EmailThere 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
