In the late 90s, Nial Ferguson wrote about the decline of the British Empire and it's lessons for global empire.
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438573999&sr=1-2&keywords=british+empire
It's pretty obvious who he had in mind by 'global power'-the US of A. In actuality though I don't think his hypothesis is really on the mark-that if America doesn't pull its socks up it will end up like Britain.
It could be argued that geography is destiny and if so it shows why things have boded so badly for the British-they are now just another country and with the threat of a Scottish exodus, a pretty small one at that.
Even if and when the US loses its superpower status it will still be a pretty important and imposing country. It starts from its great size and the richness of its resources. Then there is technology-which basically is American.
So I don't think the US if following Britain to the point where those who argue that Britain should stay in the EU use the argument that the country just won't be very important without it. Stay in the EU or we'll be irrelevant!
http://www.amazon.com/Out-Question-Britain-should-better-ebook/dp/B00IZJ14YY/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438575807&sr=1-4&keywords=britain+the+eu
The question of Britain vs. America is one I of all people might just be qualified to answer as I am a dual citizen of both nations. I was born in England but moved to the US when I was just 3.
I visited the Mother Country this last week and just got back a few minutes ago. It was my first trip to England since 1999. What I found interesting about it is that a lot of English folks said right away upon hearing me speak that I must be American. I find that kind of like coming full circle as when I was a young kid Americans would often ask me if I was English because of my accent.
Though I came over when I was just 3 I still retained something of an accent in my younger years-no doubt in large part through hearing my father talk
Some thoughts on what I've learned.
1. The English are very polite.
2. Because of 1, the English are very good at customer service. Indeed, when I see how good the they are at customer service I see that Americans don't really practice customer service at all, they just go through the motions enough to avoid being reprimanded/fired.
Take for instance the hotel I stayed at in Greenwich. I realize now that there is no CS to speak of at American hotels, even f our start hotels that cost $300 or $400 dollars a night.
Even at these hotels, you don't actually get what you pay for. In American hotels, they see their job as basically
A) Taking your money
B) giving you your key
C) Taking back your key at checkout.
Beyond that they don't expect to have to bother with you.
Whereas the English really want you to be satisfied-not simply doing enough not to get in trouble.
It was the same at even the subway-where the transit guy actually took the time to explain to me and other Yanks how to use the machine at the British rails.
Try getting any assistance in NYC subway because you're having trouble with the machine.
3. America really is number 1 in television however. There is simply always something to watch in America which is something I really appreciate. True there are some pretty good original British shows like Jeremy Kyle-kind of like a British Jerry Springer type except, there isn't all the screaming from the audience so you can actually hear what he's saying-again, refer to 1.
Mostly it's simply a numbers game. My TV in England had just 53 channels-and lots of them were very similar. In the US you never run out of things to watch. There were a few rally good things I saw on Britain TV but that's just it: you can count it on one hand. You can actually set your watch by it.
In all fairness the UK doesn't always copy the US. It's hard to remember now but they had their version of All in the Family before the US did and the same with American Idol.
Still in England after a few of their own channels you have a bunch of American channels or channels that show American stuff.
4. America also has better politics which should shock you to see this. I know for years I'd assumed that liberals have it worse in the US than anywhere else in the Free World.
Now that I know something about the EU I know that's not true. As for Britain you know what the hot button issue was while I was there? Building a fence around the Thames and yelling at France for letting all these migrants from Callois get past their security.
To be sure the French have not been acting in the noble way they like to think they act when they claim that they not America are the global protector of democracy, liberty, and all other good things.
The French hate Pax Americana because they want it to be Pax France.
The point is they hate immigrants in Europe. We may find what Trump said about Mexicans outrageous here, I'm not sure they would there. Trump's comments about immigrants might be taking seriously in England. I do believe that.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/uk-cameron-sniffer-dogs-fence-stop-migrants-150731181257507.html
P.S. To be sure there really is a crisis where over 1000 refugees tries to get in to Britain every night. But it's interesting that while we see talk of building a fence in the US absurd, in Britain people are applauding David Cameron for saying he will do so-their criticism of him is that he's taken too long to do it.
So I'm back from the Mother Country. England is a great place to visit but it's very expensive to live. I recommend visiting it but I don't know how you afford living there. I sure can't.
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438573999&sr=1-2&keywords=british+empire
It's pretty obvious who he had in mind by 'global power'-the US of A. In actuality though I don't think his hypothesis is really on the mark-that if America doesn't pull its socks up it will end up like Britain.
It could be argued that geography is destiny and if so it shows why things have boded so badly for the British-they are now just another country and with the threat of a Scottish exodus, a pretty small one at that.
Even if and when the US loses its superpower status it will still be a pretty important and imposing country. It starts from its great size and the richness of its resources. Then there is technology-which basically is American.
So I don't think the US if following Britain to the point where those who argue that Britain should stay in the EU use the argument that the country just won't be very important without it. Stay in the EU or we'll be irrelevant!
http://www.amazon.com/Out-Question-Britain-should-better-ebook/dp/B00IZJ14YY/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438575807&sr=1-4&keywords=britain+the+eu
The question of Britain vs. America is one I of all people might just be qualified to answer as I am a dual citizen of both nations. I was born in England but moved to the US when I was just 3.
I visited the Mother Country this last week and just got back a few minutes ago. It was my first trip to England since 1999. What I found interesting about it is that a lot of English folks said right away upon hearing me speak that I must be American. I find that kind of like coming full circle as when I was a young kid Americans would often ask me if I was English because of my accent.
Though I came over when I was just 3 I still retained something of an accent in my younger years-no doubt in large part through hearing my father talk
Some thoughts on what I've learned.
1. The English are very polite.
2. Because of 1, the English are very good at customer service. Indeed, when I see how good the they are at customer service I see that Americans don't really practice customer service at all, they just go through the motions enough to avoid being reprimanded/fired.
Take for instance the hotel I stayed at in Greenwich. I realize now that there is no CS to speak of at American hotels, even f our start hotels that cost $300 or $400 dollars a night.
Even at these hotels, you don't actually get what you pay for. In American hotels, they see their job as basically
A) Taking your money
B) giving you your key
C) Taking back your key at checkout.
Beyond that they don't expect to have to bother with you.
Whereas the English really want you to be satisfied-not simply doing enough not to get in trouble.
It was the same at even the subway-where the transit guy actually took the time to explain to me and other Yanks how to use the machine at the British rails.
Try getting any assistance in NYC subway because you're having trouble with the machine.
3. America really is number 1 in television however. There is simply always something to watch in America which is something I really appreciate. True there are some pretty good original British shows like Jeremy Kyle-kind of like a British Jerry Springer type except, there isn't all the screaming from the audience so you can actually hear what he's saying-again, refer to 1.
Mostly it's simply a numbers game. My TV in England had just 53 channels-and lots of them were very similar. In the US you never run out of things to watch. There were a few rally good things I saw on Britain TV but that's just it: you can count it on one hand. You can actually set your watch by it.
In all fairness the UK doesn't always copy the US. It's hard to remember now but they had their version of All in the Family before the US did and the same with American Idol.
Still in England after a few of their own channels you have a bunch of American channels or channels that show American stuff.
4. America also has better politics which should shock you to see this. I know for years I'd assumed that liberals have it worse in the US than anywhere else in the Free World.
Now that I know something about the EU I know that's not true. As for Britain you know what the hot button issue was while I was there? Building a fence around the Thames and yelling at France for letting all these migrants from Callois get past their security.
To be sure the French have not been acting in the noble way they like to think they act when they claim that they not America are the global protector of democracy, liberty, and all other good things.
The French hate Pax Americana because they want it to be Pax France.
The point is they hate immigrants in Europe. We may find what Trump said about Mexicans outrageous here, I'm not sure they would there. Trump's comments about immigrants might be taking seriously in England. I do believe that.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/uk-cameron-sniffer-dogs-fence-stop-migrants-150731181257507.html
P.S. To be sure there really is a crisis where over 1000 refugees tries to get in to Britain every night. But it's interesting that while we see talk of building a fence in the US absurd, in Britain people are applauding David Cameron for saying he will do so-their criticism of him is that he's taken too long to do it.
So I'm back from the Mother Country. England is a great place to visit but it's very expensive to live. I recommend visiting it but I don't know how you afford living there. I sure can't.
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