominic's, Royal Academy, Ballymena Academy In Pictures: The Troubles Most viewed on belfasttelegraph.co.uk Read Video Read Mila Kunis wants Fifty Shades of Grey role 'Hazard hasn't kicked him hard enough': Joey Barton new In Pictures: Northern Ireland Nightlife - pubs, clubs and parties Old Bailey bomber Price found dead new In Pictures: Spring/Summer 2013 Paris Fashion Week One Direction to sell bracelets new Old School Pictures: Can you spot Van Morrison? It's not too hard Did Match of the Day’s old guard ensure Colin Murray got a red card? Kimberley Walsh song criticised new In Pictures: Football's richest clubs revealed new Emailed Commented Video Teletoons by Stevie Lee Horoscopes Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagitarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces Out & About: Little Wing Columnist Comments • Who will play heroes and villains in Lance Armstrong saga? Who's going to play Lance in the inevitable film? I was pondering this the other day while grinding my way to work through the 17 sets of traffic lights (regular readers will know of my feeling on this) that blight the two-mile city-centre journey from my home to the office. • Isn't it about time PSNI got tough on UVF godfathers? Does he ever rue the day he decided to come to Northern Ireland? You could hardly blame Matt Baggott if he did. Recent photographs in this paper reveal how the Chief Constable of the PSNI has become a bit weathered in the three-plus years he's been at the helm here. • Don’t let thought police curtail our free speech What do transsexuals, loyalists and the Tweenies have in common? This is not some kind of sick joke, though I admit it's crying out for an ingenious punchline, possibly involving an outsize Union flag bra. Answers on a postcard please. • That moment when Prods in the room tend to go quiet ... It's clear now that the flag issue is not going to fizzle out and that, barring an astonishing about-face, the rest of this year at least will be characterised by 'trouble'. This sites uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. See our cookie settings for more information. 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Americanisms swamping English, so wake up and smell the coffee By Matthew Engel UPDATED: 21:01 GMT, 29 May 2010 Comments ( 23 ) Share It happened early this month, shortly after the first cuckoo. I heard it, I swear I heard it. The first get-go of spring. It was on the BBC Breakfast programme on May 11: a presenter was wittering, and distinctly said that something-or-other had been clear 'from the get-go'. From the what ? Actually, I know all about the get-go or, worse still, the git-go. It's an ugly Americanism, meaning 'from the start' or 'from the off'. It adds nothing to Britain's language but it's here now, like the grey squirrel, destined to drive out native species and ravage the linguistic ecosystem. The British have been borrowing words from America for at least two centuries We have to be realistic: languages grow. The success of English comes from its adaptability and the British have been borrowing words from America for at least two centuries. Old buffers like me have always complained about the process, and we have always been defeated. In 1832, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was fulminating about the 'vile and barbarous' new adjective that had just arrived in London. The word was 'talented'. It sounds innocuous enough to our ears, as do 'reliable', 'influential' and 'lengthy', which all inspired loathing when they first crossed the Atlantic. But the process gathered speed with the arrival of cinema and television in the 20th Century. And in the 21st it seems unstoppable. The U.S.-dominated computer industry, with its 'licenses', 'colors' and 'favorites' is one culprit. That ties in with mobile phones that keep 'dialing' numbers that are always 'busy'. My dictionary (a mere 12 years old) defines 'geek' as an American circus freak or, in Australia, 'a good long look'. We needed a word to describe someone obsessively interested in computer technology. It seems a shame there was never any chance of coining one ourselves. Nowadays, people have no idea where American ends and English begins. And that's a disaster for our national self-esteem. We are in danger of subordinating our language to someone else's - and with it large aspects of British life. Enlarge Yet no one seems to care. The stern old type of English teacher has died out and many newspapers cannot now afford 'Prodnoses', the last-line-of-defence sub-editors who used to guard the language with a thick pencil. Sometimes, the language can be improved by the imports. The British would never be able even to define the deficit had we not adopted the American billion (a thousand million) to replace our old hardly used billion (a million million). I accept that estate agents find it easier to sell fancy apartments rather than boring old flats. And it's right that our few non-passenger trains should carry freight not goods, because that's a more accurate description of the contents. But the process is non-selective and almost wholly one-way. And it works very strangely. Almost all the parts of a car have different names in America, yet there is no sign of hood replacing bonnet, or the trunk supplanting the boot. Meanwhile, the most improbable areas of activity are terminally infected. Take the law. Ask any lawyer and they will explain: witnesses in British courts do not testify, they give evidence; nor do they 'take the stand' to do this, they go into the witness box. They do things the American way in media reports of court cases, though - day after day. We are witnessing a transatlantic takeover in politics as well. This month, Britain acquired a National Security Council. Last year, it gained a Supreme Court. There is talk that the House of Lords will be renamed the Senate. It also used to be understood that, while American politicians 'ran' for office, British politicians always 'stood'. I liked that: it implied a pleasing reticence. Now in Britain both words are used interchangeably and in this month's General Election candidates stood and ran at the same time. No wonder they kept falling flat on their faces. Then take sport, where Britain's national tastes are totally different from those of the Americans. I happen to belong to the .0001 per cent (approx) of the British population who count as baseball fans. This makes it even more offensive to me when politicians parrot phrases such as 'three strikes and you're out' although they haven't got the foggiest idea what it means. Technical baseball terms are everywhere. We constantly hear about people 'stepping up to the plate'. For some weird reason, cricket coaches are especially fond of this one. And ideas keep coming from the baseball position of 'left field'. Wouldn't silly mid-on be more appropriate? And so, hi guys, hel-LO, wake up and smell the coffee. We need to distinguish between the normal give-and-take of linguistic development and being overrun - through our own negligence and ignorance - by rampant cultural imperialism. We are all guilty. In the weeks after 9/11 (or 11/9, as I prefer to call it), British journalists, and I was one of them, solemnly reported that the planes had been hijacked by men waving box-cutters, even though no one in Britain knew what a box-cutter was. Very few of us bothered to explain that these were what we have always called Stanley knives. But it is time to fight back. The battle is almost uncertainly unwinnable but I am convinced there are millions of intelligent Britons out there who wince as often as I do every time they hear a witless Americanism introduced into British discourse. Stand up and say you care. Feel free to write with your favourite horrors. Come out of the closet. Or better still, the cupboard. Matthew Engel is a columnist on the Financial Times. 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Share this article: Facebook Twitter Google+ Messenger LinkedIn Digg it Newsvine Fark Nowpublic Reddit Print article Email article Comments ( 23 ) The comments below have been moderated in advance. Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all I visit the USA a lot. I also have American family members, so I am used to hearing many of these words and phrases. Here is my list of Americanisms, some of which are creeping in over here Taps=faucets, road=pavement or blacktop, pavement=sidewalk, holiday=vacation, toilets=restrooms, scones=biscuits, biscuits=cookies, takeaway=carryout, motorway=freeway, curtains=drapes, jam=jelly, jelly=jell-o, car park=parking lot, handbag=purse, purse=wallet, wallet=billfold, junction=intersection, trousers=pants, bed quilt=comforter, cushion=pillow, garden=yard, cinema=movie theater, torch=flashlight, nappies=diapers, tights=pantyhose, waistcoat=vest, jumper=sweater, worktop=countertop, cupboard=closet, shopping trolley=shopping cart, primary school=elementary school these are just a few, there are hundreds more! I also have to wonder why Americans park on a driveway, yet drive on a parkway...... There are still many differences. It is still English, but not as we know it - Sue , Darlington, 30/5/2010 00:54 Click to rate Rating 246 Report abuse Mr Engel, Please be assured that you are not alone! My pet hate is the way that any pc is configured to US English as standard. Of course it can be told to use UK English but mine have always had a tendancy to reset to US. Any other language can be removed from the memory but American is there for good. If anyone can tell me a reliable way to purge it from my pcs PLEASE post: everything I've tried so far says it will remove it at the next reboot but it never does. - Harry , Huddersfield, 30/5/2010 00:49 Click to rate Rating 139 Report abuse I'm a dual citizen & my Brit husband & I have had some very strange & funny problems with our English misunderstandings when we first got together. Even though I've lived in Britain longer than I did in the States and have tried to adapt to English ways of speech, I actually fuse the two together & use phrases & grammar interchangeably. This was a point of humour when I was studying to be a teacher of English as a Foreign Language - my poor students learned both styles of English without me realising it! As an American, my favourite Brit English expression is to "she fell pregnant"! OH dear!!!!! - Joy , London, 30/5/2010 00:35 Click to rate Rating 148 Report abuse British news readers saying 'downtown' instead of 'central' makes me wince. They say it all too often these days. - Edward , Kent, United Kingdom, 30/5/2010 00:35 Click to rate Rating 138 Report abuse We are fast becoming the 51st state of the union. It's not only the Americanisation of the English language but most of our traditions. Penny-for-the-guy is now trick-or-treat. Kids now go to proms and we have vacations instead of holidays. Father Christmas is now Santa Claus. Everyone says "hi" instead of "hello" and if I see another sportsman giving another hi-fives I'll lose it! We have the chavvy stretched limos for hen nights. Enough is enough, please lets preserve what is left of our language from the colonials - The Cad , Birmingham, UK, 30/5/2010 00:34 Click to rate Rating 189 Report abuse Actually one can not blame it all on the Americans... We have the new 'uz' from north of the border when its clearly 'us' with an 'S' not a 'Z'. Also instead of 'you' we now have 'choo'.which is an insult to the English language. And what about those on our BBC treasure hunting shows, no longer do they go to the 'auction' to sell their buys, they go to the 'Oction' I just turn the programme over when I hear a presenter such as Jenny Bond use that irritating pronunciation. - Scully , England, 30/5/2010 00:32 Click to rate Rating 123 Report abuse My pet hates are the use of 'program' instead of 'programme' and 'airplane' instead of 'aeroplane'. I can just about stomach 'computer program' but 'TV program' sets my teeth on edge. Any use of 'airplane' by a Brit is frankly murder of the language of Shakespeare! - Simon , Here, 30/5/2010 00:25 Click to rate Rating 37 Report abuse I understand the point your making, hope this article does not offend Americans though, it's a nice country and American people are really very nice. - mike , county durham, 30/5/2010 00:23 Click to rate Rating 84 Report abuse Or is it ex-pat ? Why bother with the entire word ? It is so Anglo Saxon. Trust me, you have never communicated until you have put together 'off' & 'of' !! The combination is a necessity in American journalistic prowess. The book fell off of the table. Go figure !! - Morgan Atkinson , Portland Oregon (ex-patriot), 30/5/2010 00:23 Click to rate Rating 37 Report abuse Has anyone noticed? The word something no longer exists. The majority of the British population including Newscasters (who should know better) now says somethink. The word is something WITH A "G", not somethink WITH A "K". Come on Britain, start speaking English. - SJW , Guildford, UK., 30/5/2010 00:14 Click to rate Rating 67 Report abuse The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Bing Site Web Enter search term: Search FEMAIL TODAY 'That was our secret': Rapper Consequence claims Kayne West had affair with Kim Kardashian while she was still in a relationship with Reggie Bush Are you SURE that wasn't airbrushed? Nigella Lawson displays slimmer figure in Taste publicity shots... after insisting she didn't want the pictures altered Austerity On Ice! Celebrity skaters from the ITV1 talent show forced to re-use old costumes from previous series Thrifty decision Stand and deliver! 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Rita Ora keeps it simple as she dresses down while heading home from Paris Couture Week 'My butt is definitely softer': Jillian Michaels reveals how her children have taken priority over her workout regime She became notorious for her 'tough love' Dannii Minogue is effortlessly chic in a straw trilby and printed mini as she enjoys a Melbourne brunch with pals and son Ethan Talk about over-doing it: Liz Hurley steps out in super stylish dress as she has coffee at a cafe with Shane Warne Hypnotising outfit in Melbourne 'Eating too many calories made me feel bad': Katie Couric explains why she opened her heart about bulimia battle 'Losing weight's easy when y'all do it together': Paula Deen's family collectively shed 178lbs after her diabetes scare The 66-year-old TV cook promoted a high-fat diet Once Upon a Time star Ginnifer Goodwin opens up her fairytale home tucked away in the Hollywood Hills Appears in this month's issue of Elle You're supposed to WALK your dog, not carry it! Daisy Lowe gives her pup Monty the VIP treatment as she totes him around Monty's not complaining! Behave yourself! Chris Brown chats to pretty female clubber as he hits the town without on/off girlfriend Rihanna She's going to LOVE these pictures! Helen Flanagan vamps it up in her favourite thigh-high leather boots for dinner with a pal... but seems to have her night ruined by 'snobby people' Kelly Osbourne 'engaged' to Matthew Mosshart A friend says Kelly's 'in a healthy relationship with a wonderful guy' That's one way to get through to the next round! SNL cast member drugs and ties Voice host Adam Levine to his swivel chair Parody promo How DO you divide your love between your ageing parents and demanding children? TESSA CUNNINGHAM has to juggle since her father moved in No maternity wear in sight! Kim Kardashian teams daring thigh-high boots with a faux fur coat She continues Paris love-in with Kanye West Snuggly in scarlet! 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Cameron's EU referendum unites Tories, delights business and even gets Germany on side Sylvester Stallone 'paid millions of dollars to half-sister who claimed he assaulted her for years at the height of his fame' 'Have a nice life mum': Final words of boy, 12, who hanged himself hours after being expelled from school Mystery death of schoolgirl, 15, at £10,000-a-year private academy as her body is found on motorway 'We just wanted to find a bargain': Elderly couple looking for jumble sale end up at 'illegal rave' MOST READ IN DETAIL EDITOR'S SIX OF THE BEST MAX HASTINGS: The speech of his life! And if the PM can follow through, he might just seal a historic triumph SIMON HEFFER: How the Prime Minister outfoxed his opponents over the referendum Mr Cameron's given us a real choice on Europe. Let's not squander it, writes LIAM FOX Censoring Fawlty's gags makes the Beeb look more bonkers than Basil Does it come fully fur-nished? Dream home designed especially for cats to enjoy These hectoring celebrity chefs meddling with our plates make me feel queasy, says JAN MOIR   Back to top Navigation Popular Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists Popular searches in news: Sitemap Archive Mobile Apps RSS Text-based site Reader Prints Top of page Daily Mail Mail on Sunday This is Network This is London This is Money Metro Jobsite Mail Travel Zoopla.co.uk Prime Location Villa Holidays Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group © Associated Newspapers Ltd Contact us Advertise with us Terms Privacy policy & cookies Unstoppable rise of American English: Study shows young Britons copying US writing style | Mail Online Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists News Home Arts Headlines Pictures Most read News Board Login Find a Job M&S Wine Our Papers Feedback Thursday, Jan 24 2013 3PM 2°C 6PM -1°C 5-Day Forecast Unstoppable rise of American English: Study shows young Britons copying US writing style By Laura Clark, Education Correspondent PUBLISHED: 00:11 GMT, 29 May 2012 | UPDATED: 14:03 GMT, 29 May 2012 Comments ( 561 ) Share The future of written English will owe more to Hollywood films than Dickens or Shakespeare, if the findings of a study into children’s writing are anything to go by. The analysis of 74,000 short stories found that their written work was littered with Americanisms, exclamation marks and references to celebrities. Researchers who looked at the entries to a national competition found they were increasingly using American words such as garbage, trash can, sidewalk, candy, sneakers, soda, cranky and flashlight. Americanisms: Children's work was littered with words such as garbage, trash can and sidewalk (picture posed by models) The stories, written by pupils aged seven to 13, show how fairy cakes are referred to as cupcakes and a dinner jacket has become a tuxedo. ‘Smart’ is now often used for ‘clever’ and ‘cranky’ for ‘irritable’. Celebrity culture also has a powerful influence on children’s work, with Simon Cowell and Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi among the famous names cropping up repeatedly. More... Big Elephants Can't Always Use Small Exits... but they CAN help you spell 'because' But pupils are let down by basic spelling, punctuation and grammar, according to the study by Oxford University Press, which looked at the entries to BBC Radio 2’s ‘500 Words’ competition. Children stumbled over simple spellings such as ‘does’ and ‘clothes’ and struggled to use the past tense correctly, often saying ‘rised’ instead of ‘rose’ or ‘thinked’ instead of ‘thought’. Researchers also found that punctuation was underused, especially semi-colons and speech marks. Some did not know how to use capital letters. Famous: The names of Lionel Messi (left) and Simon Cowell (right) crop up often in children's writing Popular US fiction such as the Twilight vampire novels and films is thought to be fuelling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling However, exclamation marks were overused. Researchers found 35,171 examples in total, with some young writers using five at a time. The study of more than 31million words will be compared with future research to see how written language evolves. Popular US fiction such as the Twilight vampire novels and films is thought to be fuelling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling. Modern technology was also influential. Out of almost 300 references to ‘blackberry’, nearly half referred to mobile phones. Characters frequently ‘googled’ for information or used ‘apps’. But the researchers found a wealth of imaginative and inventive ideas. Fears that texting was corrupting children’s written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text speak when they were referring to a text message. Samantha Armstrong, of the OUP children’s dictionaries division, said: ‘Perhaps we are catching a glimpse of the language of the future.’ Chris Evans, whose radio show runs the competition, said the results were ‘fascinating’, adding: ‘Who’d have thought that Messi and Jeremy Clarkson would be some of the most used celebrity names?’ SPELLING IN BBC '500 WORDS' COMPETITION AMERICAN WORD OCCURRENCES BRITISH WORD OCCURRENCES Candy (1,879) Sweets (2,448) Cupcake (486) Fairy cake (46) Flashlight (99) Torch (2,736) Garbage truck (9) Dustbin lorry (5) Tuxedo (74) Dinner suit (1) Sneakers (38) Trainers (555) Trash can (38) Dustbin (290) Sidewalk (26) Pavement (924) MOST READ NEWS Previous 1 2 3 4 Next Revealed: Ballboy, 17, kicked in ribs by Chelsea star is... Does it come fully fur-nished? Dream home designed... Tricks and trysts: Women who sell sex in the ONLY legal... 'I told him not to take off TWICE': Millionaire Ivy... Dying moments of girl behind bars: Shocking video shows... Is this the most mesmerising and beautiful picture of the... 'If he was here he would have said "Perfect, darling,... 'It was easier to lie back and accept death': Two fathers... Gay chocolatier couple leave Scottish Highlands village... Sperm whales invite deformed bottlenose dolphin into their... 'I don't know what normal is any more': Prince Harry reveals... 'I lied to police' admits pro footballers' alleged sex... Share this article: Facebook Twitter Google+ Messenger LinkedIn Digg it Newsvine Fark Nowpublic Reddit Print article Email article Comments ( 561 ) The comments below have not been moderated. Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all All your English are belong to us!!!!!!!!! - zefal , MD, USA, 31/5/2012 06:13 Click to rate Rating 2 Report abuse We don't have to be a King Canute trying to hold back the enevitable - our writing styles, spelling and language has changed every generation of the existance of English. It changed in our grandfather's time and will do so in the time of our grand children. The future of English is bright especially when you write: "But the researchers found a wealth of imaginative and inventive ideas. Fears that texting was corrupting children’s written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text speak when they were referring to a text message." The real problem is the spelling system (American English or English English) which is archaic and not fit for purpose. It is part of the problem and contributes to the huge illiteracy rates in the English speaking world. - NJH , London UK, 30/5/2012 21:19 Click to rate Rating 2 Report abuse American English beats the hell out of German, doesn't it? - Mark , Florida, 30/5/2012 15:15 Click to rate Rating 3 Report abuse some people are referring the to "UK" or "Britain" as one country. There are 4 different countries within - it's like saying Canada, America and Mexico are one country! - Fed Up, England, 29/5/2012. Fed up, England are you f&%king stupid. Canada, The United States and Mexico are one country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their countries not continents. Are you confusing countries and continents. Do you not know the difference between a country and a continent. Do you not know what's a country and what's a continent. The U.S. is a country. In the U.S. there are states. Canada is a country. In canada there are providences. Mexico is a country and in mexico there are states.- Alex Salazar, Moreno Valley, CA, There is no need to swear is there, and YOU have got it wrong. I had to read over what you said to make sure you were not really that stupid but you clearly are. Also, it's `they're` countries not `their` countries and how many times can you mention country and continent in one short passage? - Billy , Goat Tough, 30/5/2012 09:56 Click to rate Rating 3 Report abuse Hey,we won the war(s): 1781.1812,1918,1945, why shouldn't y'all adopt THE modern language? - R.D.McDowell, Pungoteague VA USA, Oh dear. 1781 – Is that the war where you were getting soundly beaten until the French/Dutch/Spanish came on won victory? 1812 – The war where you invaded British North America (Canada) where promptly sent back with your tail between your legs, had your territory invaded and your Capital burned? 1918 – You were the most junior of junior partners. Below Italy and Japan. An irrelevance. 1945 – If any one nation can claim victory that would be the soviets, not you. Try reading? Your comments: - STP , Manchester, 30/5/2012 09:01 Click to rate Rating 1 Report abuse I like how some people are referring the to "UK" or "Britain" as one country. There are 4 different countries within - it's like saying Canada, America and Mexico are one country! - Fed Up, England, 29/5/2012 13:23. Fed up, England are you f&%king stupid. Canada, The United States and Mexico are one country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their countries not continents. Are you confusing countries and continents. Do you not know the difference between a country and a continent. Do you not know what's a country and what's a continent. The U.S. is a country. In the U.S. there are states. Canada is a country. In canada there are providences. Mexico is a country and in mexico there are states. - Alex Salazar, Moreno Valley, CA, 30/5/2012 04:31___ a little too much Mezcal I think .. read the comment again (clue: "it's like saying") - Nick , Chatham, Kent, 30/5/2012 08:23 Click to rate Rating 1 Report abuse It's all so much Shaw. If I knock you up here, you'll need nappies in nine months. Wanna be like the French with a ministry to protect the language from incursions and wind up following German rules (compound words) for blue jeans or Walkman? Stiff upper and all that. Get a kick out of Hindi films where English and American words are sprinkled throughout - Hindish? With global communication in realtime, language and culture are more mutable than ever. I need the closed caption for Scots more than any other speakers, though. For a people who can't decide whether pudding is the dessert course or blood soaked breadstuffs, getting your tighties in a wad over candy and trash cans seems like something for the Ministry of Silly Talks. - pat , penna, 30/5/2012 07:23 Click to rate Rating 2 Report abuse Advent of WWW: example of 'Punctuated Equlibrium' triggering evolution/revolution - Libertarian , USA, 30/5/2012 06:42 Click to rate Rating (0) Report abuse I love these reactionary screeds on language, replete with howling outrage from the commentariat over the fact that "garbage truck" is replacing "dustbin lorry" in the common parlance. Really, I should think you Brits have much more pressing problems to contend with these days. - Lara , California, USA, 30/5/2012 06:38 Click to rate Rating 6 Report abuse Brits think these are abominations of the english language? Listen to some urban dwellers talk in their "ebonics"....Ax (ask) is one that immediately comes to mind. - Brent , Kent, Ohio. 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Kimberly Stewart and her baby daughter Delilah grab a bite to eat Spotted at Fred Segal in Los Angeles Look away now! Naked Neil 'Razor' Ruddock causes chaos running around the Celebrity Big Brother bedroom Covered his dignity in front of the camera Keeping his housemates entertained: CBB's Rylan Clark plays dress up as he gets his hands on Claire Richards' bra Not sure she's pleased Back together? Selma Blair is arm-in-arm with her ex Jason Bleick months after split Couple, who have a one-year-old son, spotted out in LA Feline fine! Kirsten Dunst steps out in cat's eyes sunglasses and funky animal print trousers Perhaps in tribute to her missing cat Tazzy Bohemian babe in burgundy! Naomi Watts fits in with the Venice Beach crowd as she steps out in billowing top and edgy trousers Out shopping So that's what the dowdy hairstyle is for! Maggie Gyllenhaal gets to work filming her latest movie Seen on the set of Frank in Bray, Ireland I'm waiting for my prince! Taylor Swift stuns as Rapunzel in new Disney Parks ad Her love life hasn't exactly been a fairytale... The ultimate Catwoman! Halle Berry dresses down as she dashes her sick feline to the vet Actress seen racing to surgery in Culver City No wonder she's hot and sweaty! Red-faced Ashley Greene leaves the gym after a gruelling TWO-HOUR workout Camouflage tank top was soaked through The night Prince Harry came to blows over the lover he shared with his brother: Not that one, his even racier relative and namesake who also loved Army life TOWIE's Joey Essex shows off his bizarre half shaven hairstyle ahead of the National Television Awards He's the master of all things reem 'If he was here he'd have said "Perfect, darling, perfect"': Michael Parkinson, Bill Wyman and David Frost among stars at Michael Winner's funeral They haven't even walked down the aisle yet! Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb are 'seeking couple's counselling' ` Follows a heated New Year's Eve fight Nene Leakes hides her blushes as Ellen DeGeneres surprises Real Housewives of Atlanta star with male strippers for impromptu bachelorette party Sheryl Crow bond with her boys at the beach amid accusations she KNEW about Lance Armstrong's doping Singer distracted herself from the drama Has Tiger Woods snared Lindsey Vonn? Womanising golfer 'dating Olympic skier' Disgraced golf star may have been tamed by new love 'She's the best part of every day': Ryan Seacrest opens up to Chelsea Handler about his plans to marry Julianne Hough Been dating three years Touchdown! Zooey Deschanel gets to grips with an American football on set of New Girl Spotted filming scenes in Los Angeles Charlotte Casiraghi poses for Gucci with Flora scarf made for Grace Kelly in the 60s She is granddaughter of Princess Grace of Monaco Justin Bieber denies bullying and telling radio host to 'shut the f*** up' while she worked out Colette Harrington was at Ritz-Carlton hotel gym in North Carolina 'We're having twins!' Lesbian Country singer Chely Wright is starting a family with wife Lauren Blitzer Couple tied the knot in August Lessons we learned from our first time: Your first sexual encounter shapes your love life forever, experts say. So did the earth move for these ingenues? Eddie Murphy to reprise role as Axel Foley in new Beverly Hills Cop TV series Success of the original 1984 film spawned two sequels Still awkward! Michael Cera takes a tumble on the red carpet as he avoids a kiss from pretty Magic Magic co-star Unusual behaviour at the Sundance film festival Revealed: An inside look at the private lives of the Kennedy family as HUNDREDS of JFK's personal items are discovered Found at adviser's home 'God kept me alive so we could have our baby': Biggest Loser fall victim Sam Poueu is expecting baby with Stephanie Anderson Biggest winners Hands off! Doug Hutchison's protective embrace after teen bride Courtney Stodden dirty dances with hunk in music video He's the main man 'He definitely had an appreciation for the feminine form': Kanye West's ex warns Kim Kardashian over his 'obsession with sex' Brooke Crittendon warns Real Housewives' Adrienne Maloof's surrogacy secret revealed: The truth behind her fight with Brandi Glanville that wasn't shown on TV AMANDA PLATELL: Which dimwit dragged back dungarees? Katie Holmes, Cameron Diaz, Michelle Keegan and Heidi Klum have been spotted in them Don't bother with a facelift, just get a fringe: Michelle Obama is the latest to opt for the look that can trim years off Our fail-safe guide to getting it right Ex-TOWIE star Maria Fowler returns to her glamour model roots as she poses in lingerie shoot Model posted candid Instagram photo CBB bosses forced to increase security after Speidi receive death threats... as a double eviction looms Hostile world awaits outside the house Why DOES Penelope Cruz have four gold needles pierced through her ears? They are acupuncture pins used to combat a variety of ailments Who's the daddy? I AM! Gerard Pique beams as he leaves the hospital after girlfriend Shakira gives birth to baby boy Clearly smitten with the new arrival Taylor Swift and Harry Styles are 'getting back together during romantic reunion at NRJ Music Awards' They split earlier this month Amanda Holden flashes her bra in sheer blouse at Britain's Got Talent auditions Meanwhile Alesha decides that prim and proper is the way forward Rochelle Humes admits she'd be more likely to listen to JLS while making love than The Saturdays as the band launch reality show in UK Is this Jeremy Renner's baby mama? Hollywood star's 'pregnant ex identified as 22-year-old Canadian model Sonni Pacheco' She is aspiring actress Brooklyn Beckham looks set to follow in father David's footballing footsteps as he is trialled for Chelsea FC The game is definitely in the family genes Justin Timberlake to perform at Super Bowl party as he launches music comeback Charity bash at the DTV Superfan Stadium in New Orleans 'Am I going to be queen? You never know': The Duchess of Cornwall shows off her mischievous side as she chats to primary school children in London The great GAPsby: Leonardo DiCaprio is surrounded by women as he hangs out poolside during hiatus from acting Great Gatsby star Alexandre Vauthier presents deliberate 'nip-slip' dress at Paris Fashion Week - but who would dare to wear it? His fans include Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora Ain't nothing like a dame! Vivienne Westwood launches exhibition of shocking photographs featuring her fully naked Not for the faint of heart 'She did a beautiful job with the pre-record': Aretha Franklin admits she 'cracked up' when she heard Beyonce's lip-synching at inauguration ceremony Unveiled: The six-year-old Tom Daley diving protege who was banned by elf n safety from appearing on TV show Splash! Lucky boy From the boxing ring to the catwalk: Knock out female boxer, 29, beats thousands to land place in Top Model final Mother-of-two Amy swaps ring for catwalk Carly Rae Jepsen strikes a photo booth pose as she replaces Lea Michele as the face of Candie's Singer selected her own props for shoot Shameless star Emmy Rossum turns classy as she channels 20s chic in new sombre music video Prior to acting career she devoted time to singing Nigella Lawson unleashes her feminine charms while flirting her way through new U.S. show The Taste Praised for her warm and witty style 'I want a little Coco': Ice-T's model wife says she's ready for a baby... and wants to name their future daughter Chanel They've been married over ten years Who needs Tyra? Nigel Barker moves on from America's Next Top Model as he lovingly kisses his wife at fashion event In good spirits Bon Jovi promise to push the sound barriers when they headline this year's Hyde Park festival Last year Bruce Springsteen was cut off during his Hyde Park gig 'Please give me a little bit of help': Disgraced Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray sobs in desperate plea from prison for medical care Moans of constant pain Pregnant Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans files assault and battery charges against husband of six weeks Threatened to divorce Courtland Rogers earlier Woman terrified of becoming 'old and middle-aged' charts turning 40 with blog of self-portraits taken over one year Weekly update Jessica Simpson's parents Joe and Tina 'fighting over $300m fortune in bitter divorce' They separated last September after 35 years of marriage Not so Haute right now! Rita Ora keeps it simple as she dresses down while heading home from Paris Couture Week 'My butt is definitely softer': Jillian Michaels reveals how her children have taken priority over her workout regime She became notorious for her 'tough love' Dannii Minogue is effortlessly chic in a straw trilby and printed mini as she enjoys a Melbourne brunch with pals and son Ethan Talk about over-doing it: Liz Hurley steps out in super stylish dress as she has coffee at a cafe with Shane Warne Hypnotising outfit in Melbourne 'Eating too many calories made me feel bad': Katie Couric explains why she opened her heart about bulimia battle 'Losing weight's easy when y'all do it together': Paula Deen's family collectively shed 178lbs after her diabetes scare The 66-year-old TV cook promoted a high-fat diet Once Upon a Time star Ginnifer Goodwin opens up her fairytale home tucked away in the Hollywood Hills Appears in this month's issue of Elle You're supposed to WALK your dog, not carry it! Daisy Lowe gives her pup Monty the VIP treatment as she totes him around Monty's not complaining! Behave yourself! Chris Brown chats to pretty female clubber as he hits the town without on/off girlfriend Rihanna She's going to LOVE these pictures! Helen Flanagan vamps it up in her favourite thigh-high leather boots for dinner with a pal... but seems to have her night ruined by 'snobby people' Kelly Osbourne 'engaged' to Matthew Mosshart A friend says Kelly's 'in a healthy relationship with a wonderful guy' That's one way to get through to the next round! SNL cast member drugs and ties Voice host Adam Levine to his swivel chair Parody promo How DO you divide your love between your ageing parents and demanding children? TESSA CUNNINGHAM has to juggle since her father moved in No maternity wear in sight! Kim Kardashian teams daring thigh-high boots with a faux fur coat She continues Paris love-in with Kanye West Snuggly in scarlet! January Jones models bright red knitted jumper at Sundance Film Festival premiere of new movie Sweetwater It's Lauren's Way: Miss Goodger breaks the rules as she makes a daring sartorial decision in a peplum top with leggings Going her own way The royal nag bags! Zara Phillips says she and Duchess of Cornwall bond over their love of horses Horses have been part of both families Flying solo: Katy Perry arrives back in LA without John Mayer after they both attended President Obama's Inaugural Ball Bizarre fashion choices run in the family! Willow Smith sports odd leather coat and maxi skirt combo... as mother Jada wears printed leggings Day out in the big smoke!: Arnold Schwarzenegger and son Patrick shop for cigars as they enjoy bonding time in London The Debenhams perfume counter girl sniffed out by music mogul soars up the charts with cover of classic Duran Duran song Is that you Xena? 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Dream home designed especially for cats to enjoy These hectoring celebrity chefs meddling with our plates make me feel queasy, says JAN MOIR   Back to top Navigation Popular Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists Popular searches in news: Sitemap Archive Mobile Apps RSS Text-based site Reader Prints Top of page Daily Mail Mail on Sunday This is Network This is London This is Money Metro Jobsite Mail Travel Zoopla.co.uk Prime Location Villa Holidays Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group © Associated Newspapers Ltd Contact us Advertise with us Terms Privacy policy & cookies Harry Potter: How films narrowly avoided a relocation to America by studio bosses | Mail Online Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists News Home Arts Headlines Pictures Most read News Board Login Find a Job M&S Wine Our Papers Feedback Thursday, Jan 24 2013 3PM 2°C 6PM -1°C 5-Day Forecast Cheerleaders at a quidditch match? How the Harry Potter films narrowly avoided a relocation to America by studio bosses who wanted to turn it into a 'US teen drama' By Tom Goodenough PUBLISHED: 11:12 GMT, 4 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:46 GMT, 4 August 2012 Comments ( 65 ) Share With its towering turrets and set in an ancient castle, Harry Potter's wizarding school Hogwarts might seem like a quintessentially British creation. But the producer who worked on the film franchise of J.K.Rowling's hugely-successful books has revealed the plans by some film bosses to turn the story of the boy wizard into an American teenage drama instead. David Heyman, the 51-year-old who bought the film rights to the Harry Potter series in 2009, said in initial discussions with Warner Brothers it was proposed that the wizarding saga should be relocated to across the Atlantic. Huge success: The Harry Potter films became the highest-grossing series of all time, but movie bosses wanted to turn the story into that of an American teenage drama 'In some of the first talks with writers in America there was talk of moving it to the States, you know, cheerleaders and the like,' he told the Independent. More... Branch out! Children and adults love treehouses and they can add value to your home Fifty Shades of Grey outsells Harry Potter. The 'mummy porn' novel breaks another record and outsells all SEVEN J K Rowling books on Amazon 'That just never really rang true because it really was culturally so British.' Harry's Potter beloved sport of Quidditch, pictured, could have had some American touches added including cheerleaders if film bosses had got their way Despite the apparent pressure to make Harry Potter more attractive to American viewers, Heyman - who subsequently produced all of the films in the £5bn-grossing franchise - says he is glad that he stood his ground over keeping the film version true to the original. 'It wouldn't have made sense for the homes, the institutions and those gothic structures to be set in America.' Following on from the success of the books written by British author, the movies met with unparalleled success and are now part of the highest-grossing film series of all time. The stars and author of the films, left to right: Daniel Radcliffe, JK Rowling, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, pictured at the premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows But despite earning its creator J.K.Rowling a fortune, it seems that converting Hogwarts into an American-style high school would have fundamentally gone against the author's wishes. She had initially insisted that the principal cast in the film be kept strictly British, in keeping with the original novel. And it seems that Rowling's fears that she 'didn't want to give them (movie bosses) control over the rest of the story' by selling off the rights to characters, could have been well-founded if the plans to Americanise the film adaption had gone ahead. MOST READ NEWS Previous 1 2 3 4 Next Revealed: Ballboy, 17, kicked in ribs by Chelsea star is... Does it come fully fur-nished? Dream home designed... Tricks and trysts: Women who sell sex in the ONLY legal... 'I told him not to take off TWICE': Millionaire Ivy... Dying moments of girl behind bars: Shocking video shows... Is this the most mesmerising and beautiful picture of the... 'If he was here he would have said "Perfect, darling,... 'It was easier to lie back and accept death': Two fathers... Gay chocolatier couple leave Scottish Highlands village... Sperm whales invite deformed bottlenose dolphin into their... 'I don't know what normal is any more': Prince Harry reveals... 'I lied to police' admits pro footballers' alleged sex... Share this article: Facebook Twitter Google+ Messenger LinkedIn Digg it Newsvine Fark Nowpublic Reddit Print article Email article Comments ( 65 ) The comments below have not been moderated. Newest Oldest Best rated Worst rated View all I probably would have enjoyed it more. My children put me through these movies, insist I read the books, Which I find intolerable. I would have enjoyed a typical stupid HighSchool movie more. Just my opinion. - Urs , US, 06/8/2012 05:27 Click to rate Rating 19 Report abuse Dragons Den is based on a Japanese programme. - Mr_Memo , Why?, 06/8/2012 03:39 Click to rate Rating (0) Report abuse He bought the rights in 1999 not 2009 - Chris Jones , Leeds, UK, 05/8/2012 23:54 Click to rate Rating 7 Report abuse I love Harry potter! I'm so glad this didn't happen!!! Ps: Hate 50shades of grey... (should never e compared to Harry potter) - Caroline , USA , 05/8/2012 20:37 Click to rate Rating 28 Report abuse NO. NO. NO!!! DON'T YOU DARE! - Student, 17 , Bradford, UK, 05/8/2012 17:31 Click to rate Rating 21 Report abuse Thank heavens they stood their ground. Hollyweird is possibly the least creative place on earth. American television is becoming increasingly generic. We don't even watch broadcast television anymore. - cynthia brennemann , belleville, Illinois USA, 05/8/2012 16:36 Click to rate Rating 59 Report abuse ""Memphis Belle" was supposed to be about a Lancaster bomber crew, but the yanks insisted it be about a US crew." - Brian, London, UK, 5/8/2012 8:48. --- Historical fact: it was a B-17 with an American crew, not a Lancaster with a Brit crew. 324th Bomb Squadron out of Bassingbourn. - Henry , Henryville, 05/8/2012 15:14 Click to rate Rating 41 Report abuse "Memphis Belle" was supposed to be about a Lancaster bomber crew, but the yanks insisted it be about a US crew. Hugh Laurie got the part of "House" partly because a caster thought he was american (but mainly because he's a bl00dy good actor). - Brian , London, UK, 05/8/2012 14:48 Click to rate Rating 12 Report abuse @ Homunculus 9,Oldham. I LOVE British humour. but i'm half English and half America my parents from Elmbridge,Surrey. i just love The Inbetweeners, Outnumbered,Fridat Night Dinner,Come Fly With Me, Twenty Twelve and many many more shows. thank you BBC AMERICA. TAKE THE MICKEY. LOVE FROM THE U.S. and one more thing to say. GOOD SHOW GREAT BRITAIN, THE OLYMPICS ARE AWESOME - Lisa , Hawthorne, New Jersey, U.S., 05/8/2012 14:47 Click to rate Rating 19 Report abuse Stop bashing the Americans- this is a problem with the Hollywood film industry, not America or Americans. Hollywood is so scared of loosing money that it has lost any love for film that it ever had and so it plays to the largest cinema audience in the world, which is America. If you make a list of the top 50 films in English at least 45 of them would be American, same with TV shows, so stop being so harsh just because the industry has such a low opinion of it's own country-men that it won't credit them with the intellegence to enjoy non-American settings... - Penny , Hants, 05/8/2012 13:29 Click to rate Rating 52 Report abuse The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Bing Site Web Enter search term: Search FEMAIL TODAY 'That was our secret': Rapper Consequence claims Kayne West had affair with Kim Kardashian while she was still in a relationship with Reggie Bush Are you SURE that wasn't airbrushed? Nigella Lawson displays slimmer figure in Taste publicity shots... after insisting she didn't want the pictures altered Austerity On Ice! 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Carol Vorderman wears military style coat for Daybreak appearance to plug her new online homework service She wears it well: Rachel Hunter heads to Pilates class dressed down in gym gear... And she still manages to make it look good Tom Cruise's son Connor celebrates turning 18 with a DJ gig... as big sister Isabella cheers him on At Boujis in South Kensington Still looking good: Julie Christie, 71, holds onto youthful appearance and glows while out at private cinema screening Transsexual model Lea T and Rihanna's old flame Dudley O'Shaughnessy star in Benetton's bold, bright S/S'13 campaign A match made in music heaven? Lady Gaga confirms she and crooner Tony Bennett are to team up for album of duets That could have been embarrassing! Paloma Faith narrowly avoids a fashion fail as dress slips down to reveal a little too much cleavage at Manchester Apollo Victoria's not so secret: The $2.5million 'fantasy' bra worn by Alessandra Ambrosio goes on display in London's Bond Street Over 5,200 gemstones Kelly Brook's boyfriend Thom Evans poses in his skimpiest pants yet as the face of 'bum enhancing' boxers What does Kelly see in him? Time to invest in some maternity clothes? Pregnant Kim Kardashian pairs her chic fur coat with... jogging bottoms It's not THAT cold in Paris, Kanye... but you can keep the ski mask on if you want! West hides his face in bizarre red balaclava That's one way to conquer the January blues! Myleene Klass treats herself to a new £82,000 car as she waves daughter Ava off on a school trip Not so calm and collected now! Zac Efron loses his cool as he sprints across street on the set of his new film Are We Officially Dating? Triumph for ITV as Ant and Dec scoop National Television Award for TWELFTH year in a row... and Coronation Street is crowned as best soap They're old favourites Mine or yours? Samia Ghadie and Sylvain Longchambon do little to dispel romance rumours as they leave the NTAs together Doing it Pudsey Style! Britain's Got Talent winner Ashleigh Butler and adorable dancing pooch perform Psy's Gangnam hit at National Television Awards 'Kimberley Walsh's first live performance... I recommend it's her last' Girls Aloud singer didn't win any fans with her solo at the National Television Awards Walford's finest! EastEnders may have missed the trophy but they beat Corrie in the red carpet style war Consolation at National Television Awards Pussycat Dolls style war! Ashley Roberts wipes the floor with band-mate Nicole Scherzinger On National Television awards red carpet ... but Nicole attracts all the attention when the flashbulbs on red carpet turn her plunging black dress see-through Why didn't she wear a bra? Whose tent did you borrow? TOWIE's Gemma Collins leads the way for fashion fails at the NTAs... Swiftly followed by Big Fat Gypsy Wedding stars Leave it to the professionals: Dermot O'Leary falls over as he dances with Darcey Bussell at the National Television Awards Back to the day job... 'Maybe I should get off the f***ing panel': Nicki Minaj storms off American Idol set after judges come to blows over contestant The sensible shoes the stars love: Alexa Chung, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz adore their £350 Acne 'Pistol' boots... and now there's a waiting list for the latest style Giving the red carpet a rest: Anne Hathaway heads out for dinner make-up free as details behind Les Miserables hair hacking scene are revealed No sibling rivalry here! Ashley Greene looks content as she spends a day out with her aspiring actor brother Joe In Beverly Hills on Wednesday afternoon Cara Delevingne models carpet chic as former call girl Zahia Dehar poses as a sexy shepherdess Another day at Paris's Couture fashion week Big night out? Kate Moss hangs on to husband Jamie Hince as the pair enjoy date at The Wolseley Romantic dinner at Mayfair restaurant Going for the healthy option? Botox fan Lisa Rinna, 49, displays her fresh-faced and line-free face as she heads to a yoga session Spotted in LA 'I feel naked without it': McFly's Tom Fletcher reveals he lost his wedding ring ahead of National TV Awards show... while making a sadnwich! 'They're perfect together': Michelle Keegan meets Mark Wright's parents at the NTAs... as his friends and family gush over their new romance Speidi to win? Britain's most hated reality TV couple make it to final of Celebrity Big Brother They've caused nothing but drama for their housemates Frankie Dettori loses the race: Ex-jockey exits the Celebrity Big Brother house followed by Tricia Penrose in double eviction Two defeated stars From eating disorders and endometriosis to extreme fitness model! How one woman used BODY BUILDING to fight her demons It runs in the family: Tamara and Anouska Beckwith make an elegant mother and daughter team at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week Bethenny Frankel's estranged husband is requesting primary custody of their daughter, as it's revealed he's 'not going down without a fight' ... And here's the reason why he's refusing to leave her $5million home In a picture exclusive, MailOnline goes inside her Manhattan apartment Harry Potter called, he wants his glasses back! Simon Cowell leaves BGT London auditions in round spectacles Perhaps he was trying to look like John Lennon 'Milan's feet!' Shakira's boyfriend Gerard Pique tweets first picture of their baby... and he's already wearing personalised Nikes Footballer in the making Return of the Jedi! Ewan McGregor reprises Obi-Wan Kenobi look as he grows a new beard May the fuzz be with you 'Best audition this season!' Candice Glover makes a show-stopping return to American Idol a year after being rejected Second chance proved to be a winner The smartest punk in town: The Saturdays' Mollie King shows off her quirky fashion sense in checked trousers and trilby She's a dream in white jeans! Alessandra Ambrosio shows off her toned legs in skintight denim Pulling off a look from a bygone era Heidi Klum wears ultra-sheer LBD on The Tonight Show...and dances on Jay Leno's desk Skilled in the art of getting attention From Washington to work out! Eva Longoria dressed down for martial arts class after attending President Obama's inauguration ceremony 'I always felt I was the ugly and fat one': Rosemary Shrager lost almost 3st in just 12 days on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, and found her confidence Mid-century mademoiselle: Kate Bosworth pays homage to the '60s in bizarre 'calfskin' polo neck and white PVC boots Severe but sexy look DON'T MISS Carrie Underwood turns vengeful girlfriend as she murders her cheating lover in edgy new video for Two Black Cadillacs Suits you, ladies! Carmen Electra and Chloe Moretz wear the trousers at the premiere of Movie 43 It's the fashionable way to rock a red carpet 'Are You Koala-fied?' The Mentalist star Simon Baker quizzes Ellen Degeneres on Australian trivia Australian actor schools Ellen on all things Oz Make-up free Natalie Portman dresses for comfort in thermal boots and woolen coat as she jets out of LA Still, her casual look manages to be stylish No Doubt she's a star! Gwen Stefani shows off her pop star style as she turns the school run into a fashion show Dressed up for the cameras Mommy and me! Jennifer Garner and eldest daughter Violet enjoy a high-spirited stroll after school She's a lively one Is that you, Caroline? Ms Flack draws attention to her cleavage rather than her legs as she swaps her trademark shorts for a plunging dress at NTAs Waltzing to a win at last! Strictly finally beats The X Factor to pick up Best Talent Show for the first time in five years at National Television Awards Spanx alert! Tulisa reveals her slimming aid as she leaves for the National Television Awards in a plunging white gown Heading for the O2 'Can't wait for everyone to see my new look!': TOWIE's Lucy Mecklenburgh reveals sleek new brown bob Showed off at National Television Awards Stylish sisters Sam and Billie Faiers steal the show in floor-length gowns at the O2 TOWIE girls dressed to impress at National Television Awards Tiny dancer! Amy Adams carries a ballet tote as she takes her daughter Aviana to class Spotted in Los Angeles Wednesday Pregnant Petra Ecclestone steps out in sensible footwear... but still takes a walk on the wild side in her animal print wellies Take that Adam! Russell Crowe has last laugh on critic Lambert as he posts studio version of Les Miserables song online Took his criticism well Kool! The Kardashian sisters unveil a surprisingly demure new collection and it drops at Dorothy Perkins TODAY As Hugh Bonneville jokes he looks like Brad, the amazing proof he is a sPITTing image! Take a look at our photos through the ages and see what you think Fingers crossed! Jessica Alba hopes for a hit to revive her career as she premieres A.C.O.D at Sundance Film Festival Looked stylish 'I still wonder if I could have saved her' Whitney Houston's mother on star's tragic death, rumoured lesbian romance and her fears for Bobbi Kristina Hey Girlfriend! Sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner play retro dolls posing on cover of Australian teen magazine Bathing beauties in their two-piece swimsuits Kris Jenner 'kicked, beat and threatened to kill Kim Kardashian'... her ex husband's 'secret diaries' claim But Kris has denied the explosive claims Can you really lose your baby weight in three months? Forget those irritating celebs, our new mothers share their struggles to get back in shape Not the most practical colour! Jennifer Lopez bravely wears a white coat... after secret meeting with ex-husband Marc Anthony 'Pavarotti mimed and it was freezing cold!': Why Beyoncé lip-synched at the inauguration Was concerned the sub-zero temperatures would mess up her voice Pregnant Peaches Geldof escapes chilly London on belated honeymoon with husband Thomas Cohen Kept her exact location private but shared snaps 'It cracks my heart in half': Lena Dunham weighs in on Rihanna's relationship with Chris Brown and her endless Instagram feed Poor role model Very naughty girls! Sundance stars Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen stand on a couch to pose in co-ordinating monochrome outfits Looked like sisters Spy style: Jessica Alba looks ready for espionage in long black coat at Sundance Stylish look for the mother of two in Park City, Utah 'Jack Osbourne inspired me to see my doctor': Real L Word star Lauren Bedford Russell reveals she has multiple sclerosis Had similar symptoms Ready for her comeback! Hilary Duff shows off her gym honed body as she is announced as Raising Hope guest star Working out has paid off So that's how she keeps so trim! Petite Mila Kunis enjoys a healthy sushi lunch with friends Dined at Kiwami restaurant in Studio City 'I'm certainly not!': Max George quashes rumours he is dating Lindsay Lohan once and for all Tweeted to female fans that nothing's going on Lindsay Lohan 'will go to trial after rejecting rehab plea deal' It would have placed her in rehab for nine months - but kept her out of prison Ladies who lunch! Kimberly Stewart and her baby daughter Delilah grab a bite to eat Spotted at Fred Segal in Los Angeles Look away now! Naked Neil 'Razor' Ruddock causes chaos running around the Celebrity Big Brother bedroom Covered his dignity in front of the camera Keeping his housemates entertained: CBB's Rylan Clark plays dress up as he gets his hands on Claire Richards' bra Not sure she's pleased Back together? Selma Blair is arm-in-arm with her ex Jason Bleick months after split Couple, who have a one-year-old son, spotted out in LA Feline fine! Kirsten Dunst steps out in cat's eyes sunglasses and funky animal print trousers Perhaps in tribute to her missing cat Tazzy Bohemian babe in burgundy! Naomi Watts fits in with the Venice Beach crowd as she steps out in billowing top and edgy trousers Out shopping So that's what the dowdy hairstyle is for! Maggie Gyllenhaal gets to work filming her latest movie Seen on the set of Frank in Bray, Ireland I'm waiting for my prince! Taylor Swift stuns as Rapunzel in new Disney Parks ad Her love life hasn't exactly been a fairytale... The ultimate Catwoman! Halle Berry dresses down as she dashes her sick feline to the vet Actress seen racing to surgery in Culver City No wonder she's hot and sweaty! Red-faced Ashley Greene leaves the gym after a gruelling TWO-HOUR workout Camouflage tank top was soaked through The night Prince Harry came to blows over the lover he shared with his brother: Not that one, his even racier relative and namesake who also loved Army life TOWIE's Joey Essex shows off his bizarre half shaven hairstyle ahead of the National Television Awards He's the master of all things reem 'If he was here he'd have said "Perfect, darling, perfect"': Michael Parkinson, Bill Wyman and David Frost among stars at Michael Winner's funeral They haven't even walked down the aisle yet! Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb are 'seeking couple's counselling' ` Follows a heated New Year's Eve fight Nene Leakes hides her blushes as Ellen DeGeneres surprises Real Housewives of Atlanta star with male strippers for impromptu bachelorette party Sheryl Crow bond with her boys at the beach amid accusations she KNEW about Lance Armstrong's doping Singer distracted herself from the drama Has Tiger Woods snared Lindsey Vonn? Womanising golfer 'dating Olympic skier' Disgraced golf star may have been tamed by new love 'She's the best part of every day': Ryan Seacrest opens up to Chelsea Handler about his plans to marry Julianne Hough Been dating three years Touchdown! Zooey Deschanel gets to grips with an American football on set of New Girl Spotted filming scenes in Los Angeles Charlotte Casiraghi poses for Gucci with Flora scarf made for Grace Kelly in the 60s She is granddaughter of Princess Grace of Monaco Justin Bieber denies bullying and telling radio host to 'shut the f*** up' while she worked out Colette Harrington was at Ritz-Carlton hotel gym in North Carolina 'We're having twins!' Lesbian Country singer Chely Wright is starting a family with wife Lauren Blitzer Couple tied the knot in August Lessons we learned from our first time: Your first sexual encounter shapes your love life forever, experts say. So did the earth move for these ingenues? Eddie Murphy to reprise role as Axel Foley in new Beverly Hills Cop TV series Success of the original 1984 film spawned two sequels Still awkward! Michael Cera takes a tumble on the red carpet as he avoids a kiss from pretty Magic Magic co-star Unusual behaviour at the Sundance film festival Revealed: An inside look at the private lives of the Kennedy family as HUNDREDS of JFK's personal items are discovered Found at adviser's home 'God kept me alive so we could have our baby': Biggest Loser fall victim Sam Poueu is expecting baby with Stephanie Anderson Biggest winners Hands off! Doug Hutchison's protective embrace after teen bride Courtney Stodden dirty dances with hunk in music video He's the main man 'He definitely had an appreciation for the feminine form': Kanye West's ex warns Kim Kardashian over his 'obsession with sex' Brooke Crittendon warns Real Housewives' Adrienne Maloof's surrogacy secret revealed: The truth behind her fight with Brandi Glanville that wasn't shown on TV AMANDA PLATELL: Which dimwit dragged back dungarees? Katie Holmes, Cameron Diaz, Michelle Keegan and Heidi Klum have been spotted in them Don't bother with a facelift, just get a fringe: Michelle Obama is the latest to opt for the look that can trim years off Our fail-safe guide to getting it right Ex-TOWIE star Maria Fowler returns to her glamour model roots as she poses in lingerie shoot Model posted candid Instagram photo CBB bosses forced to increase security after Speidi receive death threats... as a double eviction looms Hostile world awaits outside the house Why DOES Penelope Cruz have four gold needles pierced through her ears? They are acupuncture pins used to combat a variety of ailments Who's the daddy? I AM! Gerard Pique beams as he leaves the hospital after girlfriend Shakira gives birth to baby boy Clearly smitten with the new arrival Taylor Swift and Harry Styles are 'getting back together during romantic reunion at NRJ Music Awards' They split earlier this month Amanda Holden flashes her bra in sheer blouse at Britain's Got Talent auditions Meanwhile Alesha decides that prim and proper is the way forward Rochelle Humes admits she'd be more likely to listen to JLS while making love than The Saturdays as the band launch reality show in UK Is this Jeremy Renner's baby mama? Hollywood star's 'pregnant ex identified as 22-year-old Canadian model Sonni Pacheco' She is aspiring actress Brooklyn Beckham looks set to follow in father David's footballing footsteps as he is trialled for Chelsea FC The game is definitely in the family genes Justin Timberlake to perform at Super Bowl party as he launches music comeback Charity bash at the DTV Superfan Stadium in New Orleans 'Am I going to be queen? You never know': The Duchess of Cornwall shows off her mischievous side as she chats to primary school children in London The great GAPsby: Leonardo DiCaprio is surrounded by women as he hangs out poolside during hiatus from acting Great Gatsby star Alexandre Vauthier presents deliberate 'nip-slip' dress at Paris Fashion Week - but who would dare to wear it? His fans include Kylie Minogue and Rita Ora Ain't nothing like a dame! Vivienne Westwood launches exhibition of shocking photographs featuring her fully naked Not for the faint of heart 'She did a beautiful job with the pre-record': Aretha Franklin admits she 'cracked up' when she heard Beyonce's lip-synching at inauguration ceremony Unveiled: The six-year-old Tom Daley diving protege who was banned by elf n safety from appearing on TV show Splash! Lucky boy From the boxing ring to the catwalk: Knock out female boxer, 29, beats thousands to land place in Top Model final Mother-of-two Amy swaps ring for catwalk Carly Rae Jepsen strikes a photo booth pose as she replaces Lea Michele as the face of Candie's Singer selected her own props for shoot Shameless star Emmy Rossum turns classy as she channels 20s chic in new sombre music video Prior to acting career she devoted time to singing Nigella Lawson unleashes her feminine charms while flirting her way through new U.S. show The Taste Praised for her warm and witty style 'I want a little Coco': Ice-T's model wife says she's ready for a baby... and wants to name their future daughter Chanel They've been married over ten years Who needs Tyra? Nigel Barker moves on from America's Next Top Model as he lovingly kisses his wife at fashion event In good spirits Bon Jovi promise to push the sound barriers when they headline this year's Hyde Park festival Last year Bruce Springsteen was cut off during his Hyde Park gig 'Please give me a little bit of help': Disgraced Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray sobs in desperate plea from prison for medical care Moans of constant pain Pregnant Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans files assault and battery charges against husband of six weeks Threatened to divorce Courtland Rogers earlier Woman terrified of becoming 'old and middle-aged' charts turning 40 with blog of self-portraits taken over one year Weekly update Jessica Simpson's parents Joe and Tina 'fighting over $300m fortune in bitter divorce' They separated last September after 35 years of marriage Not so Haute right now! Rita Ora keeps it simple as she dresses down while heading home from Paris Couture Week 'My butt is definitely softer': Jillian Michaels reveals how her children have taken priority over her workout regime She became notorious for her 'tough love' Dannii Minogue is effortlessly chic in a straw trilby and printed mini as she enjoys a Melbourne brunch with pals and son Ethan Talk about over-doing it: Liz Hurley steps out in super stylish dress as she has coffee at a cafe with Shane Warne Hypnotising outfit in Melbourne 'Eating too many calories made me feel bad': Katie Couric explains why she opened her heart about bulimia battle 'Losing weight's easy when y'all do it together': Paula Deen's family collectively shed 178lbs after her diabetes scare The 66-year-old TV cook promoted a high-fat diet Once Upon a Time star Ginnifer Goodwin opens up her fairytale home tucked away in the Hollywood Hills Appears in this month's issue of Elle You're supposed to WALK your dog, not carry it! Daisy Lowe gives her pup Monty the VIP treatment as she totes him around Monty's not complaining! Behave yourself! Chris Brown chats to pretty female clubber as he hits the town without on/off girlfriend Rihanna She's going to LOVE these pictures! Helen Flanagan vamps it up in her favourite thigh-high leather boots for dinner with a pal... but seems to have her night ruined by 'snobby people' Kelly Osbourne 'engaged' to Matthew Mosshart A friend says Kelly's 'in a healthy relationship with a wonderful guy' That's one way to get through to the next round! SNL cast member drugs and ties Voice host Adam Levine to his swivel chair Parody promo How DO you divide your love between your ageing parents and demanding children? TESSA CUNNINGHAM has to juggle since her father moved in No maternity wear in sight! Kim Kardashian teams daring thigh-high boots with a faux fur coat She continues Paris love-in with Kanye West Snuggly in scarlet! January Jones models bright red knitted jumper at Sundance Film Festival premiere of new movie Sweetwater It's Lauren's Way: Miss Goodger breaks the rules as she makes a daring sartorial decision in a peplum top with leggings Going her own way The royal nag bags! Zara Phillips says she and Duchess of Cornwall bond over their love of horses Horses have been part of both families Flying solo: Katy Perry arrives back in LA without John Mayer after they both attended President Obama's Inaugural Ball Bizarre fashion choices run in the family! Willow Smith sports odd leather coat and maxi skirt combo... as mother Jada wears printed leggings Day out in the big smoke!: Arnold Schwarzenegger and son Patrick shop for cigars as they enjoy bonding time in London The Debenhams perfume counter girl sniffed out by music mogul soars up the charts with cover of classic Duran Duran song Is that you Xena? Lucy Lawless looks a million miles away from her alter ego The 44-year-old looked much less warrior-like and more ladylike in LA Today's headlines Most Read Revealed: Ballboy, 17, kicked in ribs by Chelsea star is heir to £42m hotel fortune - who boasted about... Joanna Lumley warns young girls who get 'legless' they are at risk of rape, saying: 'Don't get drunk, don't... Britons in Benghazi warned to get out immediately after Foreign Office reports 'imminent threat' Sylvester Stallone 'paid millions of dollars to half-sister who claimed he assaulted her for years at the... Paedophile, 25, had sex with girl, 12, as he hid in her bedroom for TWO DAYS while her unknowing parents sat... Convicted IRA Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price found dead at her home in Ireland Gay chocolatier couple leave Scottish Highlands village 'after suffering years of homophobic and... 'Wake up and smell the coffee': Cameron warns global firms (including Starbucks) of a fresh clampdown on tax... Pro footballers' 'sex assault victim' claims they 'taunted her in the street over humiliating attack as she... Antibiotic resistance is now as serious a threat as terrorism and could trigger an 'apocalyptic scenario',... Eating sandwiches at your desk is ‘disgusting’ and office workers should take proper lunch... Caught on CCTV: Moment distracted newsreader plunged into freezing canal while texting her boyfriend French court orders Twitter to hand over names of racist and anti-Semitic users in landmark case Steve Irwin's 14-year-old daughter Bindi in bizarre spat with Hillary Clinton over article about... Hospitals to become 'warehouses of old people' as health service struggles to cope with ageing population,... BBC presenter who walked out after 11 years claiming she was bullied in ‘poisonous atmosphere’... Mystery death of schoolgirl, 15, at £10,000-a-year private academy as her body is found on motorway 'I told him not to take off TWICE': Millionaire Ivy restaurant owner warned helicopter pilot due to pick him... Osborne needs to 'take stock' of hardline austerity to avoid choking off recovery, says IMF Poll shock for Alex Salmond as support for Scotland leaving the UK slumps to just 23 per cent Pupils aged just TWELVE given nicotine patches by nurses on visits to schools without telling their parents Why you should exercise BEFORE breakfast - you'll burn 20 per cent more body fat How DOES this garden grow? Astonishing plant is still thriving inside sealed bottle after 40 years without... Weekend rain and flood warnings issued across Britain as Big Thaw sets in but ice alerts are still in place... Cancer causing drug may have been in horse meat consumed in UK, Labour warns as Burger King dumps millions... Gary Lineker to sign new Match of the Day deal - but BBC force him to take a £500,000 pay cut Man flu really DOES exist: The way men's brains are wired means their symptoms really are worse Deadly GM flu research that could 'wipe out significant portion of humanity' set to restart Former soldier sends his medals to Prince Charles after fight to stay in the UK leaves his family facing... Grandmother, 77, trapped in 14ft garden cesspit threw her shoes out in desperate bid to raise the alarm... Muslims claim Jabba's Palace Lego toy is racist as it is 'based on iconic mosque in Istanbul' Fewer than one in four people think Islam is compatible with British life, faith minister warns Primary school bans six-year-old boy from wearing Christian band in class for 'health and safety reasons' 'Our pain and suffering is unimaginable': Family of toddler ‘killed by nanny’ speak of desperate... Quit while you're ahead? Smokers who stop by 44 can live almost as long as those who never took up the habit British motorcycle writer killed in accident in front of fellow journalists testing BMW motorcycle at press... Sony fined £250,000 over hacker attack that exposed details of 77 MILLION users - and 'could have been... Are you smarter than your eight-year-old? How 95% of parents are stumped by sums for their kids Overall level of crime falls to record low but fears raised 400,000 offences have not been logged by police Michelin Guide accused of cover-up over death of top French chef who committed suicide months after reports... Keeping chocolate on hobnobs and creating an invisibility cloak: How Britain is leading the world in... Lance Armstrong sued for fraud after two men claim they were 'betrayed' by his best-selling memoirs after he... 'I don't know what normal is any more': Prince Harry reveals he saw seven-year-old girl killed by Taliban on... Sperm whales invite deformed bottlenose dolphin into their underwater clique after creature is rejected by... Indian gang rapists left victim for dead and then 'used her clothes in bonfire to warm up before they... Indian gang rape victim takes poison in court after six year case is adjourned again Almost 200 secondary schools teaching 167,000 pupils fail to meet basic GCSE targets Manager stole £58,000 from doctor's surgery where he worked because he didn't think he was being paid enough March of the Big Mac drive-thru: McDonalds expands number as fast food fans shun traditional restaurants At last, some-fin for nothing: Sainsbury’s free 'alternative' fish giveaway in stores across the UK... MORE HEADLINES Revealed: Ballboy, 17, kicked in ribs by Chelsea star is heir to £42m hotel fortune - who boasted about time-wasting before game Tricks and trysts: Women who sell sex in the ONLY legal brothels in America reveal lonely truth of 'just another day at work' Does it come fully fur-nished? Dream home designed especially for cats to enjoy 'I told him not to take off TWICE': Millionaire Ivy restaurant owner warned helicopter pilot due to pick him up that the weather was too bad before fatal crane crash Dying moments of girl behind bars: Shocking video shows teenager killing herself as prison guards stood by Gay chocolatier couple leave Scottish Highlands village 'after suffering years of homophobic and anti-English abuse' Is this the most mesmerising and beautiful picture of the winter? 'If he was here he would have said "Perfect, darling, perfect"': Michael Winner is buried at funeral attended by the stars 'It was easier to lie back and accept death': Two fathers tried to drown themselves after jet-ski broke down and they drifted 10 miles out to sea Sperm whales invite deformed bottlenose dolphin into their underwater clique after creature is rejected by its own 'I don't know what normal is any more': Prince Harry reveals he saw seven-year-old girl killed by Taliban on his last day of Afghan tour Former soldier sends his medals to Prince Charles after fight to stay in the UK leaves his family facing financial ruin 'I lied to police' admits pro footballers' alleged sex assault victim, who hoped 'detectives would crack case like CSI' Eating sandwiches at your desk is ‘disgusting’ and office workers should take proper lunch breaks, warns health minister who claimed deprived were mostly obese Muslims claim Jabba's Palace Lego toy is racist as it is 'based on iconic mosque in Istanbul' Yes, Prime Minister! Cameron's EU referendum unites Tories, delights business and even gets Germany on side Sylvester Stallone 'paid millions of dollars to half-sister who claimed he assaulted her for years at the height of his fame' 'Have a nice life mum': Final words of boy, 12, who hanged himself hours after being expelled from school Mystery death of schoolgirl, 15, at £10,000-a-year private academy as her body is found on motorway 'We just wanted to find a bargain': Elderly couple looking for jumble sale end up at 'illegal rave' MOST READ IN DETAIL EDITOR'S SIX OF THE BEST MAX HASTINGS: The speech of his life! And if the PM can follow through, he might just seal a historic triumph SIMON HEFFER: How the Prime Minister outfoxed his opponents over the referendum Mr Cameron's given us a real choice on Europe. Let's not squander it, writes LIAM FOX Censoring Fawlty's gags makes the Beeb look more bonkers than Basil Does it come fully fur-nished? Dream home designed especially for cats to enjoy These hectoring celebrity chefs meddling with our plates make me feel queasy, says JAN MOIR   Back to top Navigation Popular Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists Popular searches in news: Sitemap Archive Mobile Apps RSS Text-based site Reader Prints Top of page Daily Mail Mail on Sunday This is Network This is London This is Money Metro Jobsite Mail Travel Zoopla.co.uk Prime Location Villa Holidays Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group © Associated Newspapers Ltd Contact us Advertise with us Terms Privacy policy & cookies Cricket in stealthy pitch at US market - FT.com ft.com > Companies > Retail&Consumer > Travel & Leisure Search Advanced search Sign in Site tour Register Subscribe Welcome Subscribe Your account Site tour Sign out Email address Password Forgot password? 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If you wish to view more, click the button below. Help • Contact us • About us • Sitemap • Advertise with the FT • Terms & conditions • Privacy policy • Copyright • Cookie policy © The Financial Times Ltd 2013 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd. Printed from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0c53556-0e46-11e2-b87e-00144feabdc0.html Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others. © The Financial Times Ltd 2013 FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd. Privacy policy | Terms | Copyright Gome feud stirs ‘Americanisation’ fears - FT.com ft.com > World > Asia-Pacific > China Search Advanced search Sign in Site tour Register Subscribe Welcome Subscribe Your account Site tour Sign out Email address Password Forgot password? Remember me on this computer Sign in "Remember me" uses a cookie. View our Cookie Policy . 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Voice map finds American stresses not so loud | Books | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Books User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Culture Books British Library English as she is spoke? Voice map finds American stresses not so loud British Library's Map Your Voice scheme records 10,000 English speakers and finds 'Americanisation' of speech may be a myth Share Tweet this Email Mark Brown , Arts correspondent The Guardian , Thursday 10 March 2011 18.54 GMT Jump to comments ( … ) Map Your Voice explores our pronunication: So, is this a guhrahj or a garij? Photograph: Johnny Green/PA It is a common accusation that Britons are sounding more American these days, but new evidence suggests that may not be so after all. Try saying aloud these words: controversy, garage, neither, scone, schedule, attitude. The British Library holds recordings of thousands of people saying those six words and early conclusions cast interesting light on the way English is spoken. As part of the Map Your Voice project , library curators have also listened to many thousands of people reading extracts from Mr Tickle (part of the Mr Men children's books) – "tickles are small and round and have arms that stretch and stretch and stretch" – in an attempt to provide a log of contemporary spoken English. More than 10,000 English speakers from across the world have so far contributed to the project. "We've had an extraordinary response, we're delighted," said the library's curator of sociolinguistics, Jonnie Robinson. One early conclusion is that Britons are not necessarily pronouncing their words as Americans do. Take "controversy". Americans tend to put the stress on the first syllable – which the Oxford English Dictionary says is correct – while a majority of Britons now emphasise the second. "This is something that linguists have been tracking for some time but this is wonderful evidence," said Robinson. "It is a pronunciation that is changing in the UK but not in America. It is good evidence to show that British English is diverging from American English, and scotches the myth that we're all sounding more like Americans. It seems British English speakers are changing the way they speak and Americans aren't." Why Britons are increasingly stressing the second syllable on some words – applicable and harass are others – is another question. Another word being studied is "garage", which for the vast majority of British English speakers rhymes with "marriage", but for Americans still mostly rhymes with "mirage". Then there is "neither", which most British people still pronounce as in "scythe" while most Americans "seethe". On the scone (gone)/scone (bone) debate, all the American speakers said the latter while two-thirds of British English-speakers said the former. The project is part of the library's exhibition Evolving English: One Language , Many Voices, which runs to 3 April. Robinson said: "We have had lots of non-native speakers, which is important because they are thought by linguists to have an increasing influence on the way English will develop. Non-native speakers hugely outnumber native speakers." So far 10,000 people's voices have been recorded for the British Library collection and curators hope there will be significantly more over time. "I think we will have a collection the like of which does not exist anywhere else; that number of voices reading the same passage is going to be great for linguists to work with and is a great snapshot of the way English was spoken in a huge number of places at the start of the 21st century." As well as many thousands of recordings of Mr Tickles and the six words, contributors also say a word that is special to them. One man from the Yorkshire dales offered "brozzen", meaning full after a meal. But one of the most popular offered is one not yet in the OED but which will probably be known to anyone under 16: "peng". As anyone down with the kids will know, it means attractive. • Add your voice at http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/mapabout.html Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2nkdv StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Books editor books.editor@ guardianunlimited.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article English as she is spoke? Voice map finds American stresses not so loud This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 18.54 GMT on Thursday 10 March 2011 . A version appeared on p4 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Friday 11 March 2011 . It was last modified at 00.55 GMT on Friday 11 March 2011 . Books British Library Education Linguistics Society Science Language UK news British identity and society More news Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . We Own The Weekend Celebrate the Guardian and Observer Weekend by signing up to receive £1 off the Saturday Guardian and £1 off the Observer for two weekends. 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Share Tweet this It's Uncle Sam on the line for Europe | Business | The Observer Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Business User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Business It's Uncle Sam on the line for Europe Share Tweet this Email Jamie Doward The Observer , Sunday 17 October 1999 Shock, horror. Hold the front page. 'European telecoms company wins major deal.' Why all the hullaballoo over something only marginally less dull than ditchwater? Well, the year is 2003, and what sociologists call the Americanisation of the globe has spread to the European telecommunications sector. In this scenario there are few European players, never mind UK ones, left. A relentless tide of US know-how and money has washed into a Europe still struggling to wake up to the opportunities of deregulation. Some incumbents, only recently privatised, have been swept away in a round of defensive mergers; many European start-ups have been swallowed whole by US predators; the rest operate in niche markets, or are voiceless in unhappy alliances with their transatlantic counterparts. Some European players have collapsed completely, their skeletons picked over by the remaining firms. In this scenario, the fact that a European operator has been able to defeat American competition becomes a headline-grabbing event. It is only a scenario, but it is a likely one. The Americanisation of this European market has been happening for years. Last week, when Global Crossing acquired Racal's telecoms business for £1 billion, what had previously been done by stealth was thrown into sharp focus. The US telecoms firms are over-financed and over here. If they are not building their own networks, they are buying those built by others. Or they are buying into other companies. 'US funds made a lot of money backing US startups and they've now decided that Europe is the place to be,' said one analyst. This is not that surprising. Europe is a cash cow. Energis, the UK company outbid by Global Crossing for Racal, estimates that Europe is 31 per cent of the £438bn global telecoms market, compared with 27 per cent for the US and 12 per cent for Japan. This figure is expected to increase as demand surges. Companies are becoming increasingly pan-European, and their empires are stretching. They want to ship vast amounts of data as quickly and as securely as possible. The Internet and other new media will also continue to boost - and create - demand. The first US invader was MCI WorldCom, the hugely acquisitive US telecoms giant, which this month broke all records when it merged with Sprint in a deal valued at $129bn. MCI Worldcom started a pan-European network in 1996. Today, while most other players are only starting to build their networks, MCI has 10 city networks in place in Europe and is two-thirds of the way to building the backbone to link them. Currently the company links 4,000 buildings in the UK to 35,000 in the US. By building from scratch, it has wrong-footed the incumbent firms. 'They're very slow,' said Liam Strong, chief executive of MCI WorldCom International. 'If you're a PTT [a traditional post, telegraph and telephone company], you're not designed to be a modern telecoms company. Look at what we have built in the past 18 months; no PTT has moved as quickly.' Other companies soon hurried to get a slice of European action. Take GTS. It started life in the Eighties as a not-for-profit organisation financed by George Soros to link Russian and Californian universities. A series of acquisitions in the Nineties, however (including the UK's Esprit Telecom for $1.1bn last year) led to a GTS network through 12 countries. Level 3, formed by a group of ex-MCI executives, has embarked on a giant network roll-out that joins 16,000 miles of US network to a 3,400-mile European system at a cost of up to $10bn.Then there is Viatel, a Nasdaq- listed company, like GTS and Level 3, that is building a pan-European network linking Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. The firm has raised more than a billion dollars through junk bonds to pay for it. The US Baby Bells, once the local telephone compa nies, are also piling in. SBC Communications (which owns, among other things, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell) this month completed its acquisition of another US operator, Ameritech, which will make it the largest non-European telecoms investor in Europe. 'The likes of SBC are awash with cash that is now pouring into Europe,' said Selim Choonara of telecoms analyst CIT Research. Other players include iaxis, the Dutch-based, US-financed company that is building an undersea network in the Mediterranean to link Europe, Africa and Asia. Then there are the conventional European cable opera tors such as Telewest, in which Microsoft has been building strategic stakes. Bill Gates' company also has a stake in NTL, the UK firm that recently bought Cable & Wireless's residential arm but is listed on Nasdaq and backed by US money. James Dodd, head of telecoms at independent investment bank Bryan Garnier, says those leading the US invasion have two key weapons: cash and knowledge. 'They've had management experience in running independent operations, plus they've had a ready availability of money, which means they're able to build their own networks.' Finally, US investment firms are increasing their stakes in the European telecoms industry. After all, they have had some notable success. Whisper it quietly: the UK's favourite telecoms stock, Colt, is majority-owned by US backers. Given the rush to wire Europe, some analysts predict problems with a bandwidth bonanza: too many cables, not enough demand. But for now the US companies are confident. 'If you give people more efficient ways to communicate, they will communicate more,' Strong said. Increasingly these 'efficient ways' will have an American provenance. Uncle Sam is making the calls. Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2zey StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Business editor financial@guardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@observer.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@observer.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article It's Uncle Sam on the line for Europe This article appeared on p4 of the Observer Business, Media & Cash section of the Observer on Sunday 17 October 1999 . It was published on guardian.co.uk at 03.22 BST on Sunday 17 October 1999 . 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Share Tweet this Pin-ups, scandal and the American way | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Comment is free User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Comment is free Pin-ups, scandal and the American way The Americanisation of French politics is now obvious, from live televised debates to the invasion of candidates' private lives. Share Tweet this Email Agnes Poirier guardian.co.uk , Friday 3 November 2006 10.15 GMT Jump to comments ( … ) Everything in France points to the Americanisation of French politics; from televised debates between aspiring candidates in the run-up to the presidential elections, to the evolution of the primary election system within the French socialist party, and the staging of candidates' private lives on the front page of celebrity magazines, which didn't even exist a year ago. One could argue that the phenomenon is not new but represents the latest stage of a long process, which began almost 200 years ago. It all started with Alexis de Tocqueville, the French liberal aristocrat who, in 1830, travelled throughout the US to observe and dissect the young democracy. What he saw there simply fascinated him. The book he went on to write, Democracy in America , remains to this day one of the biggest best-sellers in French literature. The French fascination for the American political model began with Tocqueville and continues today, for instance with philosopher Bernard Henry Levy, who, for his latest book American vertigo , endeavoured to retrace Tocqueville's steps in America. Over the years, the Americanisation of French politics has taken many shapes. There was a time when the French knew nothing of their politicians' private lives and most of them preferred it that way. However, in an effort to seem more modern, many presidential hopefuls looked towards America. For his 1974 campaign, which he won, President Giscard found inspiration not in General de Gaulle's legacy but in that of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. On posters, he posed with his eldest daughter, confidently smiling at the passers-by. In his bid to appear happy he did something quite new: he slightly opened his mouth. For the first time, voters could see their future president's teeth, a revolutionary novelty in French politics. So far, politicians had had to look solemn making sure not to reveal their oh-so-European crooked yellow gnashers. In the 1980s, President Mitterrand, though eager to hire the services of publicist genius Jacques Séguéla for his presidential campaign of 1981, never dreamt of letting his private life invade the public stage. When asked by a daring journalist in the last years of his presidency whether it was true that he'd had a daughter with his mistress, he famously answered: "Et alors?" ("and so what?") End of the matter. In a clear breach of French political traditions, presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy consciously crossed the Rubicon recently. The French interior minister not only lets voters know about his private life but also uses it to gain their support. He for instance publicised the fact that his wife had left him to gallivant in New York with one of his party's publicists. When she later came back to him, he made sure to stage their reconciliation lunch in the public eye, at one of the most conspicuous restaurants in Paris. She naturally got her job back: that of Sarkozy's private counsellor with an office at his ministry. A year before, during the annual conference of Chirac's party, which elected him as his new leader, Nicolas Sarkozy had even used his children in a promotional film. The socialist Ségolène Royal, the darling of the polls and Sarkozy's main competitor at the moment, had to make do with this change of situation: last summer, she saw herself become, quite unwillingly, the pin-up of celebrity magazines which featured pictures of her in a turquoise bikini . Her impeccable figure, at the age of 53, was a godsend. The Americanisation of French politics doesn't, however, come only through the bedroom's keyhole or stolen holiday snapshots. In an attempt to emulate the primary system of American political parties, in which party members choose who is going to run for the supreme job, the French socialist party imposed on its candidates six public debates, three of which were to be broadcast live on public and private national TV channels. Ségolène Royal and her two rivals, the social democrat and former economy minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and socialist hardliner and former prime minister Laurent Fabius, reluctantly accepted the challenge. Instead of the traditional debate during which two candidates, seated at a table in front of each other, are engaging in a conversation in front of the camera, the three socialists had to abide by American standards. They had to stand up next to each other, each behind a lectern, facing the audience. They were told to take great care not to look at each other, though they supposedly were debating with each other. In truth, they looked like sales assistants behind a counter. Or stand-up comedians, here to score with slogans learnt by heart. This was to French debate what boxing is to Tai Chi. One thing, though, that hasn't invaded French politics yet, is negative political ads , the kind of libellous attacks currently broadcast on American national networks for the US midterm elections. These are still forbidden in France. And despite the rampant Americanisation of French politics, it is indeed difficult to envisage in France what a Republican group just did in New York, accusing Democrat candidate Michael Arcuri of using taxpayers' money to call a sex line. Surely, in France, people would simply consider it a natural compensation for doing such a difficult job. Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/xbgvc StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Pin-ups, scandal and the American way This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 10.15 GMT on Friday 3 November 2006 . World news France · Europe More from Comment is free on World news France · Europe Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . 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Share Tweet this Justin Webb: Hamburgers or foie gras | Comment is free | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Comment is free User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Comment is free Comment Hamburgers or foie gras Don't exaggerate the extent of anti-American feeling. The US should identify its real enemies Share Tweet this Email Justin Webb The Guardian , Thursday 12 April 2007 Jump to comments ( … ) What is there not to like about the US? There are a number of possible answers, not all printable. But after weeks spent talking to anti-Americans in Paris, Cairo and Caracas, I am more convinced than ever that the anti-American mindset is often just that: a mindset, a prejudice. It is not racism - America has no racial profile to be hated - but nor is it simply a reaction to events and policies. There are those who argue that their hatred of America is caused by American actions - as a Cairo professor put it: "It's the policies, stupid!" This way of thinking puts support of Israel at the top of a list of actions that ends with almost everything George Bush has said or done. But Bush, to me, is an enabler of anti-Americanism, not a creator. This creed is not reactive, it is visceral. Why else would English friends with impeccable anti-racist credentials ask about our children (who grew up in the US) "How will you get rid of their accents." Well, why would we want to? It is a historical fact that anti-Americanism predates the US. It was not invented in reaction to the Monroe Doctrine or the use of marines to pacify Latin America or McDonald's or Hollywood or Bush. It was invented by European biologists who wrote of the New World, shortly after it had been discovered, that nothing good could come of it. It was ghastly. It stank. One cultured scientist, the Dutchman Cornelius de Pauw, put it thus: "Everything found there is degenerate or monstrous." A lot has happened since then, but some people have not noticed, or do not want to. The French writer Bernard Henri Lévy points out that the impetus for much of the European disdain for the US came from the right; from "a fascist tendency in French thought based on fear and hatred of democracy". Part of that hatred lives on in our friends' question about our children's accents: it is a deeply held belief among Europeans that US democracy leads to a coarsening of culture. They think our children sound crass. It does not matter how many Nobel laureates live in the US, or how many novelists or musicians; in the end, the taste America leaves in the mouth is of hamburger, not foie gras. John Bolton looks to me like a hamburger man. The least diplomatic of any recent American diplomat, Bolton, lately of the UN, is the living embodiment of what anti-Americans mean when they say "It's the policies, stupid!". When Bolton growls that "the legitimacy of the US comes from ourselves, we do not require any external validation", you can feel the anti-Americans of the world unite and punch the air with delight; they have their cause and, lo, it is reasonable. So Hubert Védrine, the former French foreign minister, tells me with a sigh that "the Americans are a colonising people with a mission to convert the world". They have forgotten the lessons of history, he says, and it is Europe's job to remind them. I asked John Bolton to comment on this lofty French vision. "Good luck," he chuckled. It is, of course, perfectly reasonable to disagree with Bolton. It's perverse to argue - as some US commentators have - that anti-Americanism is always illegitimate. After all, plenty of Americans dislike Bolton with the same passion. It is also possible to exaggerate the extent of anti-Americanism. Living in the US for the past five years, I assumed the rest of the world was seething with passionate resentment at the way it's been treated. But from a battle-scarred member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, just out of prison and expecting to go back any day, we heard only polite disdain. He had no interest in America he said, but he did not have any desire to see it destroyed. Of course there are those who would slaughter all Americans, but our interviews suggest that the US needs to be a little more discriminating when judging who its real enemies are. The Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington has written that "America is not a lie, it is a disappointment". In other words, the promise of the place is real, even though the reality of American action is often depressingly flawed. The US is a project in which the world has a stake; we outsiders created it and we ought to nurture it, not tear it down. · Justin Webb is BBC Radio's chief Washington correspondent; Death to America - Anti-Americanism Examined is on Radio 4 next Monday at 8pm justin.webb@bbc.co.uk Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/y5mx StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Justin Webb: Hamburgers or foie gras This article appeared on p30 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Thursday 12 April 2007 . It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.06 BST on Thursday 12 April 2007 . It was last modified at 00.06 GMT on Saturday 12 January 2008 . It was first published at 00.08 BST on Thursday 12 April 2007 . World news United States More from Comment is free on World news United States Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . We Own The Weekend Celebrate the Guardian and Observer Weekend by signing up to receive £1 off the Saturday Guardian and £1 off the Observer for two weekends. 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Share Tweet this The London mayoral election is now about personality rather than policy | Adam Bienkov | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Comment is free User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Comment is free The London mayoral election is now about personality rather than policy The media interest in the tax affairs of Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone is part of the Americanisation of British politics Share Tweet this Email Adam Bienkov guardian.co.uk , Friday 6 April 2012 10.30 BST Jump to comments ( … ) Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson take part in an LBC radio London mayoral debate. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA The decision by the London mayoral candidates to publish details of their earnings and tax will have caused some anxiety among other British politicians. An established practice in America , it has yet to catch on in the UK, where even the idea of televised election debates was seen as a radical departure. But, if at the next general election candidates feel bound to release their own tax returns, they will have Green party mayoral candidate Jenny Jones to thank. Her call on Newsnight for everyone to reveal all, cleared the air around a story that has lingered smog-like over this election. The claim that Ken Livingstone used a limited company in order to avoid paying tax has continued to dog the Labour candidate, largely because he has allowed it to. Had Ken been totally open about his tax affairs a month ago, we could now be talking about the issues Londoners really care about. Instead he has let the story drag out, even choosing to sling similar allegations back at Boris Johnson during a live radio debate . The resulting row in a lift in which Boris repeatedly called Ken a "fucking liar" only prolonged Ken's problems, while convincing many Londoners that neither candidate really has our best interests at heart. After this low point, the agreement on Newsnight was a chance for Ken to finally put it all behind him. But in yet another unforced error, he seemed to wriggle out of his commitment , saying he would only reveal all if the other candidates also released details of their partners' incomes to an independent body. This was not what had been agreed. So when the other candidates simply released their own tax returns to the press, Ken was left looking like he had something to hide. When he finally did release some information, key details were missing, ensuring that the story simply rumbles on for another week. In Boris's case, we now know that his hard-fought campaign to get his personal rate of tax reduced from 50p will save him about £16,000 a year if he is re-elected. A Tory mayor reducing his own tax bill by £16,000 while cutting everyone else's tax by just £3 would have been a powerful line of attack for a Labour candidate – especially as Boris continues to raise fares well above inflation. Unfortunately for Ken, he now has little hope of successfully making this attack. But what this week has really shown is that modern elections are becoming increasingly dominated by issues of personality rather than policy . On policy alone, Ken should be well ahead of his rival. One recent poll showed that Ken's policy of cutting fares was the most popular with voters, while Boris's policy of a small cut to council tax was the least popular. Ken's other pledges on a "living rent", lower energy bills, childcare costs, and student finance also cover issues most Londoners say they care about. Boris's pledges , on the other hand, are a confusing mixture of things he falsely claims to have already done and unexciting promises for more "street trees" and an "Olympic legacy". If the election is about policy then Boris knows he might lose. If the election is about personalities then he knows he will probably win. For this reason the mayor's allies have relentlessly pursued the tax story to the point of outright fatigue. Like those in the US who spent years demanding that Barack Obama release his birth certificate, their real goal has not been to see the documents themselves, but to distract the public from the real issues. And the truth is it is working. Ken has allowed himself to be distracted from his campaign, Boris has been allowed to get away with achieving very little and promising even less, and the big issues that London faces over the next four years have barely had a look in. Ken only has himself to blame for his difficulties. But the success of the campaign against him is just one more step in the gradual Americanisation of British politics. And with public tax returns and televised debates imported, it surely can't be long before the requests for politicians' medical records begin. • Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/36y9n StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article The London mayoral election is now about personality rather than policy | Adam Bienkov This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 10.30 BST on Friday 6 April 2012 . Politics London mayoral election 2012 · Ken Livingstone · Boris Johnson · London politics · Mayoral elections Society Local government UK news London More from Comment is free on Politics London mayoral election 2012 · Ken Livingstone · Boris Johnson · London politics · Mayoral elections Society Local government UK news London More on this story George Osborne 'very happy' to look at publishing ministers' tax returns Chancellor says he is open to idea of US-style transparency on ministers' earnings Boris Johnson declares £1.3m earnings Jenny Jones: 'If Boris can do it, I can do it' Boris Johnson's published details of his income and tax Ken Livingstone's published details of his income and tax Tax, that unlikely window on our politicians' souls Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . 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Share Tweet this Warning over 'Americanisation' of UK universities | Education | Education Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Education User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News Education Higher education Warning over 'Americanisation' of UK universities Share Tweet this Email Anthea Lipsett Education Guardian , Wednesday 6 June 2007 12.18 BST The government must hold a debate on the future of higher education in the UK before it moves any further towards an Americanised elitist system, the House of Lords has heard. Addressing the National Conference of University Professors in the House of Lords last night, Lady Margaret Sharp, the Liberal Democrats education spokesperson, said the government's moves to raise the cap on student fees and effectively create an elitist system were "interesting". But she bemoaned the government "pushing us in this direction without any debate". Lady Sharp warned that privatising the UK HE sector along the lines of the US higher education model would not mean an end to the public funding of universities, and the system would inevitably be hierarchical. "But it's not just ivy league universities in the US. There are vast numbers of universities that range in size and quality." The "willy nilly" route the government is pushing would increase diversity but the system would inevitably become hierarchical, she said. "This has happened in America. If we look around the world in many senses the best system is the American one. They do fantastic research and have a flexible system for all students that meets the needs of the individual much better than the UK. The downside of it is that at the top end it's marvellous but we should be aware of the fact that only 2% of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds go to Harvard and Yale. Oxford and Cambridge are models by ivy league standards." Baroness Sharp said there was pressure to lift the cap on student top up fees to allow universities to charge "what they will". "That's fine but I think we should be aware of the route that this is taking British universities. In effect, we are moving into the American model of universities. If we take the cap off we will have some universities charging £15,000 or more a year and hopefully they will be able to raise funds for other (less well-off) students. "US states subsidise colleges and if we move down this model we will still have the state paying for colleges," she said. "We may find ourselves confronted by the worst of all systems if the government doesn't keep its nit-picking fingers out. The great danger is we will get this [privatised] elitist model and the government will still be telling us what we should be doing. It's essential that the government changes its stance and trusts academics to get on with it. "We need to discuss and be clearer about where we are going," she said. "It seems to me that the key issue that dominates what's happening is this issue of globalisation and as a country we can no longer live by brawn and have to live by brain." Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/xja6q StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Education editor education@guardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Warning over 'Americanisation' of UK universities This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 12.18 BST on Wednesday 6 June 2007 . 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Share Tweet this One thing The Dictator is not – is British | Film | guardian.co.uk Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Film User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Culture Film The Dictator Next Previous Blog home One thing The Dictator is not – is British It may be a home-grown offering, but Sacha Baron Cohen's film about an Arabic despot is firmly embedded in the language of one culture … US comedy Share Tweet this Email Coming to HBO … The Dictator. Photograph: Allstar/Paramount Pictures Among the various, largely ethno-centric comments on Peter Bradshaw's review of The Dictator , one reader accuses our critic of bumping up his star rating of the film based on nationality : The Dictator Production year: 2012 Country: USA Cert (UK): 15 Runtime: 83 mins Directors: Larry Charles Cast: Anna Faris, Fred Melamed, Jeff Grossman, John C. Reilly, Kevin Corrigan, Megan Fox, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Ben Kingsley More on this film "So does this one get another bonus star for being British? Your unfortunate cultural nationalism is sticking out a bit again, Peter" Leaving aside the absurdity of this, what @Drewv throws into relief is just how un-British The Dictator feels. Not because it's about an Arabic despot, doesn't mention the UK and takes place either in North Africa or New York. But because its whole sensibility shows how far, in comedy terms, the world has shifted away from such distinctions; even become oddly homogeonous. If this film has a nationality, you'd list it as HBO. All Sacha Baron Cohen 's credited co-writers come direct from Curb your Enthusiasm (which Baron Cohen cameoed in); not to mention his director. JB Smoove (aka Leon) has a bit part; as does Garry Shandling, another big daddy in the HBO ancestry. It's not just personnel, it's soul: the squeamish straight-talking, the gleeful envelope-pushing. Actual gags, too. The scene in which two characters go gooey-eyed while fishing around inside a heavily pregnant woman for a baby and a mislaid mobile phone takes inspiration from the Curb episode in which Richard Lewis's nurse stows stolen goodies (including a phone) in the same orifice . The speech in which the dictator explains the virtues of his despotic regime to UN officials and then, inspired by the sight of the woman he's fallen for, explains that though democracy might be flawed, have hairy armpits and should lose five pounds, he loves it all the same, is a nod to a similar address made at an international peace summit at the end of Team America . So: yes, Baron Cohen is British, as is co-star Ben Kingsley, and part of the deal his production company has struck with distributors Paramount includes a clause to try and foster home-grown talent. And, if you so desired, you could take national pride or shame in his work on that basis. But one of Baron Cohen's key achievements – despite the honed cultural specificity of his characters, despite the force field of charged religious debate that surrounds his work – has been in making his actual nationality almost irrelevant. Posted by Catherine Shoard Friday 11 May 2012 13.21 BST guardian.co.uk Jump to comments ( … ) Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/37g74 StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Film editor film.editor@ guardianunlimited.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article One thing The Dictator is not – is British This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 13.21 BST on Friday 11 May 2012 . It was last modified at 15.05 BST on Friday 11 May 2012 . Film Sacha Baron Cohen · Comedy Culture More from Film blog on Film Sacha Baron Cohen · Comedy More blogposts More on this story The week in film - in pictures Sacha Baron Cohen is the man with the golden gun at the UK premiere of The Dictator while Rihanna rocks the US premiere of Battleship The Dictator: 'Brave, insensitive, funny and horrible' - video review The Dictator – review Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator interviewed by Larry King - video Sacha Baron Cohen avoids Oscars ceremony after red-carpet stunt Ashes to ashes: Sacha Baron Cohen's red carpet moment Sacha Baron Cohen empties urn of 'Kim Jong-il's ashes' over Ryan Seacrest on Oscars red carpet Next Previous Blog home Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . 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Share Tweet this Puttnam warns of creeping Americanisation in UK TV | Media | MediaGuardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Media User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News Media Media business Puttnam warns of creeping Americanisation in UK TV Share Tweet this Email Owen Gibson MediaGuardian , Wednesday 31 July 2002 13.09 BST Puttnam: changes let Ofcom fight media's 'big beasts' Selling off Channel 5 or ITV to a US company would lead to the creeping Americanisation of TV schedules, Lord Puttnam's influential parliamentary committee warned today as it outlined explicit reasons for opposing government plans to relax TV ownership laws. It said the government has gone too far with controversial proposals in the communications bill to scrap restrictions on American companies such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation buying UK broadcasters. While accepting that commercial considerations would ensure a US owned broadcaster could not flood the market overnight with foreign programming, the committee warned the damage would be tangible, albeit subtle. The government plans to liberalise ownership rules to allow non-EU companies snap up ITV, Channel 5 or radio groups such as GWR or Capital through new legislation designed to come into force next November. But the committee pointed out that the four basic arguments behind the government's reasoning were "lacking in force". The four reasons given by supporters of the reforms are: they would strengthen management in British TV; investment would benefit broadcasting in the same way as it had in other industries such as the car sector; foreign owners are generally benign as proven by RTL's ownership of Channel 5; audience preferences and tough regulations would safeguard quality of programming. Lord Puttnam's committee argued that broadcasting was fundamentally different from other industries because US broadcasters would be able to dominate through a pool of ready-made content. Although today's report wasn't explicit on programming, Lord Puttnam was clearly referring to fears that British schedules would be further swamped by US shows such as ER, Ally McBeal, CSI, Law And Order and 24. "We would not wish to characterise this as 'dumping'; rather what is more likely is a determined and sophisticated attempt - backed by enormous marketing expense - to shift the balance of regulatory expectations away from domestic content produced primarily with a British audience in mind, towards a more internationally focused product mix," it said. "The inescapable reality is that a US media company investing in the United Kingdom would be concerned every bit as much with enhancing the wider market value of its domestic content as with increasing its return on investment in the British based market place," the report added. The joint media select committee, chaired by Lord Puttnam, concluded that the decision by the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, to recommend the restrictions be lifted was based on "largely unproven expectations". Despite the committee's recommendations, Ms Jowell has continually argued that she is determined to lift the restriction as part of Labour's commitment to improving inward investment. "The policy in the bill is not lightly arrived at. We believe it to be right for broadcasting, for the public, for the wider industry and for the country as a whole. Under this government, Britain is open for business," she said earlier this month at a Westminster forum for broadcasters and MPs. Critics argue that the government's determination to force the rule change onto the statute books is a sop to Rupert Murdoch in return for his UK newspapers, including the Sun and the Times, adopting a softer line towards Europe in the run-up to a possible referendum. Ms Jowell had told the committee there was "general support" for lifting the restriction on foreign ownership. But the committee said her arguments were "lacking in force" and the level of support was "more balanced" than both Ms Jowell and the trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, had argued. Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/5kzz StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Media editor editor@mediaguardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Puttnam warns of creeping Americanisation in UK TV This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 13.09 BST on Wednesday 31 July 2002 . 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Share Tweet this Dyke strikes out at US media | Media | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Media User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News Media Television industry Dyke strikes out at US media Share Tweet this Email Matt Wells , media correspondent The Guardian , Friday 25 April 2003 07.29 BST The BBC director general, Greg Dyke, yesterday laid out the case for the impartiality of broadcast news in Britain as against the "unquestioning" attitude of US networks, and warned the government not to allow the "Americanisation" of the British media. In characteristically blunt fashion, Mr Dyke said he was surprised at the "committed political position" of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, and "shocked" to discover that the biggest radio group in the US was using its stations to organise pro-war rallies. He urged the government to think carefully about its proposals to liberalise media ownership laws in Britain. "We must ensure that we don't become Americanised," he said in a speech at Goldsmith's College in London yesterday. Mr Dyke directed much of his ammunition against the global media giant Clear Channel, which owns 1,225 radio stations in the US, many of which took a staunchly pro-war line. "We are genuinely shocked when we discover that the largest radio group in the United States was using its airwaves to organise pro-war rallies," said Mr Dyke, who is also the BBC's editor-in-chief. "We are even more shocked to discover that the same group wants to become a big radio player in the UK." In the communications bill currently going through the House of Lords, the government plans to deregulate ownership laws, allowing foreign companies like Clear Channel to own commercial radio licences in Britain. Clear Channel is known for syndicating much of its output between its stations, and concerns have been raised about the threat to diversity. Mr Dyke warned that deregulation also raised questions about impartiality: since the September 11 attacks, a gap had opened up between the definitions of impartiality on either side of the Atlantic. "Maybe it was always like this and the requirements of impartiality in the UK were always different to those in the USA, but that's not how I remember it," he said. "Personally, I was shocked while in the United States by how unquestioning the broadcast news media was during this war." He criticised Fox News for its pro-Bush stance, which has helped it overtake CNN as the most popular news network in the US. "Commercial pressures may tempt others to follow the Fox News formula of gung-ho patriotism, but for the BBC this would be a terrible mistake. If, over time, we lost the trust of our audiences, there is no point in the BBC," said Mr Dyke. He speculated that the patriotism of the US networks had been driven by the fragmentation of the US media. "Many of the large television news organisations in the States are no longer profitable or confident of their future. The effect of this fragmentation is to make government - the White House and the Pentagon - all-powerful, with no news operation strong enough or brave enough to stand up against it. Mr Dyke rejected accusations that the BBC, which has spent between £7m and £8m on the war, had been soft on Saddam Hussein, insisting the corporation's commitment to "independence and impartiality" was "absolute." He said it was "absurd" to suggest journalists in Baghdad were "Saddam's stooges", and singled out correspondents Andrew Gilligan, Rageh Omaar and John Simpson for having brought home the "reality" of war. "Governments have as much right as anyone else to put pressure on the BBC," he said. "It's only a problem if the BBC caves in." Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/6gxp StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Media editor editor@mediaguardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Dyke strikes out at US media This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 07.29 BST on Friday 25 April 2003 . 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Share Tweet this Letters: Mind your English language | Science | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Science User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News Science Language Letters Mind your English language Share Tweet this Email The Guardian , Thursday 12 May 2011 While most people accept that language will change with use and time, Sarah Churchwell appears to justify the increasing Americanisation of British English ( A neologism thang, innit , 10 May). Noah Webster may have produced the language that should be known as "American", but that should not be a reason, as Churchwell seems to imply, for British English to be altered to the American version. American is characterised by a plethora of "z"s and a paucity of "u"s, which doesn't even reflect the way we pronounce many of the affected words. Churchwell seems to view the French influence on our language as in need of purging. This has no justification. The French influence is part of the Latin history of English, as is the impact of Spanish and Italian. American terms and spelling are imposed on us via the internet, but television and lazy journalism are also to blame. Not only is it "new" words, but creating verbs from nouns is common. Witness her own example "hierarchize". American versions of words are too common, as in "bathroom" or "rest room" for toilet, "airplane" for aeroplane, and "stroller" for buggy. Our English is a rich and varied language – it needs a strong defence. John Edwards Linlithgow, West Lothian illustration: Gillian Blease • There's no need for Sarah Churchwell to come back to these shores and feel the underdog, just because she's an ex-colonial speaker of English. As such she must know that language, above all, is social. She condemns "innit" but not "gotten" because, at the moment, the former usage is English underclass and the latter American mainstream. They both sound horrible, or OK, according to taste; some even think they are "cool", democratic, like. But no amount of genealogical research citing Shakespeare will effectively whitewash the social meaning of each. They are abominable not because they sound awful, but because they represent a depressed and depressing social status in England, on the one hand, and a bland, thoughtless, faux-classless, sold-by-the-yard cultural wallpaper from the US, on the other. Dr James Andrade St Albans, Hertfordshire • What a pity Sarah Churchwell spoils her otherwise well-made case about the inevitability of language change by a careless remark in her final paragraph: "From an aesthetic standpoint, 'innit' remains an abomination." Perhaps this was intended as tongue-in-cheek, but if so, I doubt it will be interpreted as such by the purists she mentions. And if not, then Prof Churchwell of all people must know there's no such thing as intrinsically aesthetically inferior (or superior) language. As her article demonstrates, it's a matter of personal preference and prejudice. Prof Jennifer Jenkins Chair of Global Englishes, University of Southampton • I agree with Sarah Churchwell's attitude to the evolution of English, but I wish to defend "innit", which she categorises as an abomination. Most languages have a simple way of designating a question expecting the answer "yes", eg "n'est ce pas?" or "nich wahr?". English has instead a bewildering variety of phrases – "didn't he?", "won't they?", "am I not?" – which have to be crafted for each context, a task which some non-native speakers find difficult. "Innit" fills the vacant role of a generic verbal question-mark inviting agreement. I predict that it will achieve the accolade of inclusion in the OED well before such redundant items as "grrl". Herbert Munk Coventry • I can explain to Sarah Churchwell why Scrabblers prefer the word "amongst" to "among". Using all seven tiles at once gains a bonus of 50 points. To begin a debate, it would be interesting to learn the strength of feeling amongst players who believe one should always know the definition of their chosen word. Mollie Holden Westgate-on-sea, Kent • The ending of "vendor" and "neighbour" is pronounced differently on both sides of the Atlantic. Not just kowtowing to the French! Alexander Good London Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2p2z6 StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Science editor science@guardian.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Letters: Mind your English language This article appeared on p33 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Thursday 12 May 2011 . It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.05 BST on Thursday 12 May 2011 . It was last modified at 12.20 BST on Thursday 19 May 2011 . 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Share Tweet this Your country needs US | From the Observer | The Observer Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian From the Observer User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News From the Observer In focus Your country needs US First it was burgers and movies. Now Uncle Sam has a finger in everything British, laments Richard Reeves Share Tweet this Email The Observer , Sunday 23 January 2000 Overpaid, oversexed and over here: the Brits have seen the arrival of Yanks as a mixed blessing ever since the friendly GI invasion of the Second World War. Now, just as their airmen are heading home from UK bases after 'winning' the Cold War, battalions more of our US cousins are arriving, taking over historic institutions, businesses and neighbourhoods. There are 200,000 US citizens living in the UK, twice the number of 10 years ago, despite a sharp drop in military personnel. Counter-colonisation is in progress. US luminaries who have been parachuted in include Michael Kaiser, head of the Royal Opera House; George Mitchell, harbinger of peace in Northern Ireland; and Barbara Cassani, head of British Airways' cheap fares offshoot, Go When we are in trouble it seems we can't help looking west. When the Jubilee Line extension hit the rocks, in rode Cliff Mumm, a South Dakotan from Bechtel Corp, who took over and finished the job. The image of the American is someone who will Get the Job Done, while we Brits just fiddle about. 'The British take on every project like a game of chess,' says Mumm. 'They worry endlessly about rules and procedure. But when we got this job we put together an Anglo-American team and said "Let's do what it takes".' George Mitchell, one of the world's smoothest diplomats, tells a similar story. 'I don't want to take anything away from the British and the Irish,' he has said. 'They are warm and wise and articulate. But sometimes you get the feeling these guys are so articulate they could go on talking for ever. Americans are more likely to say "Enough already, let's get the thing done".' It is difficult to argue with success. The US economy is in the longest expansion of its history. It is the richest nation there has ever been. Its stock market is propping up the global currency exchange market. America dominates in sport, economics, military power. A survey conducted by BT shows senior British business people agreed that a 'can do' attitude was the most important determinant of commercial success. Sixty per cent thought American business culture exemplified this attitude. Only 10 per cent thought it applied to home-grown companies. There are some jobs Americans are likely to be better suited to in any case, simply because the US is further ahead. Raising money, for example, is virtually a US monopoly. Trained in a nation which gives more money to charity than the rest of the world put together, and where universities, schools and arts companies have rarely been state-funded, money-getters from across the pond are in huge demand. Alice Gosling, the Illinois-born and raised fundraiser for Lincoln College, Oxford, says British institutions are adapting to a new, harsher financial world. 'In the US, colleges have been aggressively fundraising for 25 years. Here, development is fairly new in lots of areas - higher education, museums, the ballet. The industry is simply more developed in the US.' Some are worried about the influx of Americans into the British cultural world. Scottish Ballet has an American artistic director, Robert North. The principal guest conductor to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is New Yorker Marin Alsop. The South Bank is being recast by Oregon architect Rick Mather for £70 million. And - most shocking - the BBC Symphony Orchestra has appointed American conductor Leonard Slatkin. Which means the Last Night of the Proms is to be led by a native of a nation which fought us for its independence. For years, the Brits have been able to cede most other areas of superiority to the Americans, confident at least in our greater culture and knowledge: let them eat their McDonalds, we sneered, at least we understand Mahler. What now? Even if we can accept the expertise Americans bring to areas such as fundraising, and the diversity of the international arts scene, the Americanisation of other areas can cause the hackles of the British bulldog to rise. The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England - which sets our mortgage rates - includes a US economist, DeAnne Julius. She insists the trend we are seeing is less Americanisation, more internationalisation. 'There has been a globalisation of human capability. There are more Americans and more people of other nationalities too,' Julius says. 'All fields are now more global - business, the arts, sports.' Two of the most powerful magnets for Americans are the City of London and the English language. London is a major financial centre, US finance firms are powerful, so it is inevitable that the Square Mile will be filled with New York twangs. Half of all US investment in Europe is in the UK. London is a bridgehead for many American companies which also operate on the Continent. But the traffic isn't one way. While we fret about Americans taking over our august institutions, they are watching Brits fill up their faculties as part of the well-publicised 'brain drain' across the Atlantic. And though Jaguar is now owned by the American company Ford and Wal-Mart has swallowed Asda, at least Burger King is owned by a British firm. None the less, our tendency to reach for the transatlantic hotline may reflect a feeling of national inferiority, warns Richard Hoggart, author of First and Last Things . 'We are in the middle of a serious period of self doubt, of doing ourselves down. So people come over the pond to help us out. Whether they are actually more successful or not remains to be seen.' Some imports have been high-profile disasters: Michael O'Neill resigned on his first day as chief executive and 'saviour' of Barclays Bank, citing ill-health before getting the plane back to California. The Bank of Scotland ended its dealings with Pat Robertson, a right-wing evangelical Christian, after he shared his views on the evils of homosexuality. Even some of the Americans think our Yankophilia is overdone. 'Brits can be quite romantic about how efficient we are and about our business practices,' says Mather. And American directness can cause problems, says Gosling. 'In the US, enthusiasm is seen as a good thing; here it seems like you are trying too hard. If you prepare for a meeting, people seem to think you are pushy.' She also says fundraising can be challenging in a country where discussion on money 'leaves people's fingers dirty. The British don't like talking about money.' Mather is glad to be in Scotland, where the locals have their own brand of brash. 'In England you are never supposed to say what you think, but everyone is supposed to know what you think. In Scotland, like America, you can actually say it.' Even our language is under attack as never before. US spellings are gaining ground, helped by the hegemony of West Coast software firms and computer spell-checkers. Color will surely be in the Oxford English Dictionary soon. The outposts of US culture - huge bookshops, coffee shop chains, long working hours, fast talking, high divorce rates, 'dress down' Fridays - are everywhere. The number of coffee shops has increased tenfold in five years. Friends and Frasier are ubiquitous. And US policies and phrases have been adopted wholesale by the Blair Government. Can we stem the invasion? And do we really want to? Perhaps we rather like economic success, people who talk to strangers and good coffee after all. One American director of the UK branch of a US company captured the fears - or hopes? - of many. 'Everybody says it is not like America yet,' he said. 'But it will be. It will be.' One Yank and it works... • When British Airways was feeling the heat from its budget-fare rivals, what did it do/ It invented its own cheapo offshoot, Go, and then had to call on an American, Barbara Cassani, to take charge of the enterprise. • Michael Kaiser's appointment as head of the Royal opera House is only one of many US inroads into the British culture. Dictionaries contain ever more Americanisations, and even the Last Night of the Proms is now to be led by an American. • The strong points of British culture are rapidly falling to the transatlantic invader. London's South Bank, a hub of the artisitc world, is to be recast at a cost of £70 million. And the man for the job, architect Rick Mather, comes all the way from Oregon. Additional research: Jackie Drennan Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/hjgz StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@observer.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@observer.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Your country needs US This article appeared on p18 of the Main section section of the Observer on Sunday 23 January 2000 . It was published on guardian.co.uk at 00.52 GMT on Sunday 23 January 2000 . 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Steve Biddulph's Raising Girls by Steve Biddulph £10.39 Search the Guardian bookshop Search Sponsored feature Top stories in this section Top videos Most popular Today in pictures BBC Sports Personality of the Year – in pictures Bradley Wiggins capped his remarkable sporting year by taking home the big prize at the ceremony in London Dinner, dusk and dancing Russians: my best winter shot A glass of wine with a rough sleeper, Santa in trunks, a thousand partying Muscovites … in a My Best Shot special, top photographers pick the image that sums up winter for them Monkey adopts kitten – in pictures Kimon, an eight-year-old pet female long-tailed monkey, treats a kitten as her baby in Bintan Island, Indonesia License/buy our content | Privacy policy | Terms & conditions | Advertising guide | Accessibility | A-Z index | Inside the Guardian blog | About us | Work for us | Join our dating site today © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Share Tweet this Well being | From the Observer | The Observer Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian From the Observer User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News From the Observer Well being An alternative look at health issues. This week: taking the stress out of life, breaking period pain and a word about ears Share Tweet this Email Barefoot Doctor The Observer , Sunday 28 January 2001 Even as late as the mid-50s, the people of the UK still abided by a social order laid down by the Victorians. Those were the days when Aunt Ethel would disappear mysteriously for a couple of weeks to 'hospital' every now and then with a so-called nervous breakdown, treated mostly by sedation heavy enough to numb her into forgetfulness. Uncle Arthur would simply make do with a stiff glass of Scotch and a cigarette from one of those silver-plated cigarette boxes kept on the mantlepiece. As he puffed, he would rhythmically tense and relax his jaw in the way 'real men' did in those days, mimicking a Jack Hawkins hero stereotype playing captain of the ship as it sailed into the eye of the storm. No one questioned the established order of life, except poets and eccentrics. You went to work at a job you could just about count on holding on to for life. The promotional ladder was clearly defined, mass tourism, avocado pears and designer perfume hadn't yet arrived in the high street, and everyone knew where they stood. And, short of the odd world war, there wasn't much that could appear on the horizon to shake the apple tree. Then Bing Crosby gave way to Bill Haley and all hell broke loose. Suddenly rock 'n' roll whipped up the teenage angst of a generation into a whirlwind of social revolt. Then Elvis gave way to the Beatles, the Beatles gave way to the Maharishi and black bombers and purple hearts gave way to pot and acid, just around the time the Kerouac-reading beatniks started reading Leary instead and the hippie movement was born. As the hippies turned on, tuned in and dropped out, a wave of new therapies emerged (in the San Francisco Bay Area), christened collectively as 'the human potential movement'. 'Let it out!' was what you now did with your angst. Nervous breakdowns were a thing of the past, while inflation and the Americanisation of the working culture, with its short-term contracts and insecurity of tenure, were rapidly becoming a thing of the present. Then Thatcher's reign reinforced the 'me, me, me' culture, and suddenly any lip service paid to altruism, religion or queen and country stopped dead. Around this time, the Bay Area human-potential movement had grown into a global self-help industry, known euphemistically as the 'new age'. The new age got married to IT and now you can get enlightenment from logging on to various websites. It's that simple. So we've solved it. No more nervous breakdowns (you're out, Auntie Ethel), no more stiff upper lips (unless you've had too much collagen injected), no more staying up all night taking drugs and having your upper brain stem rattled by digital jackhammers. Now the answer to life on a planet of dwindling resources fast nearing the point of not being able to sustain us any longer, where there are no new frontiers to explore (except dread and dreary places like Mars and the moon), can be found on a website. Sorted. Except obviously we're not. Otherwise why are so many of us so angry that we resort to violence at the drop of a hat? Why do we consume enough alcohol every week to fill all the craters of the moon? The fact is that no one ever taught us how to communicate - with ourselves and each other - and we no longer have any memory of the old-school social protocol that kept the world glued together in Ethel and Arthur's era. In the light of the vast wealth of self-development knowledge readily available, it would be easy for every schoolchild to be instructed in rudimentary communication skills and martial arts (to sublimate the violent urge). How wonderful it would be if every parent should be obliged to train in basic ethics and induced by tax breaks to pass on a simple code of human decency or at least good manners to their kids. In the meantime, however, we have to deal with our own bad selves, stamping our feet because we want more and we want it now. All this anger causes problems with our liver energy and needs a safe outlet before we all start losing the collective plot. The stress of external life will only increase now, especially as that naughty old recession starts biting our trouser legs. It is therefore crucial, if we wish to maintain a semblance of social propriety that would enable us to get along with each other, that we must quickly learn to relax more internally as individuals and with each other. One way to let off steam safely and promote inner peace is to go out for a walk every day to your nearest park or open space, breathing deeply and letting your mind take a brief holiday. If you have no close canine friends to accompany you, take an imaginary one and, when you get to the park, yell his or her name a few times at the top of your lungs. No one will know you don't have an actual dog, so there's no need to feel embarrassed about it. If you're very vain, take a dog lead to make it look more authentic. My imaginary dog's name is Rowley, by the way. I find it a wholesome sound to yell - the 'ow' bit helps release any emotional pain that's been accruing. So if you see a funny looking bloke with no shoes yelling 'Rowley' on Hampstead Heath, keep it to yourself. Your questions Dear Barefoot Doctor, I am 33 and I have really bad cramps the day before each period, then bleed ferociously for one day only. Premenstrual tension and fluid retention seems worse every month with strong mood swings. I keep fit and am in good shape otherwise. Is this normal for a woman of my age? Lorraine Fisher, Cardiff Dear Lorraine, this is quite common, but you should perhaps arrange a scan to check everything's physically in order. As you know, 33 is the age when your womb cries out for a baby and it is probably this hormonal build-up that causes the worsening PMS. However, the water retention makes it sound like your kidneys need adjusting and the sudden bleed for one day only sounds like your liver and spleen are out of balance. Try a session of acupuncture around ovulation for three or four months to fix your kidneys, liver and spleen energies; take agnus castus, which seems to help rebalance hormones, and be sure to eat an iron-rich diet, including buckets of watercress from mid-cycle on. Dear Doc, for some years, I have suffered from dermatitis in my ears (nowhere else). They itch and shed flakes of dead skin. Is there any herbal preparation which might help to clear up this condition? Joan Callaghan, Plymouth Dear Joan, the ears are the 'flowers' of the kidneys. This immediately makes me think of stress affecting your kidneys, for which shiatsu or acupuncture would be helpful. Also consider learning chi gung. In time, as your kidneys improve and your stress decreases, your ears should calm down. Short term, try massaging your ears lovingly every night with a preparation of lavender and marigold (calendula) - two or three drops of each in a saucer of warm olive oil. If you have any problems you would like answered, please write to Barefoot Doctor at Life magazine, The Observer , 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R3ER, or email him at barefoot.doctor@observer.co.uk . Also, you can visit www.barefootdoctorglobal.com Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/x2f8c StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@observer.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@observer.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Well being This article appeared on p52 of the Observer Magazine section of the Observer on Sunday 28 January 2001 . It was published on guardian.co.uk at 01.37 GMT on Sunday 28 January 2001 . 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Share Tweet this Worldwide drift to American | UK news | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian UK and World news User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News UK news Worldwide drift to American Share Tweet this Email Guardian staff and agencies The Guardian , Tuesday 21 December 1999 01.58 GMT The rise of the internet is threatening to Americanise the English language. Widespread use of the world wide web is leading to more and more Britons substituting "center" for centre, "program" for programme, and "color" for colour, according to John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. "As we approach the new millennium there is a clear drift towards a use of American English. The internet has certainly played a big part. "Email and the web have led to a huge increase in the written word, but much of what people read on it is from the United States, so it is inevitable that they adopt some American words and spellings." In New Zealand English teachers have said they were considering accepting US spellings. A memo circulated to secondary schools this month by the New Zealand council of the Association of Teachers said many pupils were already using American variations. It said that as the internet became more pervasive, American spellings would be come more common and some children might struggle to reconcile the discrepancies - particularly as computer spellchecks often rejected British spellings. The memo also claimed that American spellings were more logical and phonetic. Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/jxh7 StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Worldwide drift to American This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 01.58 GMT on Tuesday 21 December 1999 . UK news Share Tweet this Email We Own The Weekend Celebrate the Guardian and Observer Weekend by signing up to receive £1 off the Saturday Guardian and £1 off the Observer for two weekends. 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Share Tweet this The disappearance of Britishness | UK news | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian UK and World news User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News UK news The disappearance of Britishness Our lives are becoming hopelessly Americanised says professor More about the ONS report and our interactive guide to the results Share Tweet this Email David Brindle , Social Services Correspondent The Guardian , Thursday 27 January 2000 11.50 GMT Life in Britain can no longer be said to be uniquely British, a leading social scientist declares today as the government publishes the latest annual snapshot of the changing face of the nation. Growing international homogeneity and the dominance of American culture mean that it is increasingly difficult to pinpoint Britishness, according to AH Halsey, former professor of social and administrative studies at Oxford university. Writing in the 30th anniversary edition of Social Trends, the compendium of social statistics, Professor Halsey says that as recently as 1940, George Orwell could state that "when you come back to England from any foreign country, you have immediately the sensation of breathing different air". It was doubtful that Orwell could make such an assertion today, the professor said. "What would strike him perhaps would be the rapidity of change from his death in 1950 and the degree of assimilation of life in Britain to that of the other advanced industrial countries in Europe and North America." Prof Halsey, regarded as a founding father of comprehensive education and now emeritus fellow of Nuffield college, Oxford, told the Guardian that Britain was becoming "hopelessly Americanised" in everything from the decline of the high street to fixation with the individual and the free market. "It seems to me that we have lost the old form of society that we had when I was a child. In terms of dress, in terms of sex, in terms of politics, we are much more like the rest of the world and we have lost a lot of that distinctiveness." Stressing that people's lives had changed for the better in many respects, such as disposable income, life expectancy and health, Prof Halsey said he was not necessarily lamenting the passing of days of "warm beer and old ladies cycling to church", as conjured up by former Conservative leader John Major. "There's a lot to be said for the way we have changed, but being like everybody else is just a bit dreary," he said. Social Trends, published by the office for national statistics, highlights several aspects of the growing international ism of our working and domestic lives. It shows that almost 400,000 Britons now live in other EU states, with some 800,000 people from those countries living in Britain - although more than half are from Ireland. After years of the gap narrowing, the number of holidays taken abroad has finally eclipsed the number taken in this country - although tourism chiefs point out that this applies to trips of four nights or more and that there is a boom in shorter breaks taken at home. In an apparent return to habits of a past era, however, the number of adults living with their parents is rising. In the 20-24 age group, 56% of men and 38% of women are still in the family home. In 1977-78, the respective figures were 52% and 31%. By age 30-34, 11% of men and 4% of women are still at home, compared with 9% and 3% respectively in 1977-78. Jill Matheson, co-editor of Social Trends, said: "Some young people may be delaying leaving home because of difficulties entering the housing market. The later age of marriage may also be a factor." Findings In Brief • People on council estates say dogs are as much an irritant as noise. But crime is rated twice as big a problem as either of them. • The number of special constables in England and Wales fell 10% in the 12 months to last March. The number of full-time police officers also dropped slightly, though police staffing overall remained 35% higher than in 1971. • On average, people eat fresh fruit equivalent to six apples a week. In 1975, they ate the equivalent of only four. Fresh vegetable consumption has risen only marginally, however. • Average expenditure on motoring has more than doubled in real terms since 1971. Four in 10 drivers say it would make no difference to their car use if petrol costs doubled over the next decade. • Measured against local incomes, people in the north-east pay the highest council tax and those in Northern Ireland the lowest. Contrary to widespread belief, Londoners pay well below average. • Twenty-three per cent of women, and 15% of men, say they have been assaulted by a current or former partner. • People in Yorkshire and Humberside eat out the least, compared with the rest of England. Londoners eat out the most, but people in the north-east come only slightly behind. • One in three men, and one in five women, never use sun cream. Rates of skin cancer have tripled since 1971 Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/g6gd StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article The disappearance of Britishness This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 11.50 GMT on Thursday 27 January 2000 . UK news Share Tweet this Email We Own The Weekend Celebrate the Guardian and Observer Weekend by signing up to receive £1 off the Saturday Guardian and £1 off the Observer for two weekends. Watch our video and get your vouchers Today's best video Tigers play with snowmen at safari park Four Siberian Amur tigers enjoy heavy snow at Longleat in Wiltshire PSV Eindhoven miss three chances in a row from two yards Dutch giants beaten 3-1 by lowly PEC Zwolle Hilary Mantel on adapting her novels for the stage Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies author on RSC collaboration Elk dodges traffic on Moscow motorway Animal dodges rush-hour cars on busy ring road in Russian capital On UK news Most viewed Latest Last 24 hours 1. 'Muslim patrol' investigation leads to double arrest 2. London helicopter crash: passenger suggested pilot should put off trip 3. Essex: the only way is up 4. Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price found dead in Dublin 5. UK Border Agency has backlog dating back 10 years, inspector finds More most viewed Last 24 hours 1. UK Border Agency backlog of 16,000 migrants: 'lives are on hold’ - video 2. Why does the London fashion pack ignore northern style? 3. Heavy rain and melting snow expected to cause floods 4. Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price found dead in Dublin 5. UK Border Agency - your stories All today's stories This week's bestsellers 1. Examined Life by Stephen Grosz £11.99 2. What Has Nature Ever Done for Us? by Tony Juniper £7.99 3. Heaven on Earth by Sadakat Kadri £7.99 4. Play it Again by Alan Rusbridger £15.19 5. Steve Biddulph's Raising Girls by Steve Biddulph £10.39 Search the Guardian bookshop Search Bestsellers from our Guardian stores Halogen heaters Halogen heaters for flexible, immediate warmth. Get two for just £44.99 plus p&p. More from Guardian Essentials Ice Treads Ice treads simply fit over your shoe. One pair just £12.99, two pairs £19.99. More from Guardian Essentials Sponsored feature Find the latest jobs in your sector: Arts & heritage Charities Education Environment Government Graduate Health Marketing & PR Media Sales Senior executive Social care Browse all jobs Head of Communications, International Greater London | £Competitive + Excellent Benefits BBC Top stories in this section Top videos Most popular Today in pictures BBC Sports Personality of the Year – in pictures Bradley Wiggins capped his remarkable sporting year by taking home the big prize at the ceremony in London Dinner, dusk and dancing Russians: my best winter shot A glass of wine with a rough sleeper, Santa in trunks, a thousand partying Muscovites … in a My Best Shot special, top photographers pick the image that sums up winter for them Monkey adopts kitten – in pictures Kimon, an eight-year-old pet female long-tailed monkey, treats a kitten as her baby in Bintan Island, Indonesia Hot topics Budget 2012 Eurozone crisis Leveson inquiry US elections 2012 London 2012 Olympics License/buy our content | Privacy policy | Terms & conditions | Advertising guide | Accessibility | A-Z index | Inside the Guardian blog | About us | Work for us | Join our dating site today © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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Share Tweet this Salman Rushdie: Anti-Americanism takes the world by storm | World news | The Guardian Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian UK and World news User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News World news United States Anti-Americanism has taken the world by storm The US has an ideological enemy harder to defeat than militant Islam Share Tweet this Email Salman Rushdie The Guardian , Wednesday 6 February 2002 02.48 GMT They told us it would be a long, ugly struggle, and so it is. America's war against terror has entered its second phase, a phase characterised by the storm over the condition, status and human rights of the prisoners held at Camp X-Ray, and by the frustrating failure of the US to find Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Additionally, if America now attacks other countries suspected of harbouring terrorists, it will almost certainly do so alone, without the backing of the coalition that supported the action in Afghanistan. The reason is that America finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may turn out to be harder to defeat than militant Islam: that is to say, anti-Americanism, which is presently taking the world by storm. The good news is that these post-Taliban days are bad times for Islamist fanatics. Dead or alive, Bin Laden and Omar look like yesterday's men, unholy warriors who forced martyrdom on others while running for the hills themselves. Also, if the persistent rumours are to be believed, the fall of the terrorist axis in Afghanistan may well have prevented an Islamist coup against President Musharraf in Pakistan, led by the more Taliban-like elements in the armed forces and intelligence services - people like the terrifying General Hamid Gul. And Musharraf, no angel himself, has been pushed into arresting the leaders of the Kashmiri terrorist groups he used to encourage. (It's just two and a quarter years since he unleashed the same groups against India and engineered the last Kashmir crisis.) Around the world, the lessons of the American action in Afghanistan are being learned. Jihad is no longer quite as cool an idea as it was last autumn. States under suspicion of giving succour to terrorism have suddenly been trying to behave with propriety, even going so far as to round up a few bad guys. Iran has accepted the legitimacy of the new Afghan government. Even Britain, a state which has been more tolerant of Islamist fanaticism than most, is beginning to see the difference between resisting "Islamophobia" and providing a safe haven for some of the worst people in the world. America did, in Afghanistan, what had to be done and did it well. The bad news, however, is that none of these successes has won friends for the United States outside Afghanistan. In fact, the effectiveness of the American campaign may paradoxically have made the world hate America more than it did before. Western critics of America's Afghan campaign are enraged because they have been shown to be wrong at every step: no, US forces weren't humiliated the way the Russians had been; and yes, the air strikes did work; and no, the Northern Alliance didn't massacre people in Kabul; and yes, the Taliban did crumble away like the hated tyrants they were, even in their southern strongholds; and no, it wasn't that difficult to get the militants out of their cave fortresses; and yes, the various factions succeeded in putting together a new government that is surprising people by functioning pretty well. Meanwhile, those elements in the Arab and Muslim world who blame America for their own feelings of political impotence are feeling more impotent than ever. As always, anti-US radicalism feeds off the widespread anger over the plight of the Palestinians, and it remains true that nothing would undermine the fanatics' propaganda more comprehensively than an acceptable settlement in the Middle East. However, even if that settlement were arrived at tomorrow, anti-Americanism would probably not abate. It has become too useful a smokescreen for Muslim nations' many defects - their corruption, their incompetence, their oppression of their own citizens, their economic, scientific and cultural stagnation. America-hating has become a badge of identity, making possible a chest-beating, flag-burning rhetoric of word and deed that makes men feel good. It contains a strong streak of hypocrisy, hating most what it desires most, and elements of self-loathing ("we hate America because it has made of itself what we cannot make of ourselves"). What America is accused of - closed-mindedness, stereotyping, ignorance - is also what its accusers would see if they looked into a mirror. These days there seem to be as many of these accusers outside the Muslim world as inside it. Anybody who has visited Britain and Europe, or followed the public conversation there during the past five months, will have been struck, even shocked, by the depth of anti-American feeling among large segments of the population, as well as the news media. Western anti-Americanism is an altogether more petulant phenomenon than its Islamic counterpart, and, oddly, far more personalised. Muslim countries don't like America's power, its "arrogance", its success; in the non-American west, the main objection seems to be to American people. Night after night, I have found myself listening to Londoners' diatribes against the sheer weirdness of the American citizenry. The attacks on America are routinely discounted ("Americans only care about their own dead"). American patriotism, obesity, emotionality, self-centredness: these are the crucial issues. It would be easy for America, in the present climate of hostility, to fail to respond to constructive criticism, or worse: to start acting like the overwhelming superpower it is, making decisions and throwing its weight around without regard for the concerns of what it perceives as an already hostile world. The treatment of the Camp X-Ray detainees is a case in point. Colin Powell's reported desire to grant these persons PoW status and Geneva Convention rights was a statesmanlike response to global pressure; his apparent failure to persuade President Bush and Mr Rumsfeld to accept his recommendations is a worrying sign. The Bush administration has come a long way from its treaty-smashing beginnings. It should not retreat from consensus-building now. Great power and great wealth are perhaps never popular. And yet, more than ever, we need the United States to exercise its power and economic might responsibly. This is not the time to ignore the rest of the world and decide to go it alone. To do so would be to risk losing after you've won. © Salman Rushdie 2002 Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/xxm6a StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article Salman Rushdie: Anti-Americanism takes the world by storm This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 02.48 GMT on Wednesday 6 February 2002 . World news United States · Afghanistan · Middle East and North Africa Books Salman Rushdie More comment Share Tweet this Email We Own The Weekend Celebrate the Guardian and Observer Weekend by signing up to receive £1 off the Saturday Guardian and £1 off the Observer for two weekends. Watch our video and get your vouchers Today's best video Tigers play with snowmen at safari park Four Siberian Amur tigers enjoy heavy snow at Longleat in Wiltshire PSV Eindhoven miss three chances in a row from two yards Dutch giants beaten 3-1 by lowly PEC Zwolle Hilary Mantel on adapting her novels for the stage Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies author on RSC collaboration Elk dodges traffic on Moscow motorway Animal dodges rush-hour cars on busy ring road in Russian capital Guardian US on Twitter The latest news and comment from our team of reporters, writers and editors in the US Auto update every minute On | Off MartinPengelly: NHL round-up... 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All rights reserved. Share Tweet this ENGLAND in the shadow of AMERICA | Herald Scotland About Us Advertise Subscribe RSS Thursday 24 January 2013 Complete archive of articles from 1989 to today News Home News Crime & Courts Health Education Transport Environment World News Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Politics Referendum News Viewpoint Subject Areas Process Other Political News Opinion Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Sport Football Opinion Rugby Golf Tennis Cricket Other Sports Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Business Company News Markets & Economy People Opinion Personal Finance Bulletin Farming Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Comment Columnists The Diary Tom Shields Bloggers In Praise Of... 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Tweet MOST READ SPONSORED LINKS MOST COMMENTED © Copyright Herald & Times Group All rights reserved Our News Services Mobile Apps and Kindle Newspaper Digital Editions Back Issues Online Archive Email, Twitter, RSS Syndication Our Advertising Services Family Notices Book Your Newspaper Ad online Contact the Sales Team The Facts and Figures View Newspaper Ads Commercial Features Our Personal Services Help, Feedback & Contact Dating Travel Services Photo Sales Crosswords & Sudoku Our Colleagues Evening Times s1 The Scottish Farmer Scottish Horse Newsquest Media Group About Us Herald & Times Group Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy How We Use Cookies Employment 'Does The Wee Man glamorise violence? Of course it does' Fears for Glasgow council leader's future over sex act Spiers on Saturday: Rangers stadium rebranding will happen Anger as Camelot hikes lottery ticket price to £2 It's for YouTube ... how I went viral after a phone call PM faces fight over TV fears of American invasion | Herald Scotland About Us Advertise Subscribe RSS Thursday 24 January 2013 Complete archive of articles from 1989 to today News Home News Crime & Courts Health Education Transport Environment World News Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Politics Referendum News Viewpoint Subject Areas Process Other Political News Opinion Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Sport Football Opinion Rugby Golf Tennis Cricket Other Sports Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Business Company News Markets & Economy People Opinion Personal Finance Bulletin Farming Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Comment Columnists The Diary Tom Shields Bloggers In Praise Of... Herald View Letters Obituaries Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Arts & Ents Film Stage Music Classical Visual Books & Poetry Opinion Listings Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Life & Style Fashion Homes & Interiors/Gardens Outdoors/Leisure Food & Drink Technology Jobs Property Cars Local Businesses Dating Family Notices Book an ad Going Out Puzzles Weather Text size Tweet PM faces fight over TV fears of American invasion Monday 29 July 2002 Custom byline text: Michael Settle Chief political correspondent A POWERFUL group of MPs and peers this week will launch a severe attack on Tony Blair's ambitions to open up Britain's airwaves to American conglomerates - a move which look set to benefit media moguls like Rupert Murdoch. Tweet MOST READ SPONSORED LINKS MOST COMMENTED © Copyright Herald & Times Group All rights reserved Our News Services Mobile Apps and Kindle Newspaper Digital Editions Back Issues Online Archive Email, Twitter, RSS Syndication Our Advertising Services Family Notices Book Your Newspaper Ad online Contact the Sales Team The Facts and Figures View Newspaper Ads Commercial Features Our Personal Services Help, Feedback & Contact Dating Travel Services Photo Sales Crosswords & Sudoku Our Colleagues Evening Times s1 The Scottish Farmer Scottish Horse Newsquest Media Group About Us Herald & Times Group Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy How We Use Cookies Employment 'Does The Wee Man glamorise violence? Of course it does' Fears for Glasgow council leader's future over sex act Spiers on Saturday: Rangers stadium rebranding will happen Anger as Camelot hikes lottery ticket price to £2 It's for YouTube ... how I went viral after a phone call Americanisation or Globalisation? | History Today Jump to Navigation Thursday, 24 January 2013 | Login / Register Search this site: Americanisation or Globalisation? By David Ellwood | Published in History Today Volume: 52 Issue: 9 2002 USA David Ellwood argues that the attempts of British politicians to copy an American ‘role model’ are likely to fail. Within the next five years the United Kingdom will almost certainly be obliged to decide whether or not to abandon the pound sterling and embrace the Euro. The closer this milestone approaches, the more intense becomes the debate on the meaning of Britain’s experience in the twentieth century, the factor more than any other which is likely to decide her fate in the twenty-first. In February 2001, Timothy Garton Ash asked ‘Is Britain European?’ He argued that Britain had long since abandoned the national perspective of a self-satisfied little island at the heart of a great empire: ‘But it is not clear whether what has replaced it is Europeanisation, Americanisation or just globalisation.’ Quite so. A leading political philosopher, John Gray, has attacked Labour’s commitment to the United States as ‘the paradigmatic modern country, which Britain should take as a model’. In contrast Jonathan Freedland, a Guardian journalist, has written an entire volume dedicated to teaching Britons how to ‘live the American dream’, first by eliminating the monarchy and then by installing a republic based on the US Constitution. This article is available to History Today online subscribers only. If you are a subscriber, please log in . 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Their agreement came during a mayoral debate on BBC Newsnight on Wednesday, itself something of an American procedure, is likely to increase pressure on members of the Cabinet to do the same. A brief row over how much senior politicians earned and whether they would benefit personally from the cut in the 50p rate of income tax following the Budget shows the appetite for the release of such information at a time of squeezed spending and frozen income levels. The practice of releasing tax returns is common in US elections, and the precedent for a presidential candidate releasing their details was set by Republican George Romney in 1967. During his campaign for the presidency that year, George Romney made the groundbreaking decision to publish 12 years worth of tax returns. "One year could be a fluke," he said. "Perhaps done for show" George was of course, the father of Mitt, the current front runner to take on Barack Obama in this years presidential election. Mitt Romney, the millionaire businessman and former governor of Massachusetts himself ran into trouble after initially resisting demands from rival Republicans to release his tax information. Having relented it was shown that while he earned $21.7m in 2010, he paid a tax rate of just 13.9 percent, a lower rate than that of a person earning $50,000, due to the way he organised his bank accounts. In an interesting parallel with the London mayoral candidates' agreement to publish their tax details during a debate, it was a botched answer during a televised debate that heaped pressure on Romney in January. Asked whether he would release information about his tax payments, Romney merely responded "maybe". A response that drew boos from the Republican crowd. He released one year's worth of information four days later. Contribute to this Story: Send us a tip Send us a photo or video Suggest a correction FOLLOW UK POLITICS Like 8k Get Alerts Mitt Romney London Mayoral Election Video London The snap agreement by the four leading candidates to be London mayor to publish how much they pay in tax points to the increasing Americanisation of British politics. Their agreement came during a ... The snap agreement by the four leading candidates to be London mayor to publish how much they pay in tax points to the increasing Americanisation of British politics. Their agreement came during a ... Related News On Huffington Post: More Than 100 Million Unnecessary Tax Returns Filed Each Year Boris Johnson Publishes Tax Records, Putting Further Pressure On Ken Livingstone More Than 100 Million Unnecessary Tax Returns Filed Each Year By David Cay Johnston April 6 (Reuters) - On March 28, the U.S. Justice Department sought to close a nationwide chain of income tax... Boris Johnson Publishes Tax Records, Putting Further Pressure On Ken Livingstone London Mayor Boris Johnson has published his tax liabilities, having promised to reveal whether or not he was paid by a company called Finland Station.... Loading... TOP LINKS ON THIS TOPIC 1 of 5 Can Ken Livingstone make his tax affairs even worse? Yes he can | Mark Pack Tax is a distraction in the London mayoral race Neutral Audience Savages Ken on Tax - Guy Fawkes' blog Tax Rows Between Boris And Ken Leave Londoners Cold And Annoyed via < my first panel slot! Ken Livingstone accused of using company to avoid paying tax - Telegraph Team Ken Send Out Tax Lines to Tweet Script - Guy Fawkes' blog How much tax do Ken and Boris pay? Ken Livingstone blasted by Boris Johnson for tax lie | The Sun |News|Politics Ken Livingstone's Tax Dodging Ways - Forbes BLOG: Can anyone help: What is the reality of Ken Livingstone's tax affairs? Watch this space for publication of tax material soon. Statement on Ken's proposal for full disclosure here MG Compare and Contrast: Candidates Effective Tax Rates Ken Finally Releases His Figures - Guy Fawkes' blog Ken Livingstone accused of using company to avoid paying tax: Ken Livingstone is facing fresh allegations that h... London Spin: Wealthy Red Ken Refuses to Reveal Tax Details to Londoners Around the Web: Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones release their income and tax paid ... More in UK Politics... Boris Johnson Declared 'Future Prime Minister' By... Nigel Farage Says Cameron EU Referendum Pledge... Baroness Warsi Slams Media For Fuelling Anti-Muslim... Tony Blair: David Cameron 'Holding A Gun... Comments 0 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ Previewing Your Comment. This comment has not yet been posted You have exceeded your word limit by words. Please click the "Edit" button and shorten your comment. Post Comment Edit Cancel You can post to us this information Contact us Click here to leave a comment. 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Share Tweet +More Are the days of American predominance in the Middle East coming to an end or is US influence simply taking a new shape? How far is Washington, after refusing to try to keep Hosni Mubarak in power in Egypt, facing the same situation as the Soviet Union in 1989, when the police states it had sustained in Eastern Europe were allowed to collapse? The US is obviously weaker than it was between 1979, when the then Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, signed the Camp David agreement and allied Egypt with the US, and 2004/05, when it became obvious to the outside world that the Iraq war was a disaster for America. At the time, General William Odom, a former head of the National Security Agency, the biggest US intelligence agency, rightly called it "the greatest strategic disaster in American history". Since then, the verdict of the Iraq war has been confirmed in Afghanistan, where another vastly expensive US expeditionary force has failed to crush an insurgency. In the last few weeks alone, Taliban fighters have succeeded in storming Camp Bastion in Helmand province and destroying $200m worth of aircraft. So many American and allied soldiers have now been shot by Afghan soldiers and police that US advisers are under orders to wear full body armour when having tea with their local allies. The Arab Spring uprisings posed a new threat to the US, but also opened up new options. Support for Mubarak was decisively withdrawn at an early stage, to the dismay of Saudi Arabia and Israel. But the Muslim Brotherhood had long been considering how it could reach an accommodation with the US that would safeguard it against military coups, and enable it to chop back the power of the Egyptian security forces. This was very much the successful strategy of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development (AKP) party, explaining why it was prepared to join the US in invading Iraq in 2003 and why it has become the chief instrument of American policy towards Syria in the past year. This alliance with Islamic but democratic and pro-capitalist parties in Egypt and Turkey is obviously in the interests of the US and the Atlantic powers. But their support for democratic change in North Africa and West Asia is determined by self-interest. It does not, for instance, extend to Bahrain where the Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy has been busily locking up its Shia opponents and retreating from promises of meaningful reform. But new allies must at some point mean fresh policies. In sharp contrast to the Mubarak regime, a new government in Egypt is unlikely to support covertly Israeli military action such as the bombardment of Lebanon in 2006 and of Gaza in 2008. A problem for the White House is that American voters have not taken on board the extent to which US influence has been reduced. For all the rhetoric about the Iraq war being a strategic disaster, the American political and military elite has also failed to appreciate the extent and consequences of failure. It is extraordinary to discover, according to recent revelations, that as late as 2010 Vice-President Joe Biden was under the impression that he could blithely decide who would be president of Iraq. Biden's grip on Iraqi geography appears to be as shaky as his understanding of its politics. On one occasion in Baghdad, he lauded all the good things the US had done for Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, having apparently mistaken it for Basra in southern Iraq. The killing of the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and the burning of the US Consulate in Benghazi could have been a worse political disaster for President Barack Obama than it turned out to be. It highlighted that the rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi were not quite as they had been presented by the US government and media during the war past year. The US State Department appears to have had an unhealthy belief in its own propaganda, not seeing that its consulate in Benghazi was in one of the most dangerous places in the world. The assault did not come out of a blue sky. Fighters had shot at the convoy of the British ambassador, Sir Dominic Asquith, in Benghazi a few weeks earlier. In July last year, the rebels' own commander, Abdel Fatah Younis, was abducted and murdered by men nominally under his command in revenge for repressive actions he had carried out before he defected from Gaddafi's forces. Diplomats and soldiers are often curiously blind to dangers facing them. It may be that both live in very inward-looking communities and somehow cannot internalise how somebody outside may think and act. I remember in 1983 in Lebanon talking to the highly intelligent US marine commander whose soldiers were based near Beirut airport. In theoretical terms, he could see very clearly that American forces had some very dangerous enemies and were vulnerable to attack, but he unaccountably failed to take effective measures that might have stopped a truck packed with explosives killing 241 marines when their base was destroyed. Likewise, the Green Zone in Baghdad from 2003 on had elaborate fortifications, but its outer defences were manned at one moment by former Peruvian policemen from Lima and, at another, by ex-soldiers from Uganda hired on the cheap by a security company. A more effective political opponent than Mitt Romney could surely have inflicted damage on Obama over the Benghazi debacle. A measure of Romney's ineptitude is that he failed to do so and, instead of scoring points, he came across as opportunistic and ignorant. After all, Obama has been conducting a policy of retreat in Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt without quite coming clean about it. Romney's denunciation of Obama for "apologising" for America was shallow demagoguery, though rhetoric on the American right should not be dismissed too casually. George W Bush's supporters used to spout similar nonsense, but only after 9/11 did it become appallingly clear that they believed a lot of what they were saying. Supposing Obama is re-elected in November, will the US stance change at all? The endlessly repeated Israeli threats to launch air strikes on Iran have always struck me as being most likely highly successful bluff, since threats alone have served Israeli purposes so well, isolating Iran economically and diverting attention from the Palestinians. More immediately, will the US move after the election, possibly acting through Turkey, to take military action to displace Bashar al-Assad in Syria? There is something deceptive about David Cameron implying that Russia and China are responsible for the slaughter of Syrian children. A central problem in getting rid of President Assad and the Baathist regime is that the war against him is not just for and against autocracy. If this were the only issue, how come that the Sunni absolute monarchies of the Arabian peninsula are Assad's fiercest enemies? The struggle is also between Shia and Sunni and between Iran and its enemies, guaranteeing that Assad has support in Tehran, Baghdad and Beirut. The quickest way to end the war is to reassure Assad's allies at home and abroad that they are not next in line for elimination. React Now Tweet Click here... New Hot Commented Disagree with me, sure. But don't wish me dead Philip Hensher Outlandish hope, followed by four years of failure: Obama's next term will be a repeat of his first Tom Mendelsohn If Syria's rebels can't take The Fortress, how can they take the capital? Richard Hall Eden Hazard kicking a Swansea ball boy sums up plenty of the worst aspects of modern life Simon Kelner British stories of Nigerian Cinderellas are no fairy tale Myriam Cherti There’s nothing empowering about girls who expose themselves online. Look what happened to Tulisa Grace Dent Disagree with me, sure. But don't wish me dead Philip Hensher The Daily Cartoon Eden Hazard kicking the Swansea ball boy: The reaction Laura Davis The dark side of Dubai Eden Hazard kicking a Swansea ball boy sums up plenty of the worst aspects of modern life Simon Kelner Debate: After he kicked a Swansea ball boy, do you have any sympathy for Chelsea's Eden Hazard? Independent Voices Eden Hazard kicking the Swansea ball boy: The reaction Laura Davis About time US military allowed women to fight on the frontlines The Game and Real Social dynamics: Is the seduction community pushing the idea that ‘no’ just means ‘not yet’? James Bloodworth Letters: Cameron's empty threat to the EU Click here... 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The Independent 2 Derry Street London W8 5TT © independent.co.uk Terms & Policies Privacy Policy Cookie policy Code of Conduct Complaint form Email newsletters RSS Contact Us Subscriptions Apps Work for us Evening Standard Homes & Property iJobs Advertising Guide Syndication Novaya Gazeta (English) ES Business Connections London Private Rentals Please provide search keyword(s) Advanced Search Article archive Topics © independent.co.uk Click here... Click here... Is TV becoming Americanised? | Metro News This site uses cookies. By continuing, your consent is assumed. Learn more Log out Profile Sign up Log in Fantasy Football Competitions Courses Jobs Metro Blogs Search Views. Comment. Opinion. News UK World Weird Money Sport Oddballs Football Cricket Tennis F1 Golf Boxing Guilty Pleasures Celeb TV Gossip Ents & Tech TV Film Music Gaming Tech Life & Style Fashion Travel Food Books Sex Arts Search Fantasy Football Competitions Jobs Courses Metro Blogs Log out Profile Sign up Log in Swipe Next Is TV becoming Americanised? By metrowebukmetro Wednesday 26 Nov 2003 3:09 pm News [displayDate] A WARNING THAT TV could become Americanised came from the BBC’s directorgeneral as he picked up an International Emmy award. Greg Dyke received the award for outstanding achievement in TV broadcasting from actress Joanna Lumley. Mr Dyke, 56, told the audience that globalisation was making it harder for BBC-style public service broadcasting to survive. ‘It’s about replacing distinctive domestic programmes with international formats and US content. In the world of broadcasting, globalisation means Americanisation,’ he said. Other BBC winners were The Kumars At No.42, named best scripted popular arts show for the second year running. Arena’s The Life and Times Count Luchino Visconti took the arts programming prize. Legend Of The Lost Tribe was best children’s show. Channel 4′s Without Prejudice was best unscripted popular arts show and ITN’s coverage of the fall of Saddam Hussein won the prize for best news coverage. [rhsPanel] Prev · Next Related Articles Robert Pattinson to star in Saddam Hussein thriller Mission: Blacklist 266 days ago Dominic Cooper: Playing Saddam Hussein’s psychopathic son was hard 540 days ago Secret Iraq: The next part of this series is must-watch viewing 848 days ago By metrowebukmetro What's popular in News 1 Ten-year-old boy sprayed with aerosol can and set on fire 2 I'll 'ave that! Bungling robber caught on CCTV dressed as Burglar Bill 3 Fresh contamination fears over cancer drug 'found in horse meat' 4 Princess Bride 'prepare to die' t-shirt terrifies air passengers 5 Britons in Benghazi, Libya, urged to leave by Foreign Office over 'specific, imminent threat' On the Blogs Whether Prince Harry did or didn’t kill is a non-issue compared to all those deaths ‘The enemy appeared round the corner, raised his rifle and he had to be shot. It’s self-defence. They… Is Prince Harry really a killer? Taking a human life, someone who may be a father, a husband, a brother is not fun. It hardens people… Use left key ← Use right key → Menu 1 T&Cs Privacy Policy and Cookies Menu 2 More Metro Contact Metro About Metro Menu 3 Twitter Facebook Foursquare Google+ Sitemap Menu 4 Daily Deals This is Money Today’s News Today Last Year Today 5 Years Ago Your ad choices © 2012 Associated Newspapers Limited Powered by WordPress.com VIP Rioters denounce ‘Americanisation’ of British way of rioting | NewsBiscuit NewsBiscuit The news before it happens… Home Writers' Room Chat About Shop Rioters denounce ‘Americanisation’ of British way of rioting British rioters have hit out at what they see as an unwelcome transatlantic influence on the traditional English way of looting and causing affray. ‘It’s another deplorable Americanisation of our traditional British way of doing stuff – especially free stuff,’ says fourteen-year-old Tottenham rioter Zac (two Sony flat screens and a bag of trainers). ‘Innit.’ And Zac’s fellow rioter Jed,12, (two laptops and a crate of Stella), agreed. ’This American super cop Bill Bratton knows nothing about our way of shopping,’ he said. ‘American cops just don’t know how to behave. You’d think a Tory government would have more respect for the traditional British Bobby. I’m well disgusted.’ But the Prime Minister defended the decision to take advice from Mr Bratton. ’He’s a sort of American Dixon of Dock Green,’  he said. ”Except he uses CS gas, water cannon and rocket launchers against riots and gangs. I think they may well approve of that in Tunbridge Wells.’ Meanwhile David Cameron has ordered 16000 police onto the streets outside secondary schools in readiness for Thursday’s A Level results. ‘Those teenage girls contemplating uncontrolled histrionics when they receive their A Level results, should think again,’ the Prime Minister said after chairing a meeting of COBRA. ‘Police will be ready to deal robustly with excessive screaming or hugging – it’s self- dramatisation, pure and simple and will not be tolerated.’ A police spokesman said they were aware of the threat from A Level ‘rioters’ and would use water cannon if necessary. ’The media should not encourage displays of phantom orgasms,’ the spokesman added. Home Secretary Theresa May said she found the prospect of teenage girls being dealt with by the authorities ‘oddly exciting.’  ’I almost wet myself at the thought of it,’ she told the COBRA meeting. Share this story... Tweet x Click to send this story to a friend Posted: Aug 15th, 2011 by roybland Tagged as: coalition , David Cameron , government , news parody , news satire , news spoof , Nick Clegg , parody , rioting , Riots , spoof news Click for more stories about: UK News Subscribe to the daily email Loading... 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Now, both the Arab awakening and the internal momentum of AKP rule are pushing Ankara closer to the United States, says Dimitar Bechev. There was a time when people in Turkey wishfully called their country küçük Amerika ("the little America"). The phrase reflected a strong, even intimate relationship between the two countries. During the cold-war years, Turkey's centre-right leaders - from Adnan Menderes in the 1950s to Turgut Özal in the 1980s - extolled the virtues of the American dream to a receptive public; the Nato alliance was the alpha and omega of Ankara’s security doctrine; Turkey's elite sent its offspring to colleges across the United States; and Turkish audiences lapped up the latest pop-culture imports such as the TV soap Dallas . Then, for much of the two subsequent decades, it looked as if Turkey was following a predominantly European path. It has turned out, however, that this was but a detour. In post-Kemalist Turkey, the earlier American vision is coming to full fruition. Europe’s evident failure to accomplish its transformative mission means that Turkish politics is coming under the sway, not of Europeanisation but of Americanisation. There are many manifestations of the trend. Perhaps the clearest is Turkey's foreign relations. Before the Arab spring of 2011, Turkey had confidently pursued what it called a "zero-problems" regional approach (its own version of Brussels's "European neighbourhood policy" that promotes functional integration with states on the European Union's periphery). But the violent upheavals in Libya and Syria effectively derailed the "zero-problems" principle. Instead, the region's new turmoil reinforced Ankara's bonds with Washington as they forged a common front on the Syrian crisis (while agreeing to disagree on Israel). Turkey shifted towards projecting the notion of a "Turkish model" as something the awakened Arabs could emulate - whose traces of a "freedom agenda" had resemblances to the outlook of neocons in the George W Bush administration. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has even spoken of a "golden era" in US-Turkish relations (which suggests she may be unaware of how close the states were in the 1950s). The contrast with Europe is stark, as Turkey’s relations with EU heavyweights such as France and Germany over its stalled membership negotiations have become poisoned. From Ankara's perspective, the shift towards Washington is natural: after all, what security assets does crisis-stricken Europe have to help Turkey fend off threats emanating from an imploding Syria, an expansionist Iran or an unstable Iraq? A domestic dynamic But the connection runs much deeper than the convergence of strategic interests at a critical juncture - for Turkey is also Americanising domestically. The ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) may have responded to the weakening of the EU's reformist pressure by succumbing further to an authoritarian temptation in the wake of its third successive electoral victory in June 2011. But even before then, the accommodation of religious conservatism that underpins the AKP's democratic imaginaire closely mirrors a US-style framework while being at increasing variance with Europe’s post-Christian polities. Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his followers, in seeking to bolster the case for Turkey’s accession to the EU, used to cite European-style Christian democracy as a source of inspiration for their moderate form of Islamic politics. In 2012, however, the AKP's social-conservative line on "family values" or the teaching of Darwinian evolution in schools if far more in harmony with attitudes in America’s "red" (Republican) states than in European metropoles. Turkey has its own "culture wars" which are surely intelligible to the median US citizen. A controversy over proposed reforms that would introduce a middle-school level for 10-14 year-olds who can be enrolled in an imam hatip (religious institution) or be taught at home is a case in point. The AKP maintains that this would broaden girls' access to schooling; critics see it as perpetuating social conservatism. The influential religious thinker Fethullah Gülen may have a conflictual relationship with Erdoğan, but he remains an influential fellow-traveller of the AKP - and significantly, he resides in Pennsylvania. None other than the New York Times portrayed the "Gülenists" as "the Islamic equivalent of Christian movements appealing to business and the professions." Both Gülen's movement and the pious entrepreneurs supporting the AKP have embraced the fusion of market-friendly (or neo-liberal) economics and God once popularised by Turgut Özal, perhaps Turkey’s most distinguished Americaniser. Some critics would argue that the religious worldview shared by the AKP and the Gülenists dismisses social rights and redistribution and sees welfare (again similarly to US conservatives) in paternalistic terms as a matter of charity, though in fairness social reforms in key areas such as healthcare have greatly expanded opportunities for Turkey's lower-income groups. In institutional terms, the AKP’s decade-long ascendancy has resulted in a transition from coalition rule to majoritarian politics. The party governs alone, unimpeded either by the need to share power with other political forces (as its predecessors in the 1990s faced) or by Turkey's so-called "deep state". The measures sanctioned by the constitutional referendum of 2010 is a prime example of how the AKP's majoritarianism works: it embodied the growing power of a definition of democracy as governing by the will of the (conservative) majority rather than involving coalition-building, sharing power, reassuring and co-opting sceptical minorities. Erdoğan’s intermittent calls to replace the parliamentary regime with presidential rule (with the three-term prime minister presumably at the helm) charts the next step. The inevitable result is to polarise public opinion and raise concerns that a Turkish form of "Putinisation" may be in prospect. Whether such concerns are warranted or overblown, it is certain that a strong presidency at the heart of Turkey's decision-making system would inaugurate a winner-takes-all political model far removed from the consensual modes of government characteristic of continental Europe. Here is a departure from United States norms, since US presidentialism is part of a functioning checks-and-balances system that includes a powerful legislature and assertive judiciary. This, however, is one area where the US, often blamed for its arrogance, has no particular mechanism to export its constitutional acquis, in contrast with the EU's reliance on membership conditionality. An international lodestar But if Turkey is embracing Americanisation rather than Europeanisation, could this process provide a (better) answer to Turkey's burning questions of citizenship and national identity? Again, the European Union long thought that it had the competence and leverage to make a difference in Turkey. But it now appears that Brussels’s standards tended to reinforce Turkey's post-1920s Kemalist order, which was already informed by the French republican ideal of a single and indivisible political community (and often cast, as also in Germany and much of central and eastern Europe, in exclusively ethno-cultural terms). The retreat of EU influence in Turkey increasingly makes the alternative to Kemalism not one of EU-inspired minority rights, let alone ethnic power-sharing as demanded by Kurdish nationalists, but rather the AKP brand of identity politics which (unlike Kemalism) recognises the multiplicity of ethnic identities while embracing nationalism and the cult of the state. Here, ( Sunni ) Islam is the overarching, supra-ethnic glue that reconciles the commitment to a strong, sovereign and fiercely patriotic Turkey with cultural-linguistic particularisms. Again, this is a pattern recognisable in the US. Moreover, the AKP’s nationalism - in contrast to the insular and xenophobic nationalisms of today's Europe - resembles the US's in being defined by a sort of mission civilisatrice in the Arab world, which draws inspiration from the glorious Ottoman era. Hence, Turkey's aforementioned shift from "zero problems" to a "freedom agenda" in the middle east. True, this effort to recast nationhood along the mildly Islamist worldview to which Turkey’s current rulers subscribe is but a "project in the making", and it is contested from multiple quarters, not least by nationalist Kurds. Its chances of completion hinge on the possibility that civic norms can be enshrined as the core of citizenship. And as long as the new civilian constitution promised by the authorities is nowhere in sight, the project remains out of sync with crude political realities. So there are also obstacles to Turkey's Americanisation. Turkey’s new establishment has very few knee-jerk Americanophiles (similar to the old secular one, whose attitude to the US was highly instrumental). Turkey's public opinion has traditionally been, as elsewhere in southern Europe, a hotbed of anti-Americanism. The German Marshall Fund’s "transatlantic trends" poll in 2011 finds out that 62% of Turks hold negative views of the US, the highest percentage of all countries surveyed. There is no causal relationship between Turkey’s internal Americanisation and the country’s behaviour vis-à-vis the US, which is essentially a balancing act between the pursuit of security in a turbulent environment and the quest for autonomy. The EU remains by far the most important trade and investment partner for Turkey, even if membership talks have ground to a halt. If the extensive human links between the two are factored in, it becomes clear that the union will remain the biggest external stakeholder in Turkey’s internal transformation for the foreseeable future - whatever the weather. It is also true, however, that the US offers a more intelligible and eye-catching model for a country and society that views itself as rising and believes tomorrow will be better than today. Neither the Europe of supranational institutions and liberal values nor the populist Europe of Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen is a credible or attractive competitor. Europhilia seems to survive in Turkey only in a handful of enclaves in downtown Istanbul and along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts - as well as in Anatolia’s farthest corners inhabited by Kurds. The majority of Turks, having cast in their lot with the AKP, watch Europe’s eurozone crisis with Schadenfreude . Europe's loss of symbolic capital in Turkey is a significant development in a longer chain of events. The Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century sought to transplant European modernity onto Ottoman soil. The Kemalists’ quest to bring "contemporary civilisation" to Turkey was equally informed by Eurocentric ideas. To a great degree, Turkey's semi-integration into the EU (even without full membership) has made the country increasingly prosperous and, despite more recent backsliding, more democratic. But it is by looking to America rather than Europe that the new Turkey might obtain a clearer sense of direction. View the discussion thread. Related Articles The AKP years in Turkey: the third stage Gunes Murat Tezcur Turkey’s crisis and the European Union George Schöpflin Turkey and Ergenekon: from farce to tragedy Bill Park Turkey’s “Islamic reform”: roots and reality Mustafa Akyol Ergenekon: power and democracy in Turkey Bill Park Turkey’s risk, Europe’s role openDemocracy Turkey’s election, and democracy's shadow Gareth Jenkins Turkey’s referendum: a democratic dynamic Gunes Murat Tezcur Turkey in transition: reality and image Gunes Murat Tezcur Turkey’s clash of values: memo to Europe Cem Özdemir Ergenekon: Turkey's military-political contest Bill Park Turkey’s election, and democracy's shadow Gareth Jenkins Turkey and the Kurds: politics and military action Hasan Turunc Ergenekon: Turkey’s “deep state” in the light Bill Park Turkey and Europe: a shifting axis Katinka Barysch Turkey: vibrant democracy vs majority rule Bill Park Turkey's political opening Gunes Murat Tezcur Turkey's political-emotional transition Carsten Wieland Turkey 's home truths Elif Shafak Turkey and Israel: ends and beginnings Kerem Oktem Turkey's “passive revolution” and democracy Kerem Oktem Arab revolutions, Turkey’s dilemmas: zero chance for "zero problems" Ivan Krastev Read On European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) Dimitar Bechev, ed., What Does Turkey Think (ECFR, June 2011) Centre for Liberal Strategies , Sofia Kerem Oktem, Angry Nation: Turkey since 1989 (Zed Books, 2010) Turkish election 2011 Turkey: Ending the PKK Insurgency )International Crisis Group, 20 September 2011) Gareth Jenkins Political Islam in Turkey: Running West, Heading East? (Palgrave, 2008) Changing Turkey... Erik J Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (IB Tauris, 2004) The Turkey Analyst Cihan Tugal, Passive Revolution: Absorbing the Islamic Challenge to Capitalism (Stanford University Press, 2009) Celia J Kerslake, Kerem Oktem & Philip Robins, eds., Turkey's Engagement with Modernity (Palgrave, 2010) More On Dimitar Bechev is senior research fellow and head of the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations . He is editor of What Does Turkey Think (ECFR, June 2011), a collection of essays by Turkish analysts, policymakers and academics exploring the country’s rapid domestic transformation and dynamic foreign policy This article is published under a Creative Commons licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us . Please check individual images for licensing details. 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If you're interested in supporting this initiative through funding or editorial activities please email info@opendemocracy.net openIndia authors Articles by Rajeev Bhargava Articles by Tani Bhargava Articles by N Jayaram Articles by Kanishk Tharoor South Asian coverage on openDemocracy Bangladesh | Bhutan | Sri Lanka | Maldives | Nepal | Pakistan Latest stories from openIndia Beyond the politics of representation: the political economy of indigenous art in postcolonial India Rashmi Varma Yes to ending violence against women, but no to the ‘zero tolerance’ route Vijay Nagaraj At the root of rape is language Angshukanta Chakraborty More Spread the word Spread the word X Spread the word is a brand new section of openDemocracy's not-for-profit web platform. This space is for other not-for-profit organisations of all kinds to publicise your activities and spread the exchange of ideas. You will be able to link to all your publications, and events anywhere in the world. You will have your own openDemocracy page and all new announcements will be ticker-taped to our front page. This organisation subscription is available for a modest annual fee, dependent on the size of your organisation. Please contact Jonathan Bowles at supporters@opendemocracy.net if you are interested in joining. If you're interested in developing editorial projects on openDemocracy, please see our Editorial partnerships page We are grateful to the following organisations for their support in developing this initiative: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre Rockefeller Brothers Fund openSecurity openSecurity X Editors' pick The EU's Nobel Peace Prize DAN SMITH Neoliberalism in the American military and its impact on civilians JENNIFER MITTELSTADT The collapse of Transitional Justice MLADEN OSTOJIC openSecurity Debates Peacebuilding: southern perspectives | Beyond enemy images | Security sector reform openSecurity provides a point of interaction between the relatively closed group of people who can be said to have influence on the course of security policy, and the people in whose name they act. openSecurity on Twitter Sign up for a weekly email roundup from oS openEconomy openEconomy X openDemocracy brings you open-minded economics with a democratic perspective We're reading: Litquake » James Warner: An excess of joie de vivre Oct. 06, 2012 Silverman spreads an addiction ... A numerical habit that’s hard to kick - FT.com Oct. 04, 2012 EUobserver.com / Political Affairs / Back the EU or risk isolation, Poland warns UK Oct. 02, 2012 Excellent @gideonrachman on democracy and € crisis ... surely soltn is EU-level democracy Sep. 11, 2012 David Blanchflower: Osborne's support has drained away - David Blanchflower - Business Comment - The Independent Sep. 10, 2012 Latest stories from openEconomy Should we worry about global quasi-constitutionalization? Grahame Thompson Norman Tebbit exchange with John Mills - how to fix Britain's industry John Mills More Arab Awakening Arab Awakening X In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world. "As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS Debates Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East Categories: | Revolution | Violent transitions | Constitutional reform | Spring of the 'others' | Geopolitics Countries: | Algeria | Bahrain | Egypt | Iraq | Israel | Jordan | Kuwait | Lebanon | Libya | Mauritania | Morocco | Oman | Palestine | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Sudan | Syria | Tunisia | UAE | Yemen OurBeeb OurBeeb X Running May-October 2012 as an independent section of openDemocracy, OurBeeb is a digital challenge to the old order, seeking to make the BBC's next Director General truly accountable to the public, and debate the future of our BBC. This is a critical time for public service broadcasting, and the challenges of massive cuts and rapid technological change must be addressed head on. Follow OurBeeb OurBeeb weekly newsletter @our_Beeb Funded by 95% of British homes via the licence fee, the BBC belongs to the people, not the government. ourBeeb is independent, non-partisan, and aims to return the discussion about Britain's most important cultural institution to the people. Say 'no' to a Senate, the Americanisation of the UK has gone far enough, an OK competition | openDemocracy Home About Team Our Supporters Forum Donate Submit an article Contact Login | Signup × close “I will say it now: beware of my partisanship, my mistakes of fact, and the distortion inevitably caused by my having seen only one corner of events.” - George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia , 1938 View What links here Say 'no' to a Senate, the Americanisation of the UK has gone far enough, an OK competition Anthony Barnett 2 December 2010 Subjects: Ideas Democracy and government UK An all-party proposal to replace the House of Lords is about to appear. The word is that they will call for an elected chamber to be called...' The Senate'. How unoriginal can you be? An all-party proposal to replace the House of Lords is about to appear. It is being led by Nick Clegg and the guiding spirit is Jack Straw. The word is that they will call for an (eventually) elected chamber to be called ' The Senate'. How unoriginal can you be? In a pre-emptive strike against the report, Timothy Garton Ash in today's Guardian has a fine time puncturing the utterly corrupt and contemptible crony chamber we have today. He then goes on to reject the idea of its capture by the political parties as a step backwards. He is right, of course. He then comes up with his own solution. Ah, Tim, there have been so many! (Including my own modest one.) But he misses the critical point, the one which the machine that runs Westminster is well aware of. All reforms and replacements and in between schemes for the second chamber will be powerless before the executive leviathan unless and until they are set out as one entire half of parliament which has to be redefined as a whole. Leave it as it and you can fiddle (or burn) the upper half and... you are leaving the whole as it is. Peter Carty and I tried to make this obvious point in our book The Athenian Option . No, we actually did make it, more than once. Established thinking, however, prevents it from being registered. And Tim goes along with this received failure of wisdom. For example, you have to empower the Commons to be the legislative chamber, so that the second one can scrutinise it. But today, we have two legislative chambers. Retain this structure and it follows that the upper house has to be controlled by party whips. If it is taken in isolation from the Commons, there can be no democratic reform of the House of Lords Calling it a 'Senate' is a classic, spin doctors way of evading this. New Labour always wanted Britain to become like America without having to have a constitutional revolution. What could be 'more radical' than 'replacing' the Lords with a Senate? But what a betrayal of the English tradition - that we have to reach across the Atlantic to bring back a term consciously modeled on Rome so that no one mistook the new republic as looking to Greece and democracy? Surely, whatever it is, we can call it something that is rooted in our own traditions? OurKingdom will award a copy of Steve Pincus's 1688 The First Modern Revolution to the reader who suggests the best new name for a second chamber however it is organised. PS: My approach to a new upper house would include this proposal by The Earl of Clancarty from an 11 October debate (starts 3.14 pm) in the Lords: a modern reformed House of Lords should recognise that, rather than being a lesser other place, it could be celebration of public involvement in government. Rather than narrowing down politics to tighter control by professional politicians, should we not be opening up our second House to the British people? If we retain an appointments system to introduce expertise and life experience into the Lords, should it not be decoupled from party-political involvement, perhaps by bringing ordinary citizens into government of their peers through a jury system View the discussion thread. About the author Anthony Barnett ( @AnthonyBarnett ) is the founder of openDemocracy and a Co-Editor of its UK section, OurKingdom . This article is published under a Creative Commons licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us . Please check individual images for licensing details. Twitter Facebook Follow OurKingdom Daily email alerts: Weekly email alert: Latest events ‘What was the true Legacy of the Olympics?’: join in the debate online OurKingdom More OurKingdom comments Powered by Disqus Book Reviews Book Reviews Cruel Britannia: a secret history of torture Nicholas Mercer Dial M for Murdoch: the book to sink an empire? Bruce Page Tommy Sheridan and the myth of Scotland’s compassionate society Gerry Hassan Fight Back! - read it here OurKingdom is reading Context is everything – European Court of Human Rights struck out 99% of UK cases in 2012 Serco managers tell out-of-hours GP staff to cut 999 calls to meet targets PDF—Transparency International Report on UK police corruption warns of outsourcing risks Obama inauguration sponsors spent $160 million on political lobbying since 2009 Switzerland moves to ban mercenary companies more Privacy Licensing & Syndication Advertise Media Inquiries Vacancies RSS Feed openDemocracy Ltd, The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tel: +44 (0) 207 193 0676 openDemocracy openDemocracy X openDemocracy publishes high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. More... Notes from the Editor-in-Chief Become a member | Week in 400 words | About the new site | Submit an article | Contact us Editor's Pick: The new Egyptian constitution: an initial assessment of its merits and flaws Zaid Al Ali Austerity, corporate tax evasion and human rights: why the anti-austerity movement needs some Lagarde lists of our own Peter Rossman Is Greece a racist state? Iannis Carras Best of the rest: Arab Awakening | Can Europe Make it? | Drug and Criminal Justice Policy Forum | OurBeeb OurKingdom OurKingdom X About us OurKingdom works to investigate and illuminate the crisis of democracy in Britain and analyse how its failings can be redressed. We encourage original debate untrammelled by party political loyalties. We ask how we as citizens can secure liberty, human rights, self-government and real democracy. ...more on OurKingdom Links Team | Contact | Submit an Article Debates OurBeeb | G4S: Securing whose world? | Uneconomics | Pick of the debates: Democratic Wealth: building a citizens' economy , edited by Stuart White , uses republican theory to explore ideas around how to democratise the economy. Co-hosted with Politics in Spires , a blog sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. oD Russia oD Russia X openDemocracy Russia is a thoughtful platform for all those concerned about the future of the post-Soviet world. We publish indepth analysis, comment and reportage on the region — from politics and economics through to ecology and culture Partners Polit.Ru | Openspace.ru | Levada Center | Ukraine Analysis | Valdai Discussion Club Topics & debates Conflict | Culture | Euro2012 | Elections | Environment | Foreign | History | Human rights | Justice | Media | Politics | ProjectID | Religion | Regions | Russian rights at the crossroads | Stories you weren't meant to hear | USSR 20 Countries Armenia | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Georgia | Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Moldova | Russia | Tajikistan | Turkmenistan | Ukraine | Uzbekistan Latest articles on oDRussia Russia and China: aligned after all? Thomas Koenig The fable of the eagle, the dragon and the bear Pavel Salin Life on the Chinese border: Russia's Far East Olesya Gerasimenko The rise and fall of China-watching in Russia Alexander Gabuyev Russia-China relations: fantasies and reality Ben Judah 50.50 50.50 X Recent articles on 50.50 Gender wars: women redefining customs as crimes Ruth Rosen Of rights and risks: are women’s human rights in jeopardy? Maxine Molyneux A French debate on prostitution Valeria Costa-Kostritsky Fear and fury: women and post-revolutionary violence Deniz Kandiyoti 50.50 Dialogues About 50.50 50.50 is openDemocracy's section dedicated to exploring issues of gender equality and social justice at the global level. We are committed to promoting human rights and inclusive democracy through dialogue and debate. But a global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. With this in mind, 50.50 publishes women's analysis, insight and views on current affairs. openIndia openIndia X Plans for a new South Asia Section openIndia is no longer actively edited, however openDemocracy is developing plans for a South Asian section with the aim of building the views, arguments, energy, originality and democratic spirit of the region across the whole of openDemocracy. If you're interested in supporting this initiative through funding or editorial activities please email info@opendemocracy.net openIndia authors Articles by Rajeev Bhargava Articles by Tani Bhargava Articles by N Jayaram Articles by Kanishk Tharoor South Asian coverage on openDemocracy Bangladesh | Bhutan | Sri Lanka | Maldives | Nepal | Pakistan Latest stories from openIndia Beyond the politics of representation: the political economy of indigenous art in postcolonial India Rashmi Varma Yes to ending violence against women, but no to the ‘zero tolerance’ route Vijay Nagaraj At the root of rape is language Angshukanta Chakraborty More Spread the word Spread the word X Spread the word is a brand new section of openDemocracy's not-for-profit web platform. This space is for other not-for-profit organisations of all kinds to publicise your activities and spread the exchange of ideas. You will be able to link to all your publications, and events anywhere in the world. You will have your own openDemocracy page and all new announcements will be ticker-taped to our front page. This organisation subscription is available for a modest annual fee, dependent on the size of your organisation. Please contact Jonathan Bowles at supporters@opendemocracy.net if you are interested in joining. If you're interested in developing editorial projects on openDemocracy, please see our Editorial partnerships page We are grateful to the following organisations for their support in developing this initiative: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre Rockefeller Brothers Fund openSecurity openSecurity X Editors' pick The EU's Nobel Peace Prize DAN SMITH Neoliberalism in the American military and its impact on civilians JENNIFER MITTELSTADT The collapse of Transitional Justice MLADEN OSTOJIC openSecurity Debates Peacebuilding: southern perspectives | Beyond enemy images | Security sector reform openSecurity provides a point of interaction between the relatively closed group of people who can be said to have influence on the course of security policy, and the people in whose name they act. openSecurity on Twitter Sign up for a weekly email roundup from oS openEconomy openEconomy X openDemocracy brings you open-minded economics with a democratic perspective We're reading: Litquake » James Warner: An excess of joie de vivre Oct. 06, 2012 Silverman spreads an addiction ... A numerical habit that’s hard to kick - FT.com Oct. 04, 2012 EUobserver.com / Political Affairs / Back the EU or risk isolation, Poland warns UK Oct. 02, 2012 Excellent @gideonrachman on democracy and € crisis ... surely soltn is EU-level democracy Sep. 11, 2012 David Blanchflower: Osborne's support has drained away - David Blanchflower - Business Comment - The Independent Sep. 10, 2012 Latest stories from openEconomy Should we worry about global quasi-constitutionalization? Grahame Thompson Norman Tebbit exchange with John Mills - how to fix Britain's industry John Mills More Arab Awakening Arab Awakening X In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world. "As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS Debates Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East Categories: | Revolution | Violent transitions | Constitutional reform | Spring of the 'others' | Geopolitics Countries: | Algeria | Bahrain | Egypt | Iraq | Israel | Jordan | Kuwait | Lebanon | Libya | Mauritania | Morocco | Oman | Palestine | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Sudan | Syria | Tunisia | UAE | Yemen OurBeeb OurBeeb X Running May-October 2012 as an independent section of openDemocracy, OurBeeb is a digital challenge to the old order, seeking to make the BBC's next Director General truly accountable to the public, and debate the future of our BBC. This is a critical time for public service broadcasting, and the challenges of massive cuts and rapid technological change must be addressed head on. Follow OurBeeb OurBeeb weekly newsletter @our_Beeb Funded by 95% of British homes via the licence fee, the BBC belongs to the people, not the government. ourBeeb is independent, non-partisan, and aims to return the discussion about Britain's most important cultural institution to the people. AddThis The British Election Debates, the Lib Dem Surge and the Americanisation of Our Politics | openDemocracy Home About Team Our Supporters Forum Donate Submit an article Contact Login | Signup × close “I will say it now: beware of my partisanship, my mistakes of fact, and the distortion inevitably caused by my having seen only one corner of events.” - George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia , 1938 View What links here The British Election Debates, the Lib Dem Surge and the Americanisation of Our Politics Gerry Hassan 22 April 2010 Subjects: Democracy and government The British election campaign is shaking many of the in-built assumptions and contours of British politics. The British election campaign is shaking up many of the in-built assumptions and contours of British politics. Despite three decades of upheaval under Thatcherism and Blairism, the advocates of these approaches implemented their ideas, while keeping many of the traditional structures and assumptions of the British political system intact. These are now being exposed, questioned and put under scrutiny in a way they seldom have before. After all of this it is apt that we have witnessed so far the most disastrous Labour election campaign since 1983 – described accurately by Andrew Neil ‘as a TV on in the corner of a room that no one is watching’ (1), while the Conservative campaign must be the most inept in post-war history by a party coming into an election in the lead in the polls. What for instance are the Labour and Conservative campaigns about? Beyond the obvious self-preservation of the political order which has so aided their stitch up of political power. Labour have the narrative of ‘securing the recovery’, but seem to be tone deaf to everything else and even sanguine about finding themselves in third place in the polls. The Conservative campaign surprisingly has no core theme and this for a party which has spent five years reinventing, modernising and detoxicating itself. Post-crash the Tories have veered across the political spectrum, until finally in the election deciding to land on ‘the big society’ without any real warning or detail. All of this with an £18 million election kitty. The only election campaign which has shown itself more out of touch than Labour or Conservatives has been UKIP and the amateurish, rambling, potterish interviews of Lord Pearson of Rannoch, UKIP leader, who seems to be oblivious to most of the content of his party’s manifesto (2). The Lib Dem surge seems to have caught a large part of the political cognoscenti by surprise and unaware of the state of our politics, democracy and society, and the anger in the country at bankers, politicians and fat cats. Daniel Finkelstein, a week before the election was called was declaring ‘a Tory landslide there for the taking’; post-debate Kelvin Mackenzie was still predicting a ‘Tory landslide’. The Lib Dem rise is the product of many factors, some long-term, such as the class dealignment of British politics and the decline of party identification, some more immediate, such as the anger at bankers and politicians. In short, a vote for the Lib Dems is a yearning for a different kind of politics, way of doing our politics, and fundamentally, for a different kind of country. Labour and Conservatives seem oblivious to the country they have created over the last thirty years. A new book by academic Danny Dorling shows that the UK is the fourth most unequal country in the developed world – only Singapore, the US and Portugal being more unequal. The wealth of the top ten percent is worth on average 13.8 times that of the bottom ten percent across the UK. London is the most unequal city in the Western world with levels of inequality which even put the rest of the UK to shame. The top ten percent living in London have wealth worth on average £933,563, while the poorest ten percent have on average £3,420 – some 273 times less. The culture and values of inequality permeate and distort every part of our society; the UK for example has a mere 7% of children privately educated, but this accounts for a quarter of school education spending, a figure only exceeded in Chile (3). Then there is the issue of liberty. What kind of country has 5.4 million people on its DNA database? This is over one in ten of the adult population – and the demographics of this group reveal that they are a snapshot of a more marginal, disconnected Britain: more poor, young and black, less educated and politically engaged. The Americanisation of British Politics: Living in a Fantasy, Liberal World The kind of country the UK is geo-politically; whether it is a ‘normal’ European country or an offshore extension of the United States, is another central issue the two big parties don’t want to go near. Labour and the Tories both clearly want us to be the latter, and prevent us discussing the potential of the former. The Americanisation of British politics can be illustrated in how our political and media elites see much of the public life of our nation, a good example of which is the Prime Ministerial debates. Our political and media classes inhabit a mythical, imagined Camelot – a fantasy land of ‘Anglo-America’ – where all their references to politics are either British or American ‘real’ politics, or the make believe of the TV series ‘The West Wing’. It is as partial a view of the US as it a distortion of the UK: a world of brave, crusading liberals taking on the forces of darkness and prejudice, ‘the New Deal’, ‘New Frontier’, ‘Great Society’ and so on, and never the Goldwater, Nixon or Reagan versions, and certainly not the mad hatter Tea Partyiers. Therefore, our political and media discourse about the UK debates nearly exclusively engages in a comparison with the US Presidential debates. Thus we are endlessly told the stories of Kennedy’s clean cut look on TV, Nixon’s five o’clock shadow, Gerald Ford saying that Poland was not under Soviet dominance, Reagan’s ‘there you go again’ refrain to Carter, Lloyd Bentsen’s ‘Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine’ rebuke to Dan Quayle, and Clinton’s folksy charm on the recession against the first George Bush. Even the usually excellent Michael Cockerell in his ‘How to Win The TV Debate’ only looked at the US elections, cited all these now familiar landmarks, and made no reference to any other country (4). There is a kind of collective cognitive dissonance going on here: of telling a set of stories so often that they become part of us and how we understand ourselves. Maybe Kennedy beating Nixon in 1960 really is part of British politics, because our political and media elites seem to think so. There is something beyond lazy journalism here; instead there is an undercurrent of how the world and the UK are seen by our elites. The following other countries could be drawn as examples: French Presidential Debates: The French have been having Presidential debates since 1974 when Giscard d’Estaing put Mitterand down with the comment that ‘you don’t have the monopoly of the heart’. In the 1988 election debate Mitterand standing for re-election as President after winning in 1981 faced Jacques Chirac, who created a controversy by refusing to call Mitterand, ‘President Mitterand’. In the 2002 election, Chirac was himself standing for a second term as President, and refused to debate with National Front leader John-Marie Le Pen. Australian leadership debates: The Australians have been having election leadership debates since 1984. When a charismatic three times election victor Labor leader (Bob Hawke) finally gave way to his less popular, technocratic Treasury Minister (Paul Keating), Labor thought it was going to lose the election. This was 1993; it had been ten years in office; there had been a painful recession and a weak and slow recovery. The election debates between Keating and Liberal leader John Hewson aided Labor to an unexpected fourth term. New Zealand leadership debates: Both Australian and New Zealand debates have been characterized by the embracing of new technologies such as ‘the worm’ which charts voter reaction during debates. This has been referred to as ‘the wormology’ of Australian and New Zealand debates, with leaders making a play for emotions and positive feelings which they know will get good responses. In the 2002 New Zealand debates, a minority party candidate did so well in the debate - Peter Dunne’s United Future New Zealand (charted by the worm) - that their popularity soared and they became part of the governing coalition. In the 2008 debate primarily between Helen Clark and John Key voters could ask questions by posting 30 second questions on YouTube. Canadian leadership debates: Canadian debates began in 1968 and coincided with the election of Pierre Trudeau and the first of his three consecutive Liberal victories. The 1968 debate took place three days after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy with all the candidates trying to pay the most fulsome tribute. Trudeau’s charisma and relative youthfulness led to the phenomenon of ‘Trudeaumania’. German Chancellor debates: These have been running for several elections now; in 2005 after Schroder prematurely called a national election, and trailing massively in the polls to the CDU/CSU, he turned around his party’s fortunes in the debate, being seen as winning the argument against Angela Merkel, the CDU/CSU leader. This produced a very close election result and a ‘Grand Coalition’ between the two big parties. As you can see our obsession with the US debates is not even an issue with the English language, as Australia, New Zealand and Canada all have leader debates. This points to this being about the fact that our political and media elites see British and American politics as umbilically linked and interwoven. The stories of some of these other countries are similar to ours and more relevant than the US given American exceptionalism. The journey of parties of the centre-left: the French Socialists, German SPD, Australian Labor and New Zealand Labour, have many lessons for British Labour. All of these have undergone crises of what they stand for, what they do in office, and who they represent in recent years, which they have not adequately answered. Australia’s and New Zealand’s debates about privatisation, deregulation and the marketisation of society, and concerns over the pitfalls which result from these, in terms of concerns over health and well-being (and thus the exclusion of the economy from progressive debate), would seem very familiar to British audiences. These deep issues about the future direction and nature of the United Kingdom are ones our mainstream political classes do not want to bring into the public domain in a general election or any other time. Most of our mainstream debate seems to want to exclude talking about the limitations of the society and kind of country Thatcherism and Blairism has bequeathed us: one of the most unequal societies in the developed world, a place where eight million adults (21%) of the population are economically inactive, and where huge parts of the UK – in places like Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester – have whole communities and several generations permanently excluded from society. And our language of talking about the problems of an ‘underclass’ – now used across the political landscape – shows that our politicians have given up thinking about how we abolish relative poverty. I am not completely confident that the Lib Dems radical urges and intent will not be dampened down and compromised by the pressures of a British establishment which will do all it can to keep its power. Yet the emergence of them in the general election does provide a popular, powerful vehicle for voters to express their disquiet and anger at the state of things. It has turned the election into a rare opportunity, should we take it, to blow apart this rotten system and consensus, and challenge the kind of country Thatcherites and New Labour have made it these last three decades. Notes 1. The Daily Politics, BBC Two , April 22nd 2010. 2. See this fairly representative example of Lord Pearson’s interview style, http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5931508/the-worst-ever.thtml 3. Danny Dorling, Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists , Polity Press 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8615126.stm 4. Michael Cockerell, ‘How to Win The TV Debate’, BBC Two , April 12th 2010, http://www.wikio.co.uk/news/Michael+Cockerell View the discussion thread. About the author Gerry Hassan is a writer, policy analyst and researcher. His website is www.gerryhassan.com This article is published under a Creative Commons licence. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us . Please check individual images for licensing details. Twitter Facebook Follow OurKingdom Daily email alerts: Weekly email alert: Latest events ‘What was the true Legacy of the Olympics?’: join in the debate online OurKingdom More OurKingdom comments Powered by Disqus Book Reviews Book Reviews Cruel Britannia: a secret history of torture Nicholas Mercer Dial M for Murdoch: the book to sink an empire? Bruce Page Tommy Sheridan and the myth of Scotland’s compassionate society Gerry Hassan Fight Back! - read it here OurKingdom is reading Context is everything – European Court of Human Rights struck out 99% of UK cases in 2012 Serco managers tell out-of-hours GP staff to cut 999 calls to meet targets PDF—Transparency International Report on UK police corruption warns of outsourcing risks Obama inauguration sponsors spent $160 million on political lobbying since 2009 Switzerland moves to ban mercenary companies more Privacy Licensing & Syndication Advertise Media Inquiries Vacancies RSS Feed openDemocracy Ltd, The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tel: +44 (0) 207 193 0676 openDemocracy openDemocracy X openDemocracy publishes high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. More... Notes from the Editor-in-Chief Become a member | Week in 400 words | About the new site | Submit an article | Contact us Editor's Pick: The new Egyptian constitution: an initial assessment of its merits and flaws Zaid Al Ali Austerity, corporate tax evasion and human rights: why the anti-austerity movement needs some Lagarde lists of our own Peter Rossman Is Greece a racist state? Iannis Carras Best of the rest: Arab Awakening | Can Europe Make it? | Drug and Criminal Justice Policy Forum | OurBeeb OurKingdom OurKingdom X About us OurKingdom works to investigate and illuminate the crisis of democracy in Britain and analyse how its failings can be redressed. We encourage original debate untrammelled by party political loyalties. We ask how we as citizens can secure liberty, human rights, self-government and real democracy. ...more on OurKingdom Links Team | Contact | Submit an Article Debates OurBeeb | G4S: Securing whose world? | Uneconomics | Pick of the debates: Democratic Wealth: building a citizens' economy , edited by Stuart White , uses republican theory to explore ideas around how to democratise the economy. Co-hosted with Politics in Spires , a blog sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. oD Russia oD Russia X openDemocracy Russia is a thoughtful platform for all those concerned about the future of the post-Soviet world. We publish indepth analysis, comment and reportage on the region — from politics and economics through to ecology and culture Partners Polit.Ru | Openspace.ru | Levada Center | Ukraine Analysis | Valdai Discussion Club Topics & debates Conflict | Culture | Euro2012 | Elections | Environment | Foreign | History | Human rights | Justice | Media | Politics | ProjectID | Religion | Regions | Russian rights at the crossroads | Stories you weren't meant to hear | USSR 20 Countries Armenia | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Georgia | Kazakhstan | Kyrgyzstan | Moldova | Russia | Tajikistan | Turkmenistan | Ukraine | Uzbekistan Latest articles on oDRussia Russia and China: aligned after all? Thomas Koenig The fable of the eagle, the dragon and the bear Pavel Salin Life on the Chinese border: Russia's Far East Olesya Gerasimenko The rise and fall of China-watching in Russia Alexander Gabuyev Russia-China relations: fantasies and reality Ben Judah 50.50 50.50 X Recent articles on 50.50 Gender wars: women redefining customs as crimes Ruth Rosen Of rights and risks: are women’s human rights in jeopardy? Maxine Molyneux A French debate on prostitution Valeria Costa-Kostritsky Fear and fury: women and post-revolutionary violence Deniz Kandiyoti 50.50 Dialogues About 50.50 50.50 is openDemocracy's section dedicated to exploring issues of gender equality and social justice at the global level. We are committed to promoting human rights and inclusive democracy through dialogue and debate. But a global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. 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AddThis How the British Christians are being Americanised | Christian Institute | Christian Right | Anti-gay | www.polarimagazine.com Send us Mail Follow us on Twitter Join our Facebook Group Subscribe to our RSS Feed Search Site Home Up Front Editorial Bulletin Board Polari HQ Competitions Polari Facts Events Features Interviews Features Heroes & Villains Opinion Community Relationships Coming Out Stories Society Oral Histories Blogs Gay’s the Word LGBT History Month Reviews Books Film and Television Music Stage Visual Arts Classics: Books Classics: Film and Television Classics: Music Multimedia Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll Gallery Multimedia on the Web Polari Podcast Contact Exploring art & culture from a uniquely queer perspective You are here: Polari Magazine / Heroes & Villains / Villains: How British Christians are being Americanised Villains: How British Christians are being Americanised 21 Jan 2012 / 0 Comments / in Heroes & Villains / by Rebel Scum It is a truth universally acknowledged that the 21 st century British take their lead from Americans. Look at the war in Iraq, and the failed attempts of the BBC at US-style sci-fi. And look at how the formerly mild-mannered British Christians are starting to ape the politics of their more aggressive North American counterparts. The Christian Institute, an organisation previously featured in Rebel Scum for their support of the dread Lillian Ladele, runs a propaganda website that feeds stories to unquestioning outlets such as the Daily Mail and the Telegraph , who then re-run said content without questioning it. The stated aim of the Institute’s work is to show how Christians are being persecuted and their rights taken away. What this means in effect is that Christians should be free to persecute others based on whatever random quote from the Bible they can drudge up to support them. Traditionally, the Americans have been the pit-bull terriers of Christ, tearing up everything in their path and crapping over the aftermath. The British have been the fluffy bunnies of Christ, hopping around the field and leaving behind little hard pellets in the form of sermons. The latest round of religious fervor in response to an uncertain world post-9/11 has seen British Christian organisations taking point from the Americans. The Christian Right in the US has perfected the art of recasting itself as a victim. It is the passive-aggressive in extremis . The rantings and ravings of Linda Harvey, the subject of last month’s Rebel Scum, are founded on this cynical use of marketing tactics. The real key is to make an unsupportable claim and then bolster it with a quotation, or ‘truth’, from the Bible. Any Scripture will do, even if the letter does contradict the later teachings of Christ. The intricacies of theology do not concern them. The unsupportable generalisation is the way at The Christian Institute. Take this example from the About Us page: “The Christian Institute is a nondenominational Christian charity committed to upholding the truths of the Bible. We believe that the Bible is the supreme authority for all of life and we hold to the inerrancy of Scripture. We are committed to upholding the sanctity of life from conception.” Inerrancy? In other words, nothing in the Bible is wrong. So what truths do they follow? Do they love their neighbour, or do they support the idea of mass genocide when it’s perceived to be for the greater good, i.e. as their God did when he drowned everything that wasn’t sanctioned to fit into Noah’s boat. Incidentally, I find it shocking that this is a story they are happy to tell to children. It’s far more twisted than post-watershed ITV crime dramas, or all the gay storylines on soaps that gets the Institute into such a lather. So, what do they believe? The ‘What We Believe’ page is straight-forward and painfully naïve: • Governments exist to restrain evil • Marriage is sacred • Parents have a God-given authority over their children • Drug taking is wrong •‘ Harm reduction’ approaches are un-Christian • Life is sacred from conception • Gambling is wrong The aim here, as it is in their propaganda stories, is to generate an atmosphere of fear and anxiety, a rule by prohibition. “The Politically Correct Brigade is out to get you! They’ll take away your Cross and divert funding from Cancer charities to Gay Pride Parades.” When Tesco decided to support London Pride in 2011 the situation got very heated. The Christian Institute jumped at the chance to once again generate fear, and wrote as if the UK is a theocracy. In the opening salvos neither side behaved particularly well. Tesco will now not be funding Pride again. In 2009 the Institute supported a Christian woman whose child was told off by her head teacher for, as the Institute framed it, talking about her beliefs. What actually happened was that the child had been scaring the hell out of other children with stories of fire and brimstone and damnation. But the Institute again fought for the right of the Christian to persecute others. There is an excellent article by Terry Sanderson on the National Secular Society website about this incident, how the Christian Institute manipulate the press, and how their rule of thumb is that the Christians should be free to persecute whomever they wish. Read the article here The danger that the UK will become even more like the US is a very real and a very scary one. It is already there in the military misadventures, in the erosion of the NHS, and even the fact that the British now clap at the end of each song in musical theatre instead of waiting until the interval. Religion is a major player in the political life of the US, which makes a mockery of the out-dated republican Constitution. (Thomas Jefferson, as it happens, wanted a Constitutional Convention at most every 50 years on the grounds that one cannot expect a man to wear a boy’s jacket.) It is not a major player in the UK and we should therefore take a stand against propaganda outfits like the Christian Institute and expose their manipulation of news whenever necessary. This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . Related Posts Did you like this entry? Here are a few more posts that might be interesting for you. Related Posts You typed WHAT into Google … ?! 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Company No. 8265983 scroll to top Send us Mail Follow us on Twitter Join our Facebook Group Subscribe to our RSS Feed Website Privacy & Cookies Stephen McGinty: The case for US and them - News - Scotsman.com Please upgrade your browser News Scottish news Top stories Edinburgh, East & Fife Glasgow & West North East Tayside & Central Inverness & Highlands South of Scotland UK International Politics Top stories Scottish independence Opinion Holyrood live Transport Pictures Education Environment Health Arts Celebrity Sci-Tech Gaelic Odd Cartoon Leaders Obituaries Letters Public Notices Sport Football Top Football Stories SPL SFL Division One SFL Division Two SFL Division Three Scottish Cup League Cup English International European Rugby Top Rugby Stories International Club rugby Golf Tennis Horse Racing Snooker Cricket Boxing Commonwealth Games Athletics Motorsport Other sports Transfer Talk Business Banking Insurance Economics Energy and Utilities Retail Food, Drink and Agriculture Transport Industry Technology Management Market Reports Media and Leisure Interviews Opinion Personal Finance Special reports Business Briefing Business Player Lifestyle Features Motoring Top stories Reviews Food and Drink Features Restaurant reviews Wine Recipes Whisky Outdoors Features Walk of the Week Shooting & Fishing Roger Cox Travel Music News and features Album reviews Gig reviews Classical reviews Radar music blog Books Features Book reviews Comedy Film Arts blog TV and Radio Performing Arts Theatre reviews Dance reviews Visual Arts Fashion Homes and Gardens Health Technology Gadget reviews Gaming reviews Heritage Pictures Deal Monster eMarket Holidays & Offers Events & Training Promotions Supplements Subscriptions About Us Our Products Advertise With Us Contact Us Competitions Bingo JP Offers Announcements In Memoriam Birthdays Weddings Anniversaries Special Day Notices Best Wishes Jobs Property News Buy A Photo Apprenticeships Reader Travel Motors The Scotsman Scotland UK International Politics Transport Education Health Environment Gaelic Legal Obituaries Opinion Comment Leader comment Letters Cartoon Games Crosswords Chess & Bridge Sport Football Rugby Golf Tennis Other sports Sport comment Business Business comment Personal Finance Features Scotsman Magazine Features Food & Drink Outdoors Travel Books Reviews and news Scotland Street The Arts Features Alistair Harkness Fiona Shepherd Joyce McMillan Duncan Macmillan Kenneth Walton Jim Gilchrist Susan Mansfield Arts Blog Images of Scotland Scotland on Sunday Scotland UK Politics International News analysis Sport Football Rugby Golf Other sports Sport columnists Tom English John Huggan Aidan Smith Business Business opinion Money Webchats Opinion Comment Leaders Andrew Wilson Euan McColm Dani Garavelli Gerald Warner Chitra Ramaswamy Louisa Pearson Ruth Walker Letters Spectrum Features Lifestyle Relationships Food & Drink Fashion Travel The Week Main features Books Film Music Art TV reviews Peter Ross Claire Black Fordyce Maxwell Andrew Eaton-Lewis At Home Features Lynn O'Rourke Homes Gardens Edinburgh Evening News Latest news Edinburgh Top Stories Central Edinburgh North Edinburgh South Edinburgh East Edinburgh West Edinburgh Around the Capital East Lothian Midlothian West Lothian Politics Education Health Transport Crossword Sport Football Top stories Hearts Hibs Livingston Local football Rugby Top Rugby Stories Edinburgh Rugby Club rugby Int'l rugby Golf Athletics Ice hockey Speedway Other Sport Features Fashion Nostalgia Food & Drink The Weekender The Guide Music Theatre Comedy Film Clubbing Caption Competition Obituaries Readers' Queries Opinion Leader comment Analysis Margo MacDonald Brian Monteith Martin Hannan Gina Davidson Ian Swanson Helen Martin Susan Morrison John Gibson Talk of the Town Letters Cartoon Sponsored by Search site Thursday 24 January 2013 Log in Register Welcome Change profile Log out Welcome Log out Find it Jobs Property Motors Announcements You are here News Stephen McGinty: The case for US and them Picture: Warner Brothers By STEPHEN MCGINTY Published on Saturday 29 September 2012 00:00 THERE’S a long history of the guardians of the English language battling bravely against creeping Americanisms, but the reality is that it’s a two-way process, writes Stephen McGinty “Cops?” My wife’s lip curled up into a smug little sneer. “Where do you think we are? Boston.” I could, at that moment, have pointed out that Glasgow does share a grid system of streets which makes it a convenient stand-in for the average American city, but figure this would only delay chastisement for a linguistic dalliance with my current “Americanism” of choice. For I’m shamed to admit that I have an unconscious habit of referring to the police by an American slang. Still, it is preferable to referring to them as the police “service” which has replaced the word “force”, probably on the grounds that it sounds friendlier. However, to my mind, a service is optional, you can either choose to make use of a service or not, and yet the role of the police is to enforce the law, obedience to which is not at all optional. Why I refer to them as “cops” is the same reason that I say, and typing this makes me cringe a little, that I will “touch base” with someone or agree that an idea “came out of left field”. Now I’m reasonably comfortable with the use of American baseball terms, for in my youth I played short stop for the Dalriada Demons (no smirking at the back, please) which was set up in Lanarkshire once the locals discovered baseball bats had an alternative use to the one to which they were usually, and vigorously, applied. In fact, I was chosen to represent my country against England, but the promise of an international (baseball) cap floated away with the mound when the game was rained off. I don’t mind certain Americanisms, those words and phrases that wheedle their way into everyday usage such as “talented” and “reliable”. You weren’t aware that both words originally hailed from across the Atlantic? OK. Neither did I before I researched this column, but, apparently William Coleridge cast his disdain on “talented” which he described as a barbarous word in 1832, but Gladstone didn’t seem to mind as he was using it in speeches a few years later. The letter writers to the Times, like their counterparts in corresponding to The Scotsman, have always sought to protect the English language, with one writing in 1857 to describe the new American word “reliable” as vile. It was a Scot who first coined the term “Americanism”. John Witherspoon, the president of Princeton College, first used it in an article published in the Pennsylvania Journal, in which he wrote: “The first class I call Americanisms, by which I understand a use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases or construction of similar sentences in Great Britain. The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scotticism.” When the Founding Fathers set sail for America, the English they spoke upon landing would have been identical to that spoken in Plymouth, but over the decades and centuries subtle differences have emerged. They were first codified by Noah Webster, a linguist from Connecticut who familiarised himself with 26 languages, and wrote An American Dictionary of English Language in 1828. It was he who struck out the “u” from colour and the extra “l” from travelled and sneakily swopped a “c” for an “s” in defence. But they wouldn’t let him have his way with women, which he wished to spell “wimmen”. If the appearance of American words caused mild consternation to poets and letter writers to the Times in the early 19th century, it was probably just as well that they were long dead when the marshalled forces of the American English began to lay siege to our nation during our darkest hour. When movies (yes, that could be described as an Americanism, but is also, I would argue, accurate when used to describe an American film) developed sound and recorded dialogue in the 1930s American words and phrases poured from the cinema screen into British ears. Then, when hundreds of thousands of American GIs descended into English towns and villages the frottage between words was heated. There are those who cannot stand “Americanisms”. A few years ago the BBC encouraged listeners to write in with their foulest examples which included “bi-weekly” instead of fortnightly (surely bi-weekly should be used for any occurrence whose frequency is twice a week?); “eaterie”, “hike” as in to raise prices, “going forward” and “you do the math” which, to my mind, is particularly callous, bullying the letter ‘s’ away from his friends m, a, t and little h. Others were enraged by the insertion of redundant words, as in “I got it for free” or the counter-intuitive “I could care less”, which in its literal meaning indicates that you do care a reasonable amount but that this could be lowered, when what the person actually meant to say is: “I couldn’t care less.” Clearly British people do not wish to have “an issue” but prefer to have “a problem” and then we come to aural and linguistic atrocities such as “my bad” for “my fault”. The utterances of a repentant three-year-old should never form the basis of an adult’s vocabulary. (A small aside which indicates that we, in Britain, are equally capable of mugging the English language and leaving it stunned in a ditch: since when did the cloying, saccharine phrase “little ones” become synonymous with “children” or “toddlers”? And, please, can anyone who uses it go immediately to the “naughty step”.) Yet if I have a current pet hate among “Americanisms” it is the phrase “reaching out”. I recently sent an e-mail to a company in Los Angeles who said they could not be of assistance but thanked me for “reaching out”. Have you ever heard a more belittling collision of two words? To ask, in which both parties are on equal footing, has been usurped by a phrase which elevates one and reduces the other. I was the pitiful party drowning in a quicksand of my own ignorance but bravely “reaching out” as if towards the security of a branch or vine. I accept, however, that there is nothing to be done about “Americanisms” other than to make a personal choice about which ones, if any, you are prepared to admit into your everyday vocabulary. Personally, I’m happy to take the lift over the elevator, but would prefer to live in an apartment rather than a flat. When it comes to my car, which is an American Chrysler, I’ll still remain British and swerve around the gas tank, hood and trunk, in favour of petrol, bonnet and boot. The English language will continue to evolve and it is impossible to build a fence around what has, over centuries, blended German, French, Dutch and Latin into its own rich stew of letters. It is, however, important to remember that words and phrases, like little linguistic cargo vessels, are constantly bobbing back and forth across the Atlantic. This week Kory Stamper, associate editor for Merriam-Webster, whose dictionaries are used by the majority of American publishers, said more words were finding their way into American vocabulary. So while we shake our heads over people who use the term “the fall” instead of “autumn”, our opposite number, who happens in this case to be Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at Berkeley, is curling his lip with disdain as a friend says that something is “spot on”. As he said this week: “ ‘will do’ – I hear that from Americans [as well]. That should be put into quarantine.” There is even a blog, run by Ben Yagoda, professor of English at the University of Delaware, which tracks the appearance of British words in American English and highlights words and phrases such as “cheeky”, “sell by date” and “the long game”, which, according to the BBC, was used by Barack Obama in a recent speech and is derived from the British card game, whist. Among the most prominent figures leading the fight back for British English is JK Rowling who bestowed upon that great nation the word “ginger” as a means to describe a redhead. While many words in her first Harry Potter novel were given an American substitute, a few “snuck” through including the quintessentially British word “snog”. Hopefully her latest book, The Casual Vacancy, with its portrait of an English parish council, will help redress the balance. 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Close Send to a friend Your Friend's Name Please enter a username Your Friend's e-mail Address Please enter an email address Your Name Please enter your username Your e-mail Address Please enter your email address Your message Please enter a message Send Close Report Your reason for report Please enter a message Submit Close Weather for Edinburgh Friday 25 January 2013 Light snow Temperature: 1 C to 2 C Wind Speed: 13 mph Wind direction: South Saturday 26 January 2013 Cloudy Temperature: 3 C to 4 C Wind Speed: 12 mph Wind direction: South west Sunday 27 January 2013 Light rain Temperature: 3 C to 6 C Wind Speed: 15 mph Wind direction: South west Monday 28 January 2013 Light rain Temperature: 5 C to 7 C Wind Speed: 20 mph Wind direction: South west Tuesday 29 January 2013 Heavy rain Temperature: 6 C to 10 C Wind Speed: 24 mph Wind direction: South west BBC criticised for creeping ‘Americanisms’ - Telegraph Accessibility links Skip to article Skip to navigation Advertisement Telegraph.co.uk Thursday 24 January 2013 Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Film Music Art Books TV and Radio Theatre Dance Opera Photography Hay Festival Video In the Know TV Guide Clive James BBC Strictly Come Dancing X Factor Doctor Who Downton Abbey Telegraph TV Home » Culture » TV and Radio » BBC BBC criticised for creeping ‘Americanisms’ The BBC has been criticised for an increased use of ‘Americanisms’ and slang terms by its presenters. Martha Kearney was singled out for using the term ‘fess up’ instead in an interview last week on the Radio 4 programme The World at One. By Urmee Khan , Digital and Media Correspondent 5:48PM BST 04 Apr 2010 Comments Radio listeners have noticed slang terms more commonly heard on the other side of the Atlantic creeping into common usage on BBC shows. Examples include presenters using the phrase 'ahead of' when they mean 'before', 'face up' instead of 'confront' and 'fess up' instead of 'confess'. Martha Kearney was singled out for using the term ‘fess up’ instead in an interview last week on the Radio 4 programme The World at One . In a discussion about cutting public spending, the broadcaster asked Terry Smith, chief executive of money broker Tullett Prebon, whether it was fair to expect the Conservatives to “fess up” the details of future public spending cuts when they did not have access to all the facts and figures. Mr Smith responded: “I don’t think anyone will be regarded as credible until they ‘fess up’ to the terrible truth that some of the services will have to go, in terms of jobs and projects.” The exchange sparked a furious debate on the BBC messageboards about whether this was the latest example of an Americanism creeping into accepted use by BBC presenters. One post asked whether Kearney, 52, was “born in Compton?” – an area of Los Angeles known for gang warfare. The message added: “When has it become acceptable for radio journalists, politicians (I've heard David Cameron use the same phrase) and serious individuals in general to use this American slang? It's lazy, and not very clever. “This is just slack lazy language, which should not be coming from the mouth of anyone who has a reasonable level of education; Even when that 'someone went' to a private school." Another listener added it was a “sad example of the desire to be 'in' and updated”. “The Feedback programme used this expression too last week. What is wrong with just saying 'confess'? It is easier to say and I think no one would be in any doubt about what was meant,” another post said. "If I hear another Beeb reporter telling someone that "it's a big ask" or "it might of been ..." I will scream” Another post said the BBC should be setting an example and listeners should not condone such 'abuses' of the language. “The BBC should be an example. It isn't there to be street-smart, it is there to uphold the Reithian values of educating and informing ... it isn't there to be hip, that is the job of the entertainment channels,” said another post. “We're stuck with most of this, but we don't have to lie down prone, supplicate and accept our inevitable crushing by the juggernaut.” Nick Seaton, Campaign for Real Education, said: “It is not a surprise that a few expressions have crept in but the BBC should be setting an example for people and not indulging any slopping Americanised slang.” “BBC bosses should remind their broadcasters what they have to be careful and they have a duty to protect the high standards which we expect from the BBC.” Some commentators have warned that an increase of imported American children’s shows, such as High School Musical, Arthur and Ben Ten, had led to slang being incorporated into every day language. The corporation was forced to monitor the use of slang on its children's CBBC channel following complaints about poor language and declining standards of spoken English on programmes such as Dick and Dom show. A BBC spokeman said: "We are not aware of there being any issues with use of language and believe that the public enjoy our presenters' turn of phrase." A list of Americanisms that have annoyed BBC listeners: * 'Fess up' instead of 'confess' * The Americanisation of dates - July the fifth is now 'July fifth' or January the fifth becomes 'January five' * 'Take a look' instead of ‘have a look’ * 'Ahead of' instead of 'before' * 'Face up' instead of 'confront' * It's a big ask * 'It might of been' instead of 'It might have been' BBC News » Media » TV and Radio » Urmee Khan » In BBC TV Guide UK: searchable TV listings BBC One releases 2013 teaser Lord Hall: I am looking forward to the task Patten on Entwistle pay-off: 'I'm not completely crazy' George Entwistle's resignation statement in full Advertisement telegraphuk Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. blog comments powered by Disqus Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE FROM TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Overseas Money Transfer Why you should use a currency transfer service for transferring money overseas View Vitsaprint Get everything you need for 2013: business cards, calendars and T-shirts View Telegraph Travel Hand-picked Escape the winter cold with a luxury holiday to Mykonos View Telegraph Travel Hand-picked Escape the winter cold with up to 70% off holidays to the world's most stunning destinations View Back to top HOME Film Film Reviews Film News Books Book Reviews Book Shop Music Music Reviews Classical Music Music Video Music Festivals Opera Tickets TV and Radio TV Guide Theatre Theatre Reviews Art Dance Dating Culture News Picture Galleries Culture Video Culture Critics Photography Crossword Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast Scottish festival bans 'American' Hallowe'en - Telegraph Accessibility links Skip to article Skip to navigation Advertisement Telegraph.co.uk Thursday 24 January 2013 Home News World Sport Finance Comment Blogs Culture Travel Life Fashion Tech Dating Offers Jobs Politics Obits Education Earth Science Defence Health Scotland Royal Celebrities Weird Home » News » UK News Scottish festival bans 'American' Hallowe'en Jack O'Lantern: persona non grata north of the border By Tom Chivers 1:01PM BST 26 Oct 2007 A Scottish Hallowe'en festival is banning "consumerist" pumpkins in favour of turnips. The spooky celebration, at Scone Palace, Perthshire, is being organised by Scottish firm Herald Events as a riposte to the Americanisation of the traditional autumn festival, based on the ancient Celtic ritual of Samhain and co-opted by the Church. Speaking to the BBC, Jock Ferguson from the company said: "We will be having none of that pumpkin or trick-or-treat rubbish. "Pumpkins are banned and will not be allowed beyond the front gate." Related Articles Halloween Inc 31 Oct 2004 Bishop claims success at rebranding Hallowe'en 12 Apr 2008 Instead of Jack O'Lanterns and trick-or-treating, which organisers condemned as representative of "American big business and rampant consumerism", the festival will offer traditional Scottish activities such as "dooking for apples" and turnip-carving. In "De'il Tak the Hindmost", children will be lead around the grounds of the Scone Palace by the ghost of a Jacobite soldier, Dougal Murray, telling of the dark history of the old building. Heather McArthur, Events Manager at Scone Palace, said: "We wanted to move away from the normal 'trick or treat' type of activities this year and give Hallowe'en a Scottish twist. "'De'il Tak the Hindmost' combines traditional ghost stories with good old fashioned devilish fun and we think it will appeal to children and parents alike who are looking for something a bit different’. UK News News » Elsewhere Can you pass the primary school maths test? 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Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein in 1983. Most of those surveyed believe the US sold over a quarter of Saddam's arsenal to him By Alex Spillius in Washington 7:25PM BST 17 Aug 2008 A poll of nearly 2,000 Britons by YouGov/PHI found that 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly said it was true that the US had done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000. More than 50 per cent presumed that polygamy was legal in the US, when it is illegal in all 50 states. The poll was commissioned by America In The World , an independent pressure group that launches on Monday and aims to improve understanding and appreciation of the US in Britain and around the world. Tim Montgomerie, its director, said factual inaccuracies and mistaken assumptions have contributed to Britons and Europeans taking a hostile stance towards their most powerful ally, which often acted against national interests. "We wanted to find out how British people understood America and found that there was an unbalanced view. Maybe there are good reasons but if we cleared a lot of that factual ignorance we would have a better understanding of what America really is," said Mr Montgomerie, who also founded the influential ConservativeHome website three years ago. The survey showed that a majority agreed with the false statement that since the Second World War the US had more often sided with non-Muslims when they had come into conflict with Muslims. In fact in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the US has sided with the former group. Those conflicts included Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and and Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Related Articles New Yorkers lift school bus to save pregnant woman's child 16 Aug 2008 Texas school allows guns in class 17 Aug 2008 Asked if it was true that "from 1973 to 1990 the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons," 80 per cent of British respondents said yes. However the US sold just 0.46 per cent of Saddam's arsenal to him, compared to Russia's 57 per cent, France's 13 per cent and China's 12 per cent. "Ideas get around. Perhaps it's that old picture of Donald Rumsfeld with Saddam," suggested Mr Montgomerie, whose website includes a petition against anti-Americanism. "Hollywood and all its violence has something to do with it, and the awful Bush diplomacy," he added. Almost a third of Britons believe that "Americans who have not paid their hospitals fees or insurance premiums are not entitled to emergency medical care"; by law such treatment must be provided. More than half the respondents believed that polygamy is legal in some US states, while it is illegal in all US states. Most Britons were unaware of positive aspects of the US, such as the robust environmental movement or the social justice work of evangelical churches, he said. Apart from US-bashing being a favourite topic around European dinner tables, it has serious affects on national policy. The controversial missile defence shield in eastern Europe might have happened sooner with a more favourable climate, while public opinion helped Turkey's leaders deny the Americans an invasion route into Iraq from its territory, aiding the northward flight of elements of the Saddam regime. USA News » UK News » Related Partners Save money on overseas transfers In USA Fire and ice Presidential Inaugural Ball Inauguration in pictures Obama's first term in pictures Detroit Motor Show 2013 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement News Most Viewed TODAY PAST WEEK PAST MONTH North Korea to carry out third nuclear test 'aimed at US' Lego accused of racism with Star Wars set Boy, 11, admits raping six-year-old girl Trillions of dollars worth of oil found in Australian outback David Cameron may have finished off the Tories – but he had no choice Parents 'tried to exorcise daughter, 10' Algeria hostage crisis: latest Barack Obama inauguration 2013: as it happened Barack Obama inauguration: President aims to hit benchmark set by Abraham Lincoln Muslim Patrol: thugs abuse man in second 'vigilante' video Muslim Patrol: thugs abuse man in second 'vigilante' video Emigration: Two million quit Britain in 'talent drain' Europe speech and PMQs: David Cameron offers in-out EU referendum Cameron: I'll hold an in-out vote on Europe Beyoncé mimed Barack Obama inauguration Star-Spangled Banner rendition Advertisement MORE FROM TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Overseas Money Transfer Why you should use a currency transfer service for transferring money overseas View Vitsaprint Get everything you need for 2013: business cards, calendars and T-shirts View Telegraph Travel Hand-picked Escape the winter cold with a luxury holiday to Mykonos View Telegraph Travel Hand-picked Escape the winter cold with up to 70% off holidays to the world's most stunning destinations View Back to top HOME News UK News Politics Long Reads Wikileaks Jobs World News Europe USA China Royal Family News Celebrity news Dating Finance Education Defence Health Weird News Editor's Choice Financial Services Pictures Video Matt Alex Comment Blogs Crossword Contact Us Privacy and Cookies Advertising Fantasy Football Tickets Announcements Reader Prints Follow Us Apps Epaper Expat Promotions Subscriber Syndication © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Terms and Conditions Today's News Archive Style Book Weather Forecast Martin Keown on Arsenal’s Americanisation: Arsene Wenger will make key signings | Arsenal Blog & Arsenal News About TGH Forum Arsenal Jerseys Arsenal Players Categories Arsenal Shop Games and Fun Advertise Contact About The Gunning Hawk Club History Write for Us Arsenal News Privacy 2008/09 Arsenal Jerseys 2009/10 Arsenal Jerseys Carlos Vela 2010 World Cup Mexico Away Cesc Fabregas News Marouane Chamakh News Andrey Arshavin News Robin van Persie News Thomas Vermaelen News Carlos Vela News Theo Walcott News Samir Nasri News Tomas Rosicky News Nicklas Bendtner News Abou Diaby News Bacary Sagna News Denilson News Aaron Ramsey News Alex Song News Gael Clichy News Emmanuel Eboue News Manuel Almunia News By The Fans Arsenal Videos Arsenal Players Arsenal Team News Arsenal Transfer News 2010 World Cup By Our Readers Polls Competitions Fixtures & Scores From the Press Interviews LIVE Streaming Match Reports Non-football Others The Gunning Hawk Fabregas signed memorabilia Carlos Vela Mexico World Cup Jersey Arsenal Jerseys Arsenal Home Kit 2008/10 Arsenal Interactive Latest from The Gunning Hawk: Home » NewsNow , The Team Martin Keown on Arsenal’s Americanisation: Arsene Wenger will make key signings Written by Jeffrey on April 13, 2011 – 4:45 Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown branded the move by Stan Kroenke to increase his shareholding in Arsenal to more than 62% as a shame as the Club is now longer owned by a small group of people, all on the same wavelength. Speaking to BBC, the 44-year old explained that the move was inevitable and only the future will tell whether the American is the right person for the Club as he stressed the important for the Gunners to impose themselves both on and off the pitch. Believing that manager Arsene Wenger will welcome any extra cash available for transfers, the ex-centre back concluded by saying that he is convinced the Frenchman will make new signings during the summer transfer window as after years working with the same players he now knows what the team needs. On Stan Kroenke’s takeover, Keown said: [A foreign owner] is a shame, really, I must say. It’s been the Peter Hill-Wood family for many years now, the Bracewell-Smith and of course Danny Fiszman and in later years David Dein. That’s been nice, just a small group of people essentially with the same belief, the same ideals, now of course it’s going to change, it’s going to go to one particular person. [Stan Kroenke] is an expert buyer of sports businesses and we have to see that only the future will tell us really whether or not Arsenal made the right decision. There are a lot of American people around the Club, they are very good at business, very good in sport [but] what Arsenal need to do is to be the best off the pitch and the best on it. They used to call Arsenal the bank of England, didn’t they, but certainly it’s not now the bank of England, it’s the American bank. I think it’s a shame that we’ve really lost one big Club in English game but it was inevitable, it’s how really the Club respond from this. I’m sure Arsene Wenger will make key signings, he worked with the team for many years, he knows exactly what he needs for that team. Share this Gunning Hawk article: Arsenal News 24/7 Paypal Information Did you know you can use your PayPal account for more than just online shopping. European players can easily deposit and withdrawal funds quickly and easily at PayPal Poker sites or PayPal Bingo sites. Players » Emmanuel Frimpong confirms he wants loan move during January transfer window Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong will ask the Gunners to loan him during next month’s transfer window. Speaking to Arsenal Player, the youngster admitted that there are way too many good players in Arsene Wenger’s squad to … More articles » The Team » Wenger on the Wigan win and not buying a striker in January Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insisted that the Gunners will not sign a striker during the January transfer window. 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Blogosphere Powered by WordPress | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | Arthemia Premium theme by Colorlabs Project Winners in PI's 'Americanisation' | Opinion | The Lawyer Skip to main content Skip to navigation Sign up for email alerts Contact The Lawyer team Advertise with The Lawyer www.thelawyer.com Thursday, 24 January 2013 Sign In Register Cookies Home News Law Firms & The Bar Practice Areas In-House & Public Sector Practice Management CPD/Events Jobs Search the site Advanced search Home Winners in PI's 'Americanisation' 22 August 1995 Email Share Comment Save The row over selling accident victims' names for £1 a time, which sparked apoplectic attacks in the heavyweight press about 'ambulance chasing' lawyers 'Americanising' personal injury litigation, raises serious issues: how is an accident victim expected to find a competent lawyer? Are personal injury lawyers really bringing transatlantic litigation to the UK and if so, to whose benefit or detriment? The need for specialisation in personal injury is now well-recognised. The Law Society Personal Injury Panel is up and running, with 2,000 solicitors throughout the country. Accident Line has started, with an insurance scheme for conditional fees linked to membership of the panel. One cannot condone any arrangement where a solicitor buys lists of accident victims for what is little more than cold calling. But how are victims to find competent solicitors to handle accident claims? Some will be members of trade unions or related to union members and thus covered by union schemes, others will benefit from insurance arrangements or membership of motoring organisations, all of which refer claimants to competent solicitors. Others may have the sense to telephone the Law Society for a recommendation from the panel. Sadly, though many victims take a stab in the dark by going to a local high street firm which may not have the required skills or they are taken in by adverts or "£1 a go" schemes. The Law Society must do all it can to protect accident victims by publicising initiatives like the Personal Injury Panel and Accident Line arrangements. The society must tighten the rules, not by stopping advertising, but by ensuring that in key areas where the public is particularly vulnerable specialist skills can only be claimed by those who really have them. Advertising legal services has to be about giving an informed choice to the public, and if a firm advertises a particular expertise, the client is entitled to expect a reasonable level of competence in the field. The present rules simply do not give that assurance. The linked argument is that personal injury lawyers are creating a US-style "sue for anything" culture. But the truth is very different. Only a quarter of those with potential injury claims bother to bring them. Four million people suffer occupational injuries or illnesses every year. The Health & Safety Executive say that 75 per cent of them are due to failure on the part of the employer, yet only a very small proportion result in successful compensation awards. If 'Americanisation' means tacky advertising or raising the expectations of clients with hopeless and unmeritorious claims, then I do not support it. If, however, it means that lawyers are helping people to become more aware of their rights, and accident victims are willing to take action to enforce those rights, then I am all for it. If 'Americanisation' means developing access to justice through easier procedures, wider funding options and more skilled practitioners, then I am all for that too. I am also in favour of using US forensic techniques, such as demonstrative evidence to ensure that a judge when considering an award of damages to a child road accident victim, for example, can fully appreciate the impact of the accident on that victim's life. If 'Americanisation' means these real benefits, and I believe it does, we need to look at just who are the winners and losers. The real winners are the victims, bringing claims for compensation which are presently neglected and recovering ever-improving damages, despite the limitations of our system. The losers are insurance firms, which have had it too much their own way for too long, and which now find themselves paying justified damages to accident victims, on claims which previously may never have been brought. Andrew Dismore is a solicitor with Russell Jones & Walker and chair of the Association of Personal Injuries Lawyers. Tweet Have your say Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons. 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Registered Office 79 Wells Street, London W1T 3QN Site powered by Webvision © Copyright 1994 - 2012 Centaur Media plc Times Higher Education - Stoker experts bite back against Twilight and ‘Americanised’ teen vampires Skip:[ To Main Navigation | Secondary Navigation | Third Level Navigation | Page Content | Site Search ] My THE Login Register Third Level Navigation: Skip:[ To end of third navigation ] Jobs by category Jobs by location Issue index Site map 24 January 2013 Search Search Jobs Search Archive Search Jobs All roles Senior Management & Heads of Department Deans Director Heads of Department Other Principals Pro Vice Chancellors Registrars Vice Chancellors Professors, Readers, Principals & Senior Lecturers Assistant Professors Associate Professors Chairs Principal Lecturers Professors Readers Senior Lecturers Lecturers, Fellows, Tutors & Researchers Fellows Fellowships Lecturers Researchers Studentships Tutors Academic Related Academic Related - Other Administrators Librarians Technicians General Appointments Administrative/Planning/Governance Development and Alumni Estates and Facilities Finance/Procurement Health and Wellbeing Human Resources/OD/Inclusiveness International Activities IT Services Library/Records/Information Management Marketing and Communications Registry Research and Innovation Student Recruitment/Admissions Student Services All locations Africa/Middle East Americas Asia Pacific Europe United Kingdom Advanced Search Search Archive Advanced Search Home Contact Contact us Submission guidelines Comment View all comments Contact us News Culture Textbook Guides Rankings World University Rankings 2010-13 World University Rankings 2009 World University Rankings 2008 World University Rankings 2007 World University Rankings 2006 World University Rankings 2005 World University Rankings 2004 World University Rankings Blog Extras Sponsored supplements Podcasts Building A World-Class University: video Advertise Jobs Advanced Job Search My Jobs Account Awards THE Awards 2012 THE Leadership & Management Awards 2012 THE Leadership & Management Awards 2011 THE Awards 2011 THE Awards 2010 THE Awards 2009 THE Awards 2008 THE Awards 2007 Magazine This edition Laurie Taylor column Advanced Search Contact us About Us RSS feeds How to buy Subscribe THE app Skip to [ Story Content and jump story attachments ] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Printable version Comment on this story View comments on all stories - Main Page Content: Stoker experts bite back against Twilight and ‘Americanised’ teen vampires 20 April 2012 By Matthew Reisz “My revenge is just begun,” proclaimed Count Dracula in the original 1897 novel. “I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.” Today marks 100 years since the death of Dracula ’s author Bram Stoker, and the centenary has been marked by conferences in London and at the University of Hull. The latter, titled Bram Stoker and Gothic Transformations and held on 12-14 April, was convened by Catherine Wynne, senior lecturer in English at Hull, and set out, she said, to “look back from Stoker and look forward from Dracula ”. In the conference’s keynote lecture, Clive Bloom, emeritus professor of English and American literature at Middlesex University, argued that “Gothic studies have become institutionalised and safe. We need to return to a more visceral and scary notion of the Gothic. We need to stop using Freud and go back to de Sade – it’s all about perversity and the will to power.” Professor Bloom also regretted “the Americanisation of the vampire” to be found, for example, in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books, where “the dangerous violent aristocrat has become the dark boy no one talks to and who’s eternally 17”. Speakers related Dracula to its original context of Victorian spiritualism, urban legends of a “monster” called “Spring-heeled Jack” and anxieties about religion, invasion and masculinity. Others looked at the novel’s reinvention everywhere from Turkey to Mexico and attempted to “rethink the menstrual vampire”, to explain why vampires are “as ubiquitous as the Big Mac” in the US and to decide whether “every generation gets the vampire it deserves”. The Hull conference featured a lecture in Whitby about “the birth of horror” by Sir Christopher Frayling, former chairman of Arts Council England, appropriately held on Friday 13. Another conference, titled Open Graves, Open Minds, has been organised by Sam George, senior lecturer in literature at the University of Hertfordshire. It is taking place at Keats House in London today and tomorrow and includes papers on necrophilia, Keats and vampires, comic vampires and “the televisual Dracula ”, as well as a “Dracula-themed wine reception”. Delegates will also get a chance to visit Golders Green Crematorium, where Stoker’s ashes share company with Marc Bolan’s and Sigmund Freud’s. A full moon should only add to the atmosphere. matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com Readers' comments Mike 20 April, 2012 A Dracula-themed wine reception? That sounds boring. He doesn't drink ... wine. Vincent 23 April, 2012 It is not fair to call twilight's effect as "Americanization." Many Americans hate twilight, mainly because it is terribly written and romanticises abusive relationships. Feel free to say the Stephanie Meyers and her subsequent bandwagon ruined vampires, but don't blame it on America, because we don't like it either. Fiction-economies 24 April, 2012 “My revenge is just begun...I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.” sounds eerily like the ramifications of the current global financial crisis – would be interesting to hear if anyone has any comments on relationships between economic cycles and the content of fiction novels? RenZelen 10 May, 2012 Keats and vampires??...Good grief...Don'cha just love academia? Wish I'd thought of that paring first...haha! brooke danner 11 May, 2012 This article sucks! Disclaimer: All user contributions posted on this site are those of the user ONLY and NOT those of TSL Education Ltd or its associated trademarks, websites and services. TSL Education Ltd does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by users. Comment on this story Post your comment You must fill in all fields marked * Story date 20 April, 2012 This is a security check, please do not complete. 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Globalisation or Americanisation - Seven key factors driving longer-term growth - The Advertising & Marketing Services Industry by Sir Martin Sorrell - What we think - WPP Annual Report and Accounts 2007 Skip to main content Annual Report & Accounts 2007 Home The fast read Who we are Why we exist How we're doing What we think The Advertising & Marketing Services Industry by Sir Martin Sorrell Worldwide communications services expenditure 2007 Marketing services: faster growth Politics and events are key The financial crisis masks fiscal over-stimulation Consolidation continues Discounting – profitless prosperity Fees, outsourcing and procurement improve prospects Creativity is more important as media fragments Super-agencies becoming more important Seven key factors driving longer-term growth 1. Globalisation or Americanisation 2. The eclipse of regional management? 3. Too much stuff, not enough brainpower 4. Web 2.0 - more powerful than 1.0 5. Internal alignment drives success 6. Continuing retail concentration 7. Corporate responsibility: a no-brainer? Conclusion If We Choose to Believe What Emerson Didn't Say, Then We're All Doomed by Jeremy Bullmore Who runs WPP How we behave How we're rewarded Operating & financial review Our 2007 financial statements About share ownership Where to find us About the artists Downloads Feedback Glossary www.wpp.com Search this report: Home | What we think | The Advertising & Marketing Services Industry by Sir Martin Sorrell | Seven key factors driving longer-term growth | Globalisation or Americanisation Email this page Print this page Globalisation or Americanisation Commercial life has not worked out as Professor Theodore Levitt predicted some 25 years ago in the Harvard Business Review . The world has not been globalised to the extent he forecast, where consumers around the world bought similar products, marketed in the same way everywhere. Indeed, Levitt admitted as much in an interview to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his article. He was exaggerating to make a point, he said. Truly global products only account for around 10-15% of our worldwide revenues. In fact, consumers are probably more interesting for their differences than their similarities. Recent political developments support this – the collapse of the Soviet Union, the break-up of Yugoslavia, devolution in Scotland and Wales, and Basque nationalism. Indeed, the European Union is really a supply-side led phenomenon, harmonising production and distribution, rather than demand. On January 1, 1993, a Euro consumer was not born. What has been going on may well not be the globalisation of world markets, but their Americanisation. Not in the sense that upsets the French or the Germans and results in the banning of Americanisms from French commercial language – an objection to the cultural imperialism of Coke, the Golden Arches or Mickey Mouse. More in the sense of the power and leadership of the US. In most industries, including our own, the US still accounts for almost half of the world market. And given the prominence of US-based multinationals, you could argue that almost two-thirds of the advertising and marketing services market is controlled or influenced from there. If you want to build a worldwide brand you have to establish a big presence in the world's largest market – the US. At WPP, 14 of our top 40 clients are headquartered in Europe, one in Asia Pacific and 22 in the US. Almost all of the latter are located in a north-east corridor created by Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington. Failure to understand the importance of North America can be life-threatening. Take investment banking. A quarter century ago, SG Warburg, Morgan Grenfell, Schroders and Flemings could be counted as strong European brands. Today they have virtually disappeared. Instead, large American banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Lehman (but no longer Bear Stearns) dominate the industry. A few years ago, strong European talent might have expressed misgivings about working in American multinationals. Today, these businesses are more sensitively run and offer more interesting, intellectually stimulating, global opportunities and challenges. The European-based businesses that remain, such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse, still face the challenge of establishing a good market position in the US. Neither is it easy to find European-based global companies. BP and Shell certainly get it, as do Unilever and Nestlé. So does Daimler, although Jurgen Schremp's global strategy has been dismantled. Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, L'Oreal and Sanofi Aventis are other good examples, although doubts in some cases remain. There are not many more. American strength is based on three factors. First, the size and power of the American market; more than 300 million people in a relatively homogeneous market. Despite the European Union being almost twice the size, it is much more heterogeneous. Second, the power and size of US capital markets. Current difficulties aside, America is still the cheapest place to go to raise debt or equity capital, although more detailed disclosure requirements are discouraging some. Finally, because of its strength in technology, it is hard to think of many areas where it does not lead. Third-generation mobile phone technology is one, but given the prices European companies paid for the privilege, the distinction is a dubious one. At times in history, when a country or empire seemed to have total political, social or economic hegemony, things changed and the vacuum was filled by another power. At this point, it seems that China and India will take that role, in the context of the growth of Asia Pacific. In fact, we may now be witnessing a change from Americanisation to globalisation. In Davos, at the World Economic Forum, over the last few years, the Chinese and Indians exhibited a larger degree of self-reliance and independence, perhaps even over-confidence. Both no longer seem to want to rely on handouts or support. Both economies have reached or are reaching a size and rate of growth that may be self-sustaining and certainly more independent of US influence. While decoupling has not, in our view arrived, there is, probably less coupling. Put another way, when the US sneezes the world does not catch influenza any more, just a cold. On my most recent trips to Shanghai and Beijing in 2007, it seemed that many Chinese companies with national and overseas ambitions were becoming much more confident and less over-awed by the capabilities of Western competition. The listening and learning approach has paid off. We will probably still rely on the strength of the US, but increasingly we will see the growth of Asian-based multinationals. Not only Japanese-based multinationals like Sony or Mitsubishi, or South Korean-based chaebols such as Samsung, LG or Hyundai (the Samsung of the car industry). But Chinese multinationals such as Lenovo, Haier, Konka, Bird, Bright Dairy, China Mobile, China Unicom and CNOOC (they will come again). Eight of the top 30 companies in the world by market capitalisation are already Chinese. Also, consider Indian multinationals such as the two Reliances, Tata, Wipro and Infosys. The latter's headcount is up from 23,000 to 80,000 in four years and continues to grow with a target of 120,000. There is no shortage of candidates. The CEO of Infosys tells me he receives 1.3 to 1.4 million applications for jobs each year. China will increasingly become a service-based economy. In 2005, the mayor of Shanghai called for the 55 CEOs on his International Business Leaders Advisory Council to advise on how to build Shanghai into the world's leading services centre. In 2006, the focus was on innovation, last year on climate change and planting trees in Shanghai. Similarly, India will seek to be a manufacturing centre for the world and not just focused on services. Who would have thought that Ratan Tata would buy Corus, the re-branded British Steel (the new name created by one of our Branding & Identity companies), or that the underbidder would be a Brazilian company. In addition to Tetley Tea, Tata has acquired Jaguar and Land Rover at the top end of the car industry. At the bottom end, it is launching the Nano at 100,000 rupees (£1,300) – the cheapest car in the world. China and India: back to the future It is difficult for those of us in the West to comprehend the scale of Asia Pacific's potential development. China is not just one country; it consists of more than 30 provinces, with so many languages and dialects that Mao Tse Tung needed an interpreter. The population may well be closer to 1.5 billion rather than 1.3 billion. The Chinese government seems to consistently underestimate its statistics, like those for GDP growth, but it is still equivalent to four or five Americas. It is true also that currently only 150-200 million Chinese can afford the goods and services we are marketing to them. However, this is already equivalent to over half an America and this is a dynamic situation, one that will change rapidly in the coming years. Already there are almost 600 million mobile phone subscribers in China, almost 400 million of which subscribe to one company, China Mobile (one of the top five most valuable world brands) – equivalent to one-third more than the total population of the US. Furthermore, India, itself equivalent to three to four Americas, seems to have been stimulated into more rapid growth, driven perhaps by neighbourhood envy and the Chinese model of state-directed capitalism – although India bills itself as the world's fastest-growing democracy. Do not underestimate the potential of the region as rapprochement spreads even to cricket, with the Indian-Pakistani test, one-day and Twenty20 series representing as important a political, economic and social signal as the Beijing Olympics. More than 1.4 billion people watched the Twenty20 series final alone. Equally, look at the dogfight for Hutchison Essar, which Vodafone won in a market growing by more than five million subscribers per month, just like China. Asia Pacific will dominate again, proving that this really is back to the future. In 1820, China and India generated around 49% of worldwide GDP. But by the early 19th century, Meissen and Wedgwood were dismantling the high-quality, high-price Chinese porcelain industry, with similar quality but low-priced porcelain. It is the exact reverse today. China and India are forecast to be headed for the same share of world GDP in 2025 as they had in the 18th century, having bottomed out at 8% in 1973. Currently, China and India represent over one-third of the world's population. Asia Pacific represents one-half. By 2014, Asia Pacific will account for more than two-thirds. WPP already has a strong position in the region. Greater China is already WPP's fourth largest market and we have a 15% share in mainland China – a market-leading, six-to-one advantage over the next largest competitor. In India, our market share is almost 50%, with a 25% share in South Korea. In Japan, it is almost 10%, behind the dominating Dentsu and Hakuhodo DY Group. China's development has been rapid and will continue, but not without bumps. The government is conscious of overheating and an imbalance in rates of development between the coast and the hinterland. There has already been a very soft slowdown in growth, presenting more opportunity for investment, especially in 2008. No multinational company bent on expanding into China or national company seeking to grow inside or outside China will miss out on the branding opportunity presented by the Olympics in Beijing. The Chinese government is already committed to $45 billion of investment around the Games, in contrast to London's $10 billion for 2012. 2008 should be a unique event and it will not end there. The Municipality of Shanghai will be investing $3 billion in Expo 2010 and there will be the Asian Games, in Guangzhou, again in 2010. 2009 offers an opportunity to slow slightly and consolidate more than 20 years of growth, before preparing to surge again in 2010. Watch out for increasingly subtle Chinese military and economic influence. Take the recent economic contact with Fidel Castro in Cuba to counterbalance Taiwanese tensions. Or Chinese investment in Galileo's GPS systems, which drew a coruscating response from the Pentagon. Equally, Beijing will not be prepared to rely on America to defend its vital and growing energy supply interests in the Middle East and Russia. It is busily building trade bridges throughout the oil- and energy-producing areas of the world, particularly Latin America and Africa. Beijing is also changing the political dynamics of Africa, in particular, with more than 800,000 Chinese in Africa participating in projects. Increasingly, Africa is the continent of opportunity, rather than the continent of war, disease and poverty. President Gaddafi's volte face in Libya has energised North Africa and Egypt, and China's focus has drawn the attention of Western governments seeking to curry favour, too. The other challenge to American dominance may well come from the Muslim world. Already, Muslims number 1.6 billion people, around 19% of the world's population. By 2020, they will account for 2.1 billion or 30% of the projected world's population. The recent struggles in Afghanistan and Iraq, and possible action against Iran, really only continue the conflicts of the 1950s in Suez, the oil price increases of the 1970s and the invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s. Westerners have made little attempt to understand the Islamic mind and assume wrongly that Muslims share their value systems. They are different and it will be increasingly necessary to make a serious and sincere attempt to understand them. These events may demand new thinking from the world's multinational companies. As US-centric companies, for example, seek to develop their businesses and extend their reach into more heterogeneous markets, it may well be that the balance of organisations will shift. There will continue to be a focus on global, max or core brands, with sales of more than $1 billion, particularly to counterbalance the power of global retailers and as companies become less dependent on the US markets. Coca-Cola's geographic coverage of a quarter in North America, a quarter in Latin America, a quarter in Europe and a quarter in Asia Pacific will become more the norm, rather than Pepsi-Cola's 56% in the US. BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands 2007 Top 20 global brands by value $m Ranking change Brand Brand value 2008 ($m) Brand value 2007 ($m) Brand value 2006 ($m) % chg 08 vs. 07 % chg 07 vs. 06 1 = Google 86,057 66,434 37,445 30% 77% 2 = GE 71,379 61,880 55,834 15% 11% 3 = Microsoft 70,887 54,951 62,039 29% -11% 4 = Coca-Cola 58,208 49,612 41,406 17% 20% 5 = China Mobile 57,225 41,214 39,168 39% 5% 6 +3 IBM 55,335 33,572 36,084 65% -7% 7 +10 Apple 55,206 24,728 15,976 123% 55% 8 +3 McDonald's 49,499 33,138 28,985 49% 14% 9 +3 Nokia 43,975 31,670 26,538 39% 19% 10 -4 Marlboro 37,324 39,166 38,510 -5% 2% 11 +12 Vodafone 36,962 21,107 24,072 75% -12% 12 -2 Toyota 35,134 33,427 30,201 5% 11% 13 -6 Wal-Mart 34,547 36,880 37,567 -6% -2% 14 -1 Bank of America 33,092 28,767 28,155 15% 2% 15 -7 Citi 30,318 33,706 31,028 -10% 9% 16 = HP 29,278 24,987 19,732 17% 27% 17 -2 BMW 28,015 25,751 23,820 9% 8% 18 +15 ICBC 28,004 16,460 N/A 70% N/A 19 +2 Louis Vuitton 25,739 22,686 19,479 13% 16% 20 = American Express 24,816 23,113 18,780 7% 23% Source: Millward Brown Optimor * Coca-Cola's increase is due to a change in methodology to include its bottlers * IBM's business value increased by 30% and share price has increased 40% * Apple's business value increased by 124% * Vodafone's business value increased by 24%, and brand contribution increased by 4 percentage points Top 20 global marketers 2006 Ranked by total worldwide measured ad spending* Rank Worldwide advertising spend $m US measured media spending $m Spend by region in 2006 $m 2006 2005 Advertiser Headquarters 2006 2005 % change 2006 2005 % change Asia Europe Latin America 1 1 Procter & Gamble Co. Cincinnati 8,522 8,184 4.1 3,527 3,395 3.9 1,774 2,671 235 2 2 Unilever London/Rotterdam 4,537 4,197 8.1 848 763 11.1 1,309 1,906 329 3 3 General Motors Corp. Detroit 3,353 4,059 -17.4 2,208 2,918 -24.3 56 839 94 4 5 L'Oreal Clichy, France 3,119 2,768 12.7 753 798 -5.6 277 1,910 68 5 4 Toyota Motor Corp. Toyota City, Japan 3,098 2,840 9.1 1,203 1,075 11.9 1,172 574 38 6 6 Ford Motor Co. Dearborn, US 2,869 2,643 8.5 1,701 1,567 8.6 126 850 74 7 7 Time Warner New York 2,136 2,477 -13.8 1,838 2,076 -11.5 80 184 2 8 10 Nestlé Vevey, Switzerland 2,114 2,109 0.2 605 585 3.4 276 1,075 104 9 8 Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, US 2,025 2,334 -13.2 1,351 1,675 -19.3 227 340 36 10 9 DaimlerChrysler** Auburn Hills, US/Stuttgart, Germany 2,003 2,118 -5.4 1,425 1,592 -10.5 32 449 29 11 11 Honda Motor Co. Tokyo 1,910 1,833 4.2 878 855 2.7 833 110 13 12 14 Coca-Cola Co. Atlanta 1,893 1,754 7.9 487 476 2.3 444 746 132 13 12 Walt Disney Co. Burbank, US 1,755 1,823 -3.7 1,438 1,421 1.2 89 187 0 14 17 GlaxoSmithKline Brentford, UK 1,754 1,606 9.3 1,295 1,192 8.6 102 281 42 15 13 Nissan Motor Co. Tokyo 1,670 1,780 -6.2 944 1,024 -7.8 455 187 22 16 19 Sony Corp. Tokyo 1,620 1,537 5.4 1,117 1,009 10.7 97 317 2 17 18 McDonald's Corp. Oak Brook, US 1,611 1,554 3.7 785 762 3.0 301 431 33 18 16 Volkswagen Wolfsburg, Germany 1,609 1,610 -0.1 302 425 -28.9 38 1,171 55 19 21 Reckitt Benckiser Slough, Berkshire, UK 1,550 1,446 7.2 286 288 -0.7 152 1,023 34 20 15 PepsiCo Purchase, NY 1,530 1,670 -8.4 966 1,125 -14.1 180 218 82 Source: Advertising Age * From Nielsen, TNS, Ibope, PARC, Steadman, Sigma and others ** For combined DaimlerChrysler. Company sold Chrysler in August 2007 The largest companies in the world at end of 2007 From the FT Global 100 Fund Country Market value $bn Provisional rank March 2008 1 PetroChina China 724 1 2 Exxon Mobil US 512 2 3 General Electric US 375 3 4 China Mobile Hong Kong 354 5 5 Indi & Coml Bank of China China 339 7 6 Microsoft US 333 6 7 Gazprom Russia 330 4 8 Royal Dutch Shell UK 270 9 9 AT&T US 252 10 10 Sinopec China 250 30 11 Petrobras Brazil 242 8 12 BP UK 232 12 13 Procter & Gamble US 228 11 14 Berkshire Hathway US 219 14 15 EDF France 217 22 16 China Life Insurance China 204 44 17 China Construction Bank China 203 24 18 Total France 199 20 19 Vodafone Group UK 199 25 20 HSBC UK 198 17 21 Bank of China China 198 28 22 Chevron US 197 19 23 Toyota Motor Japan 195 16 24 Johnson & Johnson US 191 21 25 Wal-Mart Stores US 190 13 26 BHP Billiton Australia/UK 186 18 27 Bank of America US 183 23 28 Nestlé Switzerland 181 15 29 Apple US 173 50 30 China Shenhua Energy China 168 37 Source: Financial Times , Analysis: 'Chinese Champions', 17 March 2008 Sources: IMF 2007, World Bank *Market exchange rate †Purchasing-power parity (PPP) assumes exchange rates which value currencies at rates such that each currency will buy an equal basket of goods. 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All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy Legal Notice Russia's view on the US elections | World news | guardian.co.uk Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian UK and World news User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs News World news US elections 2012 Russia's view on the US elections Mitt Romney's description of Russia as America's "No 1 geopolitical foe" arrived during a period of increasing anti-American rhetoric in Russian politics What the rest of the world thinks about the US election Share Tweet this Email Miriam Elder and Howard Amos guardian.co.uk , Monday 5 November 2012 15.40 GMT Barack Obama with Vladimir Putin in Moscow in 2009 Photograph: Haraz N Ghanbari/AP With anti-Americanism creeping back to the forefront of political rhetoric in Moscow, many in Russia slyly smiled when Romney this year called Russia "our No 1 geopolitical foe". Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, said the remark showed Romney was "open and sincere". He added: "That Romney considers us enemy No 1 and apparently has bad feelings about Russia is a minus, but, considering that he expresses himself bluntly, openly and clearly, [this] means he is an open and sincere man, which is a plus "We will be oriented toward pluses, not minuses. And I am actually very grateful to him for formulating his position in a straightforward manner." The statement harked back to Soviet times, when Russia's leaders preferred dealing with Republicans – who were seen as straight-talking, if tough – to Democrats, seen here as masking their anti-Russian stance behind talk of human and civil rights, viewed with suspicion inside Russia. Maria Lipman, an expert at the Moscow Carnegie Centre, said: "Particularly after the expulsion of the USAid, Washington's international aid agency, the Kremlin is now too committed to a path of using its old cold war foe as a bogeyman to consolidate wavering domestic support. Anti-American rhetoric in Russia has gone too far to shift easily now." Nor has there been much effort from the US presidential candidates to address policy towards Russia except for cheap point scoring, she added, and the next occupant of the White House was unlikely to seek to introduce any significant changes. Romney even appears in private to be backpedalling on his "number one geopolitical foe" comment. He used his son, Matt Romney, to pass a placatory message to Putin last month during a business trip to Moscow, according to a recent report in the New York Times. Many Russians have little interest in the race going on in the US, remaining sceptical that it can influence their lives. In a suburban train heading into Moscow on Friday evening, there was widespread indifference. "Honestly, I don't care," said Sergei Chernenko, a 23-year old barman, adding that the election's outcome was irrelevant. Irina Kaidina, an accountant, concurred. Her son lived in New York, she said, but she couldn't remember the name of Barack Obama 's challenger. Assistant engineer Nikolai Kuprianov, 32, however, said he had been following the presidential campaign. "Obama would, of course, be a better choice in terms of attitudes towards Russia but Americans have never loved Russia and they only want us for our natural resources," he said. Obama had made the "reset" in relations with Russia an early foreign policy priority, but with recent disagreements over Syria, plus Moscow's accusation that the US stands behind opposition protests against Putin, what was once hailed as a success is now seen as dead. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said as much in an interview published this week: "If we talk about the 'reset', it is clear that, using computer terminology, it cannot last forever. Otherwise it would not be a 'reset' but a program failure". Among Russia's chief concerns are energy policy – Putin's ability to govern rests on a high oil price, analysts say – and US plans for missile defence in Europe, which it opposes but both candidates support. 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