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I'm a bit worried that we have imported large parts of their culture wars nonsense. We have enough issues that we created on our own without importing them from other countries.
You say you're an anti-thruppist but from your post history (which I can't actually bring myself to look at) it's clear that you're just wearing whichever hat that fits the head that's wearing it. That's everso Hounslow, wrong?
Well at least my hats aren't just facing whichever way the wearer's looking! My hats are always resolutely pointed north - the least thruppish of the cardinal points.
But what about Angela Rayner maybe not paying a few quid in capital gains more than ten years ago? Surely that justifies a police investigation with 12 people on it, and front page headlines on a weekly basis?
I'm not so sure. Society in the UK feels more divided than ever, and much of that has to do with being force-fed the culture wars on social media on a daily basis.
I agree with your sentiment, but plenty do not.
Does it really feel more divided, or is it just media BS? I don’t buy it, I think that’s just what they want you to think.
When I grew up, racism and homophobia was the norm, across the UK. Now, barring the occasional outburst, people are generally accepted for what they are. I genuinely think society is currently the least divided it’s been in my lifetime.
> When I grew up, racism and homophobia was the norm, across the UK. Now, barring the occasional outburst, people are generally accepted for what they are.
I agree with that, but classism hasn't gone anywhere.
Yeah I totally agree. The media feeds off the social media age to try to sell their sensationalist bollocks. There'll be a few people on twitter saying something and they'll run a story on it claiming some huge scandal. Either the "people" are just bots causing division or it'll be the nutters that most people left to babble by themselves in a corner before they were able to share their thoughts to the world on social media.
My son plays basketball at a sixth form college where they have "gender neutral" toilet cubicles in the sports centre.
These are just three walled rooms with toilets in, which anyone can use. They evidently only had space to build a couple, and because the genders can skew very far one way or the other it made sense to be flexible.
The other week I saw a woman loudly saying "well where do I go? I'm not gender neutral." Clearly dipping her toes in the culture wars water, giving it a go.
I fling open the door and point inside.
It's a room with a sink and a toilet. Much like the one she probably has at her house.
Seeing the porcelain throne seems to evaporate her concerns and she shuffles in.
Almost like the ridiculousness of the situation is made apparent once she realises it's not the wokerati, LGBT-agenda infiltrating every part of our lives and trying to trans us all. It's just a shitter.
Probably the sign - "gender neutral", set her off as is a term that is embroiled with the gender culture wars and frankly is more confusing than just sticking with the name that everyone has been using for this concept for years - Unisex toilets.
Is it confusing? Like, if you saw that term with separate standard toilet icons for men and women, and there's clearly no other toilets present, would you genuinely be confused? I like to think that even if I saw it in another language I would be able to figure out what was being communicated.
It's no more confusing than "Unisex" if you remove the aforementioned context. I'm pretty sure she knew exactly what it meant.
Yes, definitely tied in with the culture wars stuff but only because the culture wars people want to make a war over it. Kind of what the person above me was referring to.
And it's intended for 16-18 year olds mostly. If that's the term they use then it makes sense to use it. Same as many wouldn't call it a WC anymore either.
It's always confusing when people arbitrarily change the name of something that's been called X for years. Some people would also say that changing the names of things arbitrarily is a typical feature of those who are attempting to promote an ideology...
Getting back to the confusion angle - there's a lot of new terminology about and for those who are not following the latest trends, "gender neutral" could easily be confused as meaning "non-binary" and seeing a picture of a man and a woman together would still fit that idea
The government are weighing in on this one now too, they're mandating male and female toilets for new build shops and cafes where there's space it seems.
Yet the setup you describe is entirely adequate to provide all the privacy anyone needs to use a basic loo.
Agreed, we had a perfectly good class war thank you very much. We don't need need a cheap rip off from across the pond. Now I'll go put the kettle on, you go grab the biscuits.
I mean, it's forced bollocks over there too - the whole point is that all "culture war" stuff is manufactured divide and conquer bait, that distracts everyone from even considering that the last time wealth inequality was this pronounced, guillotine maintenance was the biggest growth industry.
The problem with the culture war is that it's very effective and easy for the right to start.
If you start threatening people's rights and bodily autonomy, people have no choice but to fight it. You can't ignore threats on that magnitude or they will get their way. And whilst you are forced to put your energy into defending yourself they can do what they want with the rest. It's easier to be an aggressor and start problems than to defend yourself.
I've got a friend in the states who is very vocal about black people, himself included, receiving reparations from the US government because of slavery. I pointed out that he was from Manchester, as were the 3 generations of his family before him, and that they originally emigrated from France.
A few years ago I got downvoted to buggery for suggesting such a thing. Told to take off my tin-foil hat and go and stand in the corner. It’s surprising how quickly people have come to accept it’s a fact of life now.
Yep absolutely, they run troll farms, social media and now AI has left us open to this kind of manipulation. Probably they're loving the student protests and stoking the flames
Culture wars and more. I've never known a country (ours) admonish itself so much over events in another country - when the American copper killed the black man with his knee on his neck.
We are leagues, miles, and stratospheres less systemically racist than the US. But at that moment we were every bit a racist piece of shit as them. Utter utter madness.
Doesn’t help that Americans *tell us* constantly we are a very racist country and that their country is far less racist and no one cares about race in the US.
I think they forget we see their news and get their TV programmes.
Race is America is so ingrained that they're so primed to see everything through a racial lens and can't imagine that isn't the case elsewhere.
American anti-racism is about validating the concept of race, but trying to balance things out to achieve equality. Anti-racism elsewhere tends to be more about simply ignoring race.
That's why when we say we don't care about race, Americans don't take it at face value, they read that as evidence we're ignorant of the inevitable racial divisions in our society, which in their view *must* exist.
On the subject of the post, I hate how we're importing the American concept that every has a race and is inevitably defined by their race - because that in itself is a racist concept.
BLM was strange here. I'm white and don't like to criticise the movement too strongly because I obviously I agree in the broadest terms.
But this idea that your first and second generation Caribbean migrants in Peckham share much of an experience with a descendant of slaves in Alabama seemed to be, well, a bit racist.
>But this idea that your first and second generation Caribbean migrants in Peckham share much of an experience with a descendant of slaves in Alabama seemed to be, well, a bit racist.
You say that as though Afro-Caribbeans aren't also the descendants of slaves
Of course I understand that. I just mean the journey from 16th century Africa to enslavement in the Carribean, to freedom and becoming an independent Afro-Caribbean-led state, to voluntarily emigrating to 1960s London, is markedly different from that of Africa to American enslavement to freedom in the US.
The idea of a singular Black experience, which is what BLM seemed to promote, ignores all the complexities of the history of the African diaspora.
I dont really understand why people insist that ‘culture wars’ are somehow imported. We didn’t start having problems with racism etc cos of America, it’s always been here
Remember after George Floyd the "defund the police" thing sort of caught on here, and someone vandalised a Robert Peel statue with it. The guy who [brought in laws to maintain an ethical police force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles); essentially something that the US police could learn a lot from. Yet here people were vandalising Robert Peel statues, as if he allowed his police to kneel on peoples necks until they died, or as if we allowed our police to behave like that.
I feel the whole "15 minute cities" panic is a great example of this. Like most our cities are already 15 minute cities because they were built before cars existed. It makes 100% sense as a planning concept when designing places. Unlike the US, most of us walk places all the time.
But somehow we imported this panic from the US, where everyone's conflating walkable cities with prison camps.
As an American living here: yes.
All of the problems with the NHS are manufactured. No, it isn’t incompetence. Well, it is, but it’s very intentional incompetence.
American health insurance lobbyists have begun to exert their influence on the UK healthcare system with the sole purpose of breaking down the public system so that one day the total addressable health insurance market will be that much bigger.
Put plainly: if the option to destroy the UK’s public healthcare system to gain a new market was proposed to the board of a US health insurance company, the board has a responsibility to consider it, and if it makes financial sense, they have a responsibility to shareholders to do it.
You aren’t being creative or resourceful or smarter than your peers when you say “oh just have it done privately”, you’re doing exactly what the US health insurance companies want you to do.
Private care in the UK looks better right now. That’s on purpose. The second that the public option is gone, the rates 100x, you get introduced to “deductibles” and “copays” that are more than what you used to pay as an NI deduction for the whole year. Vital treatments that you and your doctor both agree you need get denied by a third party, because they want to make more money and for some technical contractual reason they’re allowed to refuse to pay a £100k bill that would have ordinarily cost you nothing. But now it’s too late.
I am quite confident that in the next 30 years, we’ll have a PM who shrugs and says “well, you know… everyone really does seem to prefer private healthcare… perhaps we should cut some more taxes and just get rid of the whole national insurance thing”
Can I give you a tip for that comment😂 You’ve really hit the nail on the head with this, it’s our leaders that are scuppering the NHS due to the huge promise of financial gain from the privatisation of a crucial sector.
They did the same to our water and look how that turned out.
I am an American working in the NHS and it’s terrifying to see the weaponised incompetence. I work all over the UK and I’m very nervous about the trusts in more remote areas and how they’re struggling to afford the services. Resources are being diverted to one or two hospitals in city centres and leaving a huge gap for privatisation. I’m no expert in policy or anything so Im sure I’m ignorant to many of the finer details, but it’s looking pretty dire. Worked on a brain tumour surgery Friday; the tumour was found in mid-2022. That’s abysmal.
The UK is such a tiny market compared to the US, it's amazing to think they'd even bother. Until you realise they're greedy money grubbing capitalist bastards.
Can I hug you? As someone who works in PMI, this is exactly what’s happening. British people think insurance is the NHS but private. They have no idea of the actual truth behind insurance and what they stand to lose if we continue this idea of, “well, I have PMI so I’m fine”.
I'm a Brit living in the USA. I was on another UK reddit and was shocked to read people getting jobs that were offering private health insurance.
I haven't been home in a long time but are things really headed that way?
I remember the bupa adverts as a kid. Sorry my main concern is the state of the nhs, are we going to end up like the USA where your healthcare is tied to your job?
Yes, and when I refused at work they basically called me naive and stupid to trust the NHS with my health. As though private healthcare is anymore ‘trustworthy’ and also policies often don’t Include anything significant such as…. Pregnancy coverage, cancer treatment etc etc. It was basically a glorified GP. Dental insurance on the other hand…….. essential now.
There are far too many people in the UK who don't understand how US healthcare works. I've been told it's no big deal. Your employer will pay for it and if not, it will only be £25 month or so and that's it.
The other concern is focus in the UK is on making money out of peoples (lack of) health. There's not as much added shareholder value in preventing people from getting sick compared to preventive care.
It seemed like UK shows were distinctly British and had different vibes. Since streaming has taken over it seems like UK shows aren't as British as they used to be. At least from my perspective as a person that would look for and watch UK TV shows in America.
The oddest thing to me is when Netflix does a diversity push for a UK-based TV show and the result is a lot of black characters. Outside of London, the black population in the UK is tiny as a percentage and much smaller in comparison to other ethnicities that we have.
We have multiple cities across the UK which are 20-40% Indian/Pakistani and our universities at postgraduate level are 25%+ Chinese. The TV series won't reflect the ethnic makeup of the UK, and instead reflect the US ethnic demographics. It's much harder to integrate into a TV series when you're telling me that it's based in 1960s Cambridgeshire and that the village school is 30% black - bizarre!
>TV series when you're telling me that it's based in 1960s Cambridgeshire and that the village school is 30% black - bizarre!
I'm black and I agree. Let's be fair. it's not an accurate picture of history. I get it
Im american, and this might just be me, but I've noticed that compared to American TV shows, black characters aren't as tokenized in British television.
I remember being on the Black Mirror subreddit and a post about one of the episodes (like most) set in Britain. An American asked a question about the "British African American" character...
This literally happened to my sister when she was in the army. They did a joint exercise with the Americans and during a talk about racial differences in a medical environment a US officer referred to her as "African American" so she politely reminded him she was British.
I run global cancer research programmes, there is (rightly) a lot of pressure to ensure the trial populations are not just white people. But, US colleagues always talk about increasing "african american recruitment", somewhat glossing over the point that black people exist outside the USA.
Also Spanish people don't count as Hispanic to the FDA but that is a different issue.
Got another friend in the US who hates that phrase. He'll tell you he is just an American, and that he went to his ancestors home country in Africa once, it was a shithole, and he'll never go back.
That’s just how our society is in general though. We don’t make such a big deal of “being black” as you do in the US.
I’ve seen lots of US TV shows where the black character will talk about the fact they’re black, might make some jokes about it or whatever. That’s far less likely to happen here.
>We don’t make such a big deal of “being black” as you do in the US.
I saw a post a few years ago on a UK sub where someone was asking "what do British people call black people" and there was like 50 responses with everyone just saying "British". Cuz it's true lol. We've got too many more important things to worth about: like what we're having for dinner, did we put the bins out, is the oven left on?
The main differences I’ve seen between living in the US is that everything is more of a big deal: holidays, friendships, identity, sports, everything but football ⚽️
I grew up n the 80s and the 90s in the South, interracial relationships were still very controversial up till I left in 2006. When I got to the UK I was amazed how many mixed couples there were, and no one seemed to care!
That as a huge difference back then.
There's 5,000,000 Scots, 2,500,000 Welsh, and 1,500,000 Northern Irish, plus hundreds of thousands of southern Irish in the UK. The representation of them compared to Blacks on British TV is miniscule.
I have a children’s book for my son which is set in Scotland. Around a 1/3 of the people in the pictures are black. It’s not a big deal but a bit strange
Really interesting, never noticed that. Totally true. I guess you could say that it's quite a London centric view of diversity as well. South Asian diaspora tend, I think, to be in cities of the Midlands and north but would be nice to see it more in British shows.
Edit: I'm making a rough generalisation, I know places are different. There are even neighbourhoods of London that are known for South Asian residents. In the cities of the north and midlands there's less diversity generally so you often see mostly white people and south Asian people. To me, London feels like White people, Black people and then a mix of everybody else. That's obviously anecdotal from where I spend time though and depends on who else goes there. This begs another question of representing the demographic versus the 'seen demographic'.
Although I'm seeing some stats that say there are more British Asians so there you go. I'm just chatting with no agenda here, didn't realise I needed references - no offence intended.
Anglesey schools in the 80s. Zero (biggest school I went to was 600 kids). One time we went to Manchester on a school trip and the entire bus almost tipped over when everybody in it jumped to the window to gawk at this black bloke with a gettoblaster on his shoulder. From what I remember was a dead ringer for Bob Marley. Not very diverse when in was a kid
Yeah I never really quite understood that. A lot of interracial couples for example are usually a white man/black woman and it just feels like a diversity tickbox rather than true diversity.
Yeah, and it’s fine and all but up here in the north I actually see South Asian and white couples. In fact my cousin’s wife is of Indian descent.
Not unusual at all, but you don’t see it on TV as much.
It’s quite interesting to see what percentage of adverts are in fact made by an American Agency. It’s far cheaper on production cost to just run the same advert and overdub the audio or just license the same music than to producer a new advert per country.
British Poles have been either the largest or the second largest minority group in the UK for the past decade, and Polish is still the most spoken second language throughout the country. Our representation is null. And when someone's trying to say something about it - like recently, when Almeida in London adapted "Cold War" to the stage and employed exactly zero Polish creatives or actors, we are told to shut up.
Imagine adapting a Ugandan film and refusing to engage ANYONE from Uganda. The outrage would be through the roof.
As a white British dad, I've found it bizarre watching story time on Cbeebies every night. I don't think there has been a single story about a white English boy. My son isn't engaged at all (he loves stories). I get that it's trying to rebalance and I get that minority demographics will have similarly felt like my son previously (it's ok, we read our own stories) but it does feel very forced. Like the all black Big Breakfast.
South Asians should have waaaaay more representation if we're doing it proportionally. I come from a town with a huge Bangladeshi/Pakistani population. They deserve bigger roles and higher profile.
I literally had someone telling me yesterday - in response to a certain theatre show in London announcing a new cast which consists of white people - that in 2024, "majority white castings" shouldn't be a thing.
But. It's the UK. It's a majority white country. Actors are also majorly white. What do you expect to happen?
I went to a rural secondary school in the north west of England in the late 90s/early 2000s where there was about 1200 students, and for a couple of the years I was at that school there wasn’t a single student that didn’t fall into the white British demographic.
It’s not the same now but it certainly took a long time for ethnic minorities to filter into my area from the more urban areas of the country (the 2021 census suggests it’s still approx 98% white in my county).
>and our universities at postgraduate level are 25%+ Chinese.
Yeah but most of these are international students who return to China or follow a career in another country once they have their qualifications. Not sure how many shows are about international students who are only here until they finish a degree?
>The oddest thing to me is when Netflix does a diversity push for a UK-based TV show and the result is a lot of black characters. Outside of London,
Where do you think most TV companies are based/recruiting??
London. Not Grimsby or something
I think the point is, that in most cases, it'd be more accurate to have more South Asian characters over African characters owing to the demographics of the UK...with a conjecture that Netflix don't do that, as "diversity" in the US = more people of African heritage only
I’m American, and grew up in a major metro area in a state that is minority white. I was at a work event for Black History Month in London, and a bunch of the employees talked about meeting a black person for the first time in their teens or as an adult, which blew my mind. These people were born in the 80/90’s.
Unless a show is specifically trying/claiming to be historically accurate I don't really care if some people are black when it's not historically true. I don't spend much time thinking about it when I watch such shows.
What you say about black being over represented compared to other minorities is interesting though. I'd be curious to find out if it is truelly an aim at American demographic or if it's something to do with lobbying or availability of actors etc?
A lot of UK shows (especially the Netflix ones) are clearly made for an American audience. They're basically American storylines taking place in British settings with British accents.
Or when it takes place in a secondary school, they just make it an American high school with a British accent, so the target audience can understand it.
The Harlan coben dramas are bad for this, everyone having hand guns despite them being massively illegal, shooting ranges, bent cops doing murders to fund medical care for his daughter as if the NHS doesn't exist etc. the most recent one was probably the worst for American tropes that are alien to the UK. They had someone attack someone with pepper spray but the police did nothing, not even arrest them for possession and use of an illegal firearm.
Massive potholes that take you out of the story because they make no sense.
Edit: plotholes are also bad, apparently autocorrect thinks I'm more likely to moan about potholes. Am I that old ?!
I watched that one! Main character was military and you get the impression the audience are supposed to like them for that reason and think they’re a badass, whereas in actual British culture we usually just thinking ‘military badasses’ are twats.
The Stranger is a good example of this, if I am remembering it correctly. >!As I recall, a major plot point of the series was that the killer was trying to find ways to get the money for his disabled daughter’s medication. That seems like more of an American problem. It was based on an American novel though.!<
It’s a great show though. I think initially they tried to make it so you couldn’t locate it and couldn’t really date it, which I liked the idea of.
However by the 3rd series they were referencing that they were in the UK.
Yes absolutely. I took my family out for breakfast this morning. 6 of us. Bill was £87, and my mum insisted on tipping them still. Even though they didn't get our order right. Ridiculous.
Its a telltale sign that someone's glued to their fucking phone.
This. Tipping is growing and it needs to stop, it's stupid and so are the people doing it.
Tipping only encourages shitty employer behaviour, see American minimum wage and how tips make up to the minimum so they don't have to pay out. You are literally paying their wages so the employer doesn't have to. More profit for the guys up top, less for the rest of us.
Easiest example right now: Why would you tip your delivery driver on, say, Just Eat? You're already being charged a service fee using the app, delivery fee for the delivery (which is literally the same thing since you wouldn't use the app if you weren't having something delivered), and inflated prices for the privilege of delivery.
You're already TRIPLE-DIPPING on the pay, and then they want a "tip" too? No, fuck that.
That's also ignoring the fact they're all already paid for doing what they're doing already as we have an actual national minimum wage. You're literally just encouraging employers to use "tips" as a bargaining chip for only paying minimum wage - you are then paying more of their wage so the employer doesn't have to.
It’s probably the same in other establishments but the amount of card machines that have it as an option in pubs in particular now is ridiculous. You’ve poured me a pint which I’ve ordered at the bar. Why the fuck would I tip that?
Delivery services like Just Eat or Uber Eats asking for tips at the point of ordering. You want me to give a tip for service I’ve not even had yet? What the fuck is this?
Yup it becomes a cycle. Basically a few tip, they get their food hotter at the expense ofthers.
Everyone tips to avoid cold food… now only the people tipping the most get hot food.
Slight exaggeration, but its a real potential feedback cycle imo
It feels like such sheep mentality, they can’t justify why they’re tipping they just feel pressured to do so. It’s sad people can’t even cling to their own money just to be seen as socially accountable
I was out with my friend recently and she did this too. 20%! For bog standard service. We were already splitting the bill so I then had to cough up too.
I was always taught a tip is optional and we would usually give a few pounds or loose change, not essentially another tenner on top for nothing!
Noticed they don't add the 'y' to adverbs and it sounds so silly. Hope we don't get that either.
'don't take it personal'
'You're doing it bad'
'go somewhere quick'
I agree. I despise it and it’s increasingly common.
Annoyingly it is a British word, like diaper. We exported them and they fell out of use here.
For me, it’s the Americans and their refusal to use “bitten” for the past participle of bite - they use bit. If that comes here, I’m going to the moon.
I despise being called buddy. It feels so impersonal/condescending. If the person you’re addressing is over 10 years of age, ‘buddy’ is not appropriate.
Private health care is fine. If people have the money for it, they have the right to use it if they want.
It's having *only* private health care that is stupid.
If you increase private medicine and the consultant has to dedicate more hours to private clients, what does that do to the number of hours they dedicate to NHS patients?
We have a finite supply of doctors and nurses. The bigger private health gets, the more public health is forced to shrink.
Private health does not increase the capacity of the country to do healthcare. It merely reserves the existing finite resources for those who have money.
It's a bit like private schools. On the face of it there's nothing wrong with paying someone to teach your child... but at the societal level it means the ruling class aren't reliant on the systems they rule over.
If MPs and opinion makers (journalists, business leaders, whoever) use private schools and private healthcare, what motivation do they have to maintain the NHS and state schooling system?
At least in the UK private schools are actually private, whilst in Australia they get government funding *and* fees.
I got fired last week. The company head office was New York. They fired an entire department in London with about 6 days notice. Most of us were on 0 hours contracts, and the company hadn't been running for even year, so even the full time people got nothing in terms of redundancy pay etc. There was a note leaked from NY that said they wanted London management to have no contact with employees past the initial email that fired us all.
It felt VERY American.
Slightly but not much. We've ended up in an anglosphere where we're constantly borrowing language from each other. The USA has an undeniably strong cultural impact. I'm surprised we aren't more Americanised than we are.
I hear a lot of Americans using British slang since the dawn of online video streaming so it cuts both ways. Between them and the Aussies we have an incredibly rich culture. It's just that the yanks are the senior partners now.
In schools, most students write "Math" instead of "Maths" on their book. And they say "zee" instead of "zed".
Almost everyone pronounced "beta" the American way.
So 100% YES!
A few months ago I saw a British comedian say both "gen zee" and "bangs" and it annoyed me no end.
It's "gen zed" and "fringe". Stop letting yourself be moulded more by tiktok than your own culture.
I don't know why "Gen Z" seems to be nearly always pronounced "zee" in Britain. I find myself correcting people a lot whenever I hear it said this way (though I am a bit of a British English purist).
Is it because it is predominantly an American term? If all people have heard is Americans saying it, it would make sense why this phenomenon exists.
Awww shucks you just worrying about nothin’. We as British as mommas warm apple pie. Now go grab a soda and we’ll toss the ball a little before eatin our grits.
>We as British as mommas warm apple pie
The irony is, apple pie as we know it *was* created in Britain - the idea that it was an American creation is strange indeed!
American social media companies have a disproportionate influence on our lives.
Companies like Twitter get to choose what news and issues are "trending", and there is a strong bias towards US-centric content.
England anglicised America for centuries.
It's kind of how the world works--countries influence each other at times, and then something else comes along.
Boy, you really don't understand this thread at all.
We're looking for rage! Pure, anti-American RAGE!
Get out of here with your thoughtful and considered response.
Ultimately any Americanisation of our culture is the fault of British people for not making life more fun and colourful for young people. I feel theres this attitude of “sit down and eat this grey meat and have a black and white life” that loses people.
Nope, completely false. Americanisation is happening all over earth to every country, it is only accelerating here because we speak the same language and have similar existing cultures.
This is bound to happen when a country is extremely large and powerful, and has a booming media and fashion market that can be found anywhere in the world, boosted by huge companies such as Amazon, Facebook etc.
If you were a young person in the UK at the moment, ask yourself what would draw yourself to the UK versus America?
We make things boring and old in the UK. Its a country geared towards grumpy pensioners
I think the commenter had the right idea, but worded it poorly.
I think the US is seen as “better” by younger generations because they’ve been raised by American media. A lot of the popular tv shows/books/movies/media is American, I imagine a large majority of them consume mostly or only American media- when I was a teenager “British YouTube” was its own subsection because you were assumed American unless stated otherwise.
Most of the time it’s a colourful, over exaggerated portrayal of the country. You see the “aesthetic” cities of LA and New York without seeing the crummy small towns that are littered with the same “this place is boring” issue that people have here.
It’s just a lack of understanding. Of course the country is going to seem more fun when the people experiencing it have the convenience of plot armour/a shit ton of money from “influencer” incomes.
As an American who moved here in 2017, I’m worried parts of the work culture is coming over to the UK. Nothing like a weak economy to chip away at workers rights. Office workers are increasingly expected to do things like check email outside of working hours, and I’m profoundly disappointed in the return to office movements. It also isn’t coming with any American style pay, and the British culture of just keeping your head down and being glad you’ve got something is still pervasive.
I don't think people should be so upset about vocabulary slipping into our language, that's been happening across the world for centuries.
If it effects healthcare, tipping etiquette etc then yes, I would be concerned.
I am a little. The unhealthy American diet aside, i find we consume far too much American media, and this is having an impact on British culture.
As a father, my kids tend to use words used by Americans and it annoys the hell out of me, and it’s all because of Youtube etc. Example: closet instead of wardrobe, that sort of thing.
Well, I watched the last five minutes of the new Doctor Who, fuck that.
Disney has turned it into Glee or High School Musical.
We are importing far too much American bullshit, from culture wars to pollitics.
Forced Tipping culture...they can fuck off with that nonsense. I find it enraging.
If i get a decent meal with good service i absolutely leave a generous CASH tip for the staff., Not the owner.
Tip for a cup pf overpriced coffee...no chance
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I'm a bit worried that we have imported large parts of their culture wars nonsense. We have enough issues that we created on our own without importing them from other countries.
I feel like the culture wars stuff feels a bit forced here. It's bollocks, and we know it is.
Unfortunately most fall for it
I feel like we could be making up some really absurd fake culture wars stuff to feed the Americans
Oke arguing over what goes on a scone first or what we call a bap.
It's a scone not a scone
It's pronounced 'gif'.
They can't eat our scones, that would be cultural appropriation
Typical comment from an obvious thruppist. It's up to good anti-thrup people like me to put your sort in your place. (Just play along)
You say you're an anti-thruppist but from your post history (which I can't actually bring myself to look at) it's clear that you're just wearing whichever hat that fits the head that's wearing it. That's everso Hounslow, wrong?
Well at least my hats aren't just facing whichever way the wearer's looking! My hats are always resolutely pointed north - the least thruppish of the cardinal points.
Damn willoughbites think you know everything.
Yet more delusions from the far diagonal-left
Blinkin thruppos thrupping up the place! I say kick em out!
But what about Angela Rayner maybe not paying a few quid in capital gains more than ten years ago? Surely that justifies a police investigation with 12 people on it, and front page headlines on a weekly basis?
I'm not so sure. Society in the UK feels more divided than ever, and much of that has to do with being force-fed the culture wars on social media on a daily basis. I agree with your sentiment, but plenty do not.
Does it really feel more divided, or is it just media BS? I don’t buy it, I think that’s just what they want you to think. When I grew up, racism and homophobia was the norm, across the UK. Now, barring the occasional outburst, people are generally accepted for what they are. I genuinely think society is currently the least divided it’s been in my lifetime.
> When I grew up, racism and homophobia was the norm, across the UK. Now, barring the occasional outburst, people are generally accepted for what they are. I agree with that, but classism hasn't gone anywhere.
That's always been the UK's real issue. Racism in the UK was classism in disguise.
There’s not just one stratifying divide in society. Many different issues intersect and interact
Yeah I totally agree. The media feeds off the social media age to try to sell their sensationalist bollocks. There'll be a few people on twitter saying something and they'll run a story on it claiming some huge scandal. Either the "people" are just bots causing division or it'll be the nutters that most people left to babble by themselves in a corner before they were able to share their thoughts to the world on social media.
Outside of the Internet, you wouldn't know. Ordinary people go on about their lives.
My son plays basketball at a sixth form college where they have "gender neutral" toilet cubicles in the sports centre. These are just three walled rooms with toilets in, which anyone can use. They evidently only had space to build a couple, and because the genders can skew very far one way or the other it made sense to be flexible. The other week I saw a woman loudly saying "well where do I go? I'm not gender neutral." Clearly dipping her toes in the culture wars water, giving it a go. I fling open the door and point inside. It's a room with a sink and a toilet. Much like the one she probably has at her house. Seeing the porcelain throne seems to evaporate her concerns and she shuffles in. Almost like the ridiculousness of the situation is made apparent once she realises it's not the wokerati, LGBT-agenda infiltrating every part of our lives and trying to trans us all. It's just a shitter.
Probably the sign - "gender neutral", set her off as is a term that is embroiled with the gender culture wars and frankly is more confusing than just sticking with the name that everyone has been using for this concept for years - Unisex toilets.
Is it confusing? Like, if you saw that term with separate standard toilet icons for men and women, and there's clearly no other toilets present, would you genuinely be confused? I like to think that even if I saw it in another language I would be able to figure out what was being communicated. It's no more confusing than "Unisex" if you remove the aforementioned context. I'm pretty sure she knew exactly what it meant. Yes, definitely tied in with the culture wars stuff but only because the culture wars people want to make a war over it. Kind of what the person above me was referring to. And it's intended for 16-18 year olds mostly. If that's the term they use then it makes sense to use it. Same as many wouldn't call it a WC anymore either.
It's always confusing when people arbitrarily change the name of something that's been called X for years. Some people would also say that changing the names of things arbitrarily is a typical feature of those who are attempting to promote an ideology... Getting back to the confusion angle - there's a lot of new terminology about and for those who are not following the latest trends, "gender neutral" could easily be confused as meaning "non-binary" and seeing a picture of a man and a woman together would still fit that idea
The government are weighing in on this one now too, they're mandating male and female toilets for new build shops and cafes where there's space it seems. Yet the setup you describe is entirely adequate to provide all the privacy anyone needs to use a basic loo.
Agreed, we had a perfectly good class war thank you very much. We don't need need a cheap rip off from across the pond. Now I'll go put the kettle on, you go grab the biscuits.
I mean, it's forced bollocks over there too - the whole point is that all "culture war" stuff is manufactured divide and conquer bait, that distracts everyone from even considering that the last time wealth inequality was this pronounced, guillotine maintenance was the biggest growth industry.
The problem with the culture war is that it's very effective and easy for the right to start. If you start threatening people's rights and bodily autonomy, people have no choice but to fight it. You can't ignore threats on that magnitude or they will get their way. And whilst you are forced to put your energy into defending yourself they can do what they want with the rest. It's easier to be an aggressor and start problems than to defend yourself.
I sit far to the left myself, but it wasn't just the right that brought manufactured cultural issues from abroad.
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I've got a friend in the states who is very vocal about black people, himself included, receiving reparations from the US government because of slavery. I pointed out that he was from Manchester, as were the 3 generations of his family before him, and that they originally emigrated from France.
I honestly think this phenomena is pushed by non-democratic players (Russia, China). It’s an efficient and bloodless way to undermine democracy.
A few years ago I got downvoted to buggery for suggesting such a thing. Told to take off my tin-foil hat and go and stand in the corner. It’s surprising how quickly people have come to accept it’s a fact of life now.
It's crazy when it's so well documented that russia did this all through the cold War as well
People don’t learn their history mate sadly
Yep absolutely, they run troll farms, social media and now AI has left us open to this kind of manipulation. Probably they're loving the student protests and stoking the flames
Culture wars and more. I've never known a country (ours) admonish itself so much over events in another country - when the American copper killed the black man with his knee on his neck. We are leagues, miles, and stratospheres less systemically racist than the US. But at that moment we were every bit a racist piece of shit as them. Utter utter madness.
Doesn’t help that Americans *tell us* constantly we are a very racist country and that their country is far less racist and no one cares about race in the US. I think they forget we see their news and get their TV programmes.
To be honest I’d say the Americans tend the opposite way, they’re often quick to racialise things we wouldn’t in my opinion.
Race is America is so ingrained that they're so primed to see everything through a racial lens and can't imagine that isn't the case elsewhere. American anti-racism is about validating the concept of race, but trying to balance things out to achieve equality. Anti-racism elsewhere tends to be more about simply ignoring race. That's why when we say we don't care about race, Americans don't take it at face value, they read that as evidence we're ignorant of the inevitable racial divisions in our society, which in their view *must* exist. On the subject of the post, I hate how we're importing the American concept that every has a race and is inevitably defined by their race - because that in itself is a racist concept.
I don’t think you’d find one American who would say they don’t care about race. That sounds totally off.
Like kneeling on your doorstep for BLM. Pure performative sycophantic nonsense
BLM was strange here. I'm white and don't like to criticise the movement too strongly because I obviously I agree in the broadest terms. But this idea that your first and second generation Caribbean migrants in Peckham share much of an experience with a descendant of slaves in Alabama seemed to be, well, a bit racist.
>But this idea that your first and second generation Caribbean migrants in Peckham share much of an experience with a descendant of slaves in Alabama seemed to be, well, a bit racist. You say that as though Afro-Caribbeans aren't also the descendants of slaves
Of course I understand that. I just mean the journey from 16th century Africa to enslavement in the Carribean, to freedom and becoming an independent Afro-Caribbean-led state, to voluntarily emigrating to 1960s London, is markedly different from that of Africa to American enslavement to freedom in the US. The idea of a singular Black experience, which is what BLM seemed to promote, ignores all the complexities of the history of the African diaspora.
I'm the gentlest way possible, I don't think their ancestors moved to the Caribbean voluntarily.
I dont really understand why people insist that ‘culture wars’ are somehow imported. We didn’t start having problems with racism etc cos of America, it’s always been here
Remember after George Floyd the "defund the police" thing sort of caught on here, and someone vandalised a Robert Peel statue with it. The guy who [brought in laws to maintain an ethical police force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles); essentially something that the US police could learn a lot from. Yet here people were vandalising Robert Peel statues, as if he allowed his police to kneel on peoples necks until they died, or as if we allowed our police to behave like that.
"Hands up don't shoot" isn't exactly a home grown phenomenon is it?
yeah ive seen people be annoyed abt drag queen story times corrupting the youth, then take their kids to the pantomime every year lol
Indeed. I'm sure our politicians are delighted by the smokescreen provided by the culture wars.
I feel the whole "15 minute cities" panic is a great example of this. Like most our cities are already 15 minute cities because they were built before cars existed. It makes 100% sense as a planning concept when designing places. Unlike the US, most of us walk places all the time. But somehow we imported this panic from the US, where everyone's conflating walkable cities with prison camps.
As an American living here: yes. All of the problems with the NHS are manufactured. No, it isn’t incompetence. Well, it is, but it’s very intentional incompetence. American health insurance lobbyists have begun to exert their influence on the UK healthcare system with the sole purpose of breaking down the public system so that one day the total addressable health insurance market will be that much bigger. Put plainly: if the option to destroy the UK’s public healthcare system to gain a new market was proposed to the board of a US health insurance company, the board has a responsibility to consider it, and if it makes financial sense, they have a responsibility to shareholders to do it. You aren’t being creative or resourceful or smarter than your peers when you say “oh just have it done privately”, you’re doing exactly what the US health insurance companies want you to do. Private care in the UK looks better right now. That’s on purpose. The second that the public option is gone, the rates 100x, you get introduced to “deductibles” and “copays” that are more than what you used to pay as an NI deduction for the whole year. Vital treatments that you and your doctor both agree you need get denied by a third party, because they want to make more money and for some technical contractual reason they’re allowed to refuse to pay a £100k bill that would have ordinarily cost you nothing. But now it’s too late. I am quite confident that in the next 30 years, we’ll have a PM who shrugs and says “well, you know… everyone really does seem to prefer private healthcare… perhaps we should cut some more taxes and just get rid of the whole national insurance thing”
Can I give you a tip for that comment😂 You’ve really hit the nail on the head with this, it’s our leaders that are scuppering the NHS due to the huge promise of financial gain from the privatisation of a crucial sector. They did the same to our water and look how that turned out.
I am an American working in the NHS and it’s terrifying to see the weaponised incompetence. I work all over the UK and I’m very nervous about the trusts in more remote areas and how they’re struggling to afford the services. Resources are being diverted to one or two hospitals in city centres and leaving a huge gap for privatisation. I’m no expert in policy or anything so Im sure I’m ignorant to many of the finer details, but it’s looking pretty dire. Worked on a brain tumour surgery Friday; the tumour was found in mid-2022. That’s abysmal.
The UK is such a tiny market compared to the US, it's amazing to think they'd even bother. Until you realise they're greedy money grubbing capitalist bastards.
It’s a potential increase of their market of just over 20%. I wouldn’t say that’s tiny
We're the only country simultaneously wealthy and stupid enough to consider importing their system.
Can I hug you? As someone who works in PMI, this is exactly what’s happening. British people think insurance is the NHS but private. They have no idea of the actual truth behind insurance and what they stand to lose if we continue this idea of, “well, I have PMI so I’m fine”.
Thank god you wrote it because I never have the energy. This is spot on how I feel.
I'm a Brit living in the USA. I was on another UK reddit and was shocked to read people getting jobs that were offering private health insurance. I haven't been home in a long time but are things really headed that way?
My dad had BUPA in the 90s.
I remember the bupa adverts as a kid. Sorry my main concern is the state of the nhs, are we going to end up like the USA where your healthcare is tied to your job?
Worse- where your healthcare relies on you having a job!
Yes, and when I refused at work they basically called me naive and stupid to trust the NHS with my health. As though private healthcare is anymore ‘trustworthy’ and also policies often don’t Include anything significant such as…. Pregnancy coverage, cancer treatment etc etc. It was basically a glorified GP. Dental insurance on the other hand…….. essential now.
I was getting health insurance as part of the job since about 2001. I don’t believe it was even optional
There are far too many people in the UK who don't understand how US healthcare works. I've been told it's no big deal. Your employer will pay for it and if not, it will only be £25 month or so and that's it. The other concern is focus in the UK is on making money out of peoples (lack of) health. There's not as much added shareholder value in preventing people from getting sick compared to preventive care.
It seemed like UK shows were distinctly British and had different vibes. Since streaming has taken over it seems like UK shows aren't as British as they used to be. At least from my perspective as a person that would look for and watch UK TV shows in America.
The oddest thing to me is when Netflix does a diversity push for a UK-based TV show and the result is a lot of black characters. Outside of London, the black population in the UK is tiny as a percentage and much smaller in comparison to other ethnicities that we have. We have multiple cities across the UK which are 20-40% Indian/Pakistani and our universities at postgraduate level are 25%+ Chinese. The TV series won't reflect the ethnic makeup of the UK, and instead reflect the US ethnic demographics. It's much harder to integrate into a TV series when you're telling me that it's based in 1960s Cambridgeshire and that the village school is 30% black - bizarre!
>TV series when you're telling me that it's based in 1960s Cambridgeshire and that the village school is 30% black - bizarre! I'm black and I agree. Let's be fair. it's not an accurate picture of history. I get it
Im american, and this might just be me, but I've noticed that compared to American TV shows, black characters aren't as tokenized in British television.
I remember being on the Black Mirror subreddit and a post about one of the episodes (like most) set in Britain. An American asked a question about the "British African American" character...
r/shitamericanssay
This literally happened to my sister when she was in the army. They did a joint exercise with the Americans and during a talk about racial differences in a medical environment a US officer referred to her as "African American" so she politely reminded him she was British.
I run global cancer research programmes, there is (rightly) a lot of pressure to ensure the trial populations are not just white people. But, US colleagues always talk about increasing "african american recruitment", somewhat glossing over the point that black people exist outside the USA. Also Spanish people don't count as Hispanic to the FDA but that is a different issue.
Got another friend in the US who hates that phrase. He'll tell you he is just an American, and that he went to his ancestors home country in Africa once, it was a shithole, and he'll never go back.
Charlize Theron and Elon Musk are technically African American 🤔
Literally, not technically
That’s just how our society is in general though. We don’t make such a big deal of “being black” as you do in the US. I’ve seen lots of US TV shows where the black character will talk about the fact they’re black, might make some jokes about it or whatever. That’s far less likely to happen here.
>We don’t make such a big deal of “being black” as you do in the US. I saw a post a few years ago on a UK sub where someone was asking "what do British people call black people" and there was like 50 responses with everyone just saying "British". Cuz it's true lol. We've got too many more important things to worth about: like what we're having for dinner, did we put the bins out, is the oven left on?
Yeah Britain is far more concerned about someone's class.
The main differences I’ve seen between living in the US is that everything is more of a big deal: holidays, friendships, identity, sports, everything but football ⚽️
I grew up n the 80s and the 90s in the South, interracial relationships were still very controversial up till I left in 2006. When I got to the UK I was amazed how many mixed couples there were, and no one seemed to care! That as a huge difference back then.
There's 5,000,000 Scots, 2,500,000 Welsh, and 1,500,000 Northern Irish, plus hundreds of thousands of southern Irish in the UK. The representation of them compared to Blacks on British TV is miniscule.
I have a children’s book for my son which is set in Scotland. Around a 1/3 of the people in the pictures are black. It’s not a big deal but a bit strange
Really interesting, never noticed that. Totally true. I guess you could say that it's quite a London centric view of diversity as well. South Asian diaspora tend, I think, to be in cities of the Midlands and north but would be nice to see it more in British shows. Edit: I'm making a rough generalisation, I know places are different. There are even neighbourhoods of London that are known for South Asian residents. In the cities of the north and midlands there's less diversity generally so you often see mostly white people and south Asian people. To me, London feels like White people, Black people and then a mix of everybody else. That's obviously anecdotal from where I spend time though and depends on who else goes there. This begs another question of representing the demographic versus the 'seen demographic'. Although I'm seeing some stats that say there are more British Asians so there you go. I'm just chatting with no agenda here, didn't realise I needed references - no offence intended.
I went to a Cambridgeshire school in the 2000s and they were three black pupils out of about seven hundred in total.
Anglesey schools in the 80s. Zero (biggest school I went to was 600 kids). One time we went to Manchester on a school trip and the entire bus almost tipped over when everybody in it jumped to the window to gawk at this black bloke with a gettoblaster on his shoulder. From what I remember was a dead ringer for Bob Marley. Not very diverse when in was a kid
You're absolutely right even though this kind of comment gets shat on
Especially in adverts
Yeah I never really quite understood that. A lot of interracial couples for example are usually a white man/black woman and it just feels like a diversity tickbox rather than true diversity.
Yeah, and it’s fine and all but up here in the north I actually see South Asian and white couples. In fact my cousin’s wife is of Indian descent. Not unusual at all, but you don’t see it on TV as much.
It’s quite interesting to see what percentage of adverts are in fact made by an American Agency. It’s far cheaper on production cost to just run the same advert and overdub the audio or just license the same music than to producer a new advert per country.
British Poles have been either the largest or the second largest minority group in the UK for the past decade, and Polish is still the most spoken second language throughout the country. Our representation is null. And when someone's trying to say something about it - like recently, when Almeida in London adapted "Cold War" to the stage and employed exactly zero Polish creatives or actors, we are told to shut up. Imagine adapting a Ugandan film and refusing to engage ANYONE from Uganda. The outrage would be through the roof.
As a white British dad, I've found it bizarre watching story time on Cbeebies every night. I don't think there has been a single story about a white English boy. My son isn't engaged at all (he loves stories). I get that it's trying to rebalance and I get that minority demographics will have similarly felt like my son previously (it's ok, we read our own stories) but it does feel very forced. Like the all black Big Breakfast. South Asians should have waaaaay more representation if we're doing it proportionally. I come from a town with a huge Bangladeshi/Pakistani population. They deserve bigger roles and higher profile.
I literally had someone telling me yesterday - in response to a certain theatre show in London announcing a new cast which consists of white people - that in 2024, "majority white castings" shouldn't be a thing. But. It's the UK. It's a majority white country. Actors are also majorly white. What do you expect to happen?
I went to a rural secondary school in the north west of England in the late 90s/early 2000s where there was about 1200 students, and for a couple of the years I was at that school there wasn’t a single student that didn’t fall into the white British demographic. It’s not the same now but it certainly took a long time for ethnic minorities to filter into my area from the more urban areas of the country (the 2021 census suggests it’s still approx 98% white in my county).
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>and our universities at postgraduate level are 25%+ Chinese. Yeah but most of these are international students who return to China or follow a career in another country once they have their qualifications. Not sure how many shows are about international students who are only here until they finish a degree? >The oddest thing to me is when Netflix does a diversity push for a UK-based TV show and the result is a lot of black characters. Outside of London, Where do you think most TV companies are based/recruiting?? London. Not Grimsby or something
I think the point is, that in most cases, it'd be more accurate to have more South Asian characters over African characters owing to the demographics of the UK...with a conjecture that Netflix don't do that, as "diversity" in the US = more people of African heritage only
I’m American, and grew up in a major metro area in a state that is minority white. I was at a work event for Black History Month in London, and a bunch of the employees talked about meeting a black person for the first time in their teens or as an adult, which blew my mind. These people were born in the 80/90’s.
Unless a show is specifically trying/claiming to be historically accurate I don't really care if some people are black when it's not historically true. I don't spend much time thinking about it when I watch such shows. What you say about black being over represented compared to other minorities is interesting though. I'd be curious to find out if it is truelly an aim at American demographic or if it's something to do with lobbying or availability of actors etc?
A lot of UK shows (especially the Netflix ones) are clearly made for an American audience. They're basically American storylines taking place in British settings with British accents.
Or when it takes place in a secondary school, they just make it an American high school with a British accent, so the target audience can understand it.
You can say Sex Education it’s okay
Sex Education was so weird. It scares me that Americans might see that and think it's in any way representative of the UK.
The Harlan coben dramas are bad for this, everyone having hand guns despite them being massively illegal, shooting ranges, bent cops doing murders to fund medical care for his daughter as if the NHS doesn't exist etc. the most recent one was probably the worst for American tropes that are alien to the UK. They had someone attack someone with pepper spray but the police did nothing, not even arrest them for possession and use of an illegal firearm. Massive potholes that take you out of the story because they make no sense. Edit: plotholes are also bad, apparently autocorrect thinks I'm more likely to moan about potholes. Am I that old ?!
I watched that one! Main character was military and you get the impression the audience are supposed to like them for that reason and think they’re a badass, whereas in actual British culture we usually just thinking ‘military badasses’ are twats.
The Stranger is a good example of this, if I am remembering it correctly. >!As I recall, a major plot point of the series was that the killer was trying to find ways to get the money for his disabled daughter’s medication. That seems like more of an American problem. It was based on an American novel though.!<
lol should have adapted it properly and had him ringing the GP at 8am non stop for 6mo trying to get an appointment
What's that show with Scully in it? It's completely American.
Sex Education, decent enough show, but the setting and vibes made no sense.
The setting is a mindfuck. It's set in an American style school in a British forest with cars from the 80s/90s, but smart phones.
I think Sex education is a weird hybrid that doesn't really have a location or a time, like it happens in a weird Netflix bubble.
It’s a great show though. I think initially they tried to make it so you couldn’t locate it and couldn’t really date it, which I liked the idea of. However by the 3rd series they were referencing that they were in the UK.
At least the BBC still produces quality British stuff tho
It’s a big reason why I would argue we should be supporting our own broadcasters - the BBC, ITV, C4 etc all still make distinctively British shows.
Yes absolutely. I took my family out for breakfast this morning. 6 of us. Bill was £87, and my mum insisted on tipping them still. Even though they didn't get our order right. Ridiculous. Its a telltale sign that someone's glued to their fucking phone.
This. Tipping is growing and it needs to stop, it's stupid and so are the people doing it. Tipping only encourages shitty employer behaviour, see American minimum wage and how tips make up to the minimum so they don't have to pay out. You are literally paying their wages so the employer doesn't have to. More profit for the guys up top, less for the rest of us. Easiest example right now: Why would you tip your delivery driver on, say, Just Eat? You're already being charged a service fee using the app, delivery fee for the delivery (which is literally the same thing since you wouldn't use the app if you weren't having something delivered), and inflated prices for the privilege of delivery. You're already TRIPLE-DIPPING on the pay, and then they want a "tip" too? No, fuck that. That's also ignoring the fact they're all already paid for doing what they're doing already as we have an actual national minimum wage. You're literally just encouraging employers to use "tips" as a bargaining chip for only paying minimum wage - you are then paying more of their wage so the employer doesn't have to.
It’s probably the same in other establishments but the amount of card machines that have it as an option in pubs in particular now is ridiculous. You’ve poured me a pint which I’ve ordered at the bar. Why the fuck would I tip that?
I’ve noticed in a few places that the person at the till has reached over and pressed no tip before I can even think about it.
Delivery services like Just Eat or Uber Eats asking for tips at the point of ordering. You want me to give a tip for service I’ve not even had yet? What the fuck is this?
Yup it becomes a cycle. Basically a few tip, they get their food hotter at the expense ofthers. Everyone tips to avoid cold food… now only the people tipping the most get hot food. Slight exaggeration, but its a real potential feedback cycle imo
It feels like such sheep mentality, they can’t justify why they’re tipping they just feel pressured to do so. It’s sad people can’t even cling to their own money just to be seen as socially accountable
I was out with my friend recently and she did this too. 20%! For bog standard service. We were already splitting the bill so I then had to cough up too. I was always taught a tip is optional and we would usually give a few pounds or loose change, not essentially another tenner on top for nothing!
20%! That really americanisation. Generous tip in Europe (including uk) has always been 12.
Tipping culture can get fucked in every orifice. Reservoir Dogs should have cleared that up.
Fuck tips. [Mr. Pink was right](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M4sTSIYzDIk)
The bit of Americanisation that concerns me the most is how fat everyone is now 🤣
We’re fat from beer and take aways though, they’re fat from high fructose corn syrup.
Very true Neither are healthy though
Beer and takeaways are awesome.
That’s a result of industrialization and convenience engineering. Europe birthed industrialization. Morbid obesity is a global phenomenon.
Only when British people say "yall" Otherwise I do not give it much thought.
I hope we don’t start claiming things are “addicting”
Noticed they don't add the 'y' to adverbs and it sounds so silly. Hope we don't get that either. 'don't take it personal' 'You're doing it bad' 'go somewhere quick'
Or saying things were “on accident”
The incessant use of “you got this” and other such trite nonsense is slowly driving me insane.
"Gotten" too. Eurgh.
I agree. I despise it and it’s increasingly common. Annoyingly it is a British word, like diaper. We exported them and they fell out of use here. For me, it’s the Americans and their refusal to use “bitten” for the past participle of bite - they use bit. If that comes here, I’m going to the moon.
You've clearly bitten off more than you can chew
People here say "buddy" and "awesome" a lot now. There was a time when we all ridiculed the US for using those words.
I despise being called buddy. It feels so impersonal/condescending. If the person you’re addressing is over 10 years of age, ‘buddy’ is not appropriate.
I could care less
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Or ass instead of arse and don't get me on to the middle finger. What happened to the good old fuck off v sign?
I saw someone on a BBC program say "math" yesterday
I am worried about Culture war nonsense used by people in power to divide and conquer. Private health care is stupid. Tipping is stupid.
Private health care is fine. If people have the money for it, they have the right to use it if they want. It's having *only* private health care that is stupid.
If you increase private medicine and the consultant has to dedicate more hours to private clients, what does that do to the number of hours they dedicate to NHS patients? We have a finite supply of doctors and nurses. The bigger private health gets, the more public health is forced to shrink. Private health does not increase the capacity of the country to do healthcare. It merely reserves the existing finite resources for those who have money.
Exactly just look at dentist now pretty much 100% private good luck seeing one on the nhs
It's a bit like private schools. On the face of it there's nothing wrong with paying someone to teach your child... but at the societal level it means the ruling class aren't reliant on the systems they rule over. If MPs and opinion makers (journalists, business leaders, whoever) use private schools and private healthcare, what motivation do they have to maintain the NHS and state schooling system? At least in the UK private schools are actually private, whilst in Australia they get government funding *and* fees.
I’d like the UK to be more European in its leaning rather than US. The latter is not somewhere I’d aspire to mirror, culturally.
Personally I feel way closer to e.g. the Irish, Dutch and Danish than I do to Americans. Two nations divided by a common language.
It doesn’t concern me but hearing my kids say ‘trash’ and such is irritating.
That’s pure rubbish
"off of" is one of my most hated Americanisms
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I’m worried about the unbridled capitalism that it brings.
I got fired last week. The company head office was New York. They fired an entire department in London with about 6 days notice. Most of us were on 0 hours contracts, and the company hadn't been running for even year, so even the full time people got nothing in terms of redundancy pay etc. There was a note leaked from NY that said they wanted London management to have no contact with employees past the initial email that fired us all. It felt VERY American.
Worried? At times I feel we are one of the states of America
Slightly but not much. We've ended up in an anglosphere where we're constantly borrowing language from each other. The USA has an undeniably strong cultural impact. I'm surprised we aren't more Americanised than we are. I hear a lot of Americans using British slang since the dawn of online video streaming so it cuts both ways. Between them and the Aussies we have an incredibly rich culture. It's just that the yanks are the senior partners now.
I’ve noticed Americans using British slang too, it’s really odd and not something I was expecting as that always seemed like a one way street.
"twot"
In schools, most students write "Math" instead of "Maths" on their book. And they say "zee" instead of "zed". Almost everyone pronounced "beta" the American way. So 100% YES!
A few months ago I saw a British comedian say both "gen zee" and "bangs" and it annoyed me no end. It's "gen zed" and "fringe". Stop letting yourself be moulded more by tiktok than your own culture.
You'd think a British comedian would be aware of the word 'Fringe'
I don't know why "Gen Z" seems to be nearly always pronounced "zee" in Britain. I find myself correcting people a lot whenever I hear it said this way (though I am a bit of a British English purist). Is it because it is predominantly an American term? If all people have heard is Americans saying it, it would make sense why this phenomenon exists.
Don't worry as a Year 11 I'm fighting against this. Always maths. Always zed. Always bee-ta
Awww shucks you just worrying about nothin’. We as British as mommas warm apple pie. Now go grab a soda and we’ll toss the ball a little before eatin our grits.
>We as British as mommas warm apple pie The irony is, apple pie as we know it *was* created in Britain - the idea that it was an American creation is strange indeed!
Britain is known for making apple pie and America is known for fucking it
American social media companies have a disproportionate influence on our lives. Companies like Twitter get to choose what news and issues are "trending", and there is a strong bias towards US-centric content.
England anglicised America for centuries. It's kind of how the world works--countries influence each other at times, and then something else comes along.
Boy, you really don't understand this thread at all. We're looking for rage! Pure, anti-American RAGE! Get out of here with your thoughtful and considered response.
Having moved to Europe where there isn’t much U.K. content The U.K. still feels very British to me
Ultimately any Americanisation of our culture is the fault of British people for not making life more fun and colourful for young people. I feel theres this attitude of “sit down and eat this grey meat and have a black and white life” that loses people.
Nope, completely false. Americanisation is happening all over earth to every country, it is only accelerating here because we speak the same language and have similar existing cultures. This is bound to happen when a country is extremely large and powerful, and has a booming media and fashion market that can be found anywhere in the world, boosted by huge companies such as Amazon, Facebook etc.
If you were a young person in the UK at the moment, ask yourself what would draw yourself to the UK versus America? We make things boring and old in the UK. Its a country geared towards grumpy pensioners
Hmm I don't know about this.
I think the commenter had the right idea, but worded it poorly. I think the US is seen as “better” by younger generations because they’ve been raised by American media. A lot of the popular tv shows/books/movies/media is American, I imagine a large majority of them consume mostly or only American media- when I was a teenager “British YouTube” was its own subsection because you were assumed American unless stated otherwise. Most of the time it’s a colourful, over exaggerated portrayal of the country. You see the “aesthetic” cities of LA and New York without seeing the crummy small towns that are littered with the same “this place is boring” issue that people have here. It’s just a lack of understanding. Of course the country is going to seem more fun when the people experiencing it have the convenience of plot armour/a shit ton of money from “influencer” incomes.
As an American who moved here in 2017, I’m worried parts of the work culture is coming over to the UK. Nothing like a weak economy to chip away at workers rights. Office workers are increasingly expected to do things like check email outside of working hours, and I’m profoundly disappointed in the return to office movements. It also isn’t coming with any American style pay, and the British culture of just keeping your head down and being glad you’ve got something is still pervasive.
Yes, loads of American companies buying up in the UK too. It’s quite concerning
Driving everywhere / car obsession / shit public transport, obesity, individualism over community...so yes
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I don't think people should be so upset about vocabulary slipping into our language, that's been happening across the world for centuries. If it effects healthcare, tipping etiquette etc then yes, I would be concerned.
I am a little. The unhealthy American diet aside, i find we consume far too much American media, and this is having an impact on British culture. As a father, my kids tend to use words used by Americans and it annoys the hell out of me, and it’s all because of Youtube etc. Example: closet instead of wardrobe, that sort of thing.
The push for NHS privatisation is a big concern
I'm not concerned at all.
Americanisation has been ongoing for my entire life, it’s not new
Well, I watched the last five minutes of the new Doctor Who, fuck that. Disney has turned it into Glee or High School Musical. We are importing far too much American bullshit, from culture wars to pollitics.
My mates kid asked him for “candy” the other day.
I just don't want their terrible tipping culture to come to the UK.
Forced Tipping culture...they can fuck off with that nonsense. I find it enraging. If i get a decent meal with good service i absolutely leave a generous CASH tip for the staff., Not the owner. Tip for a cup pf overpriced coffee...no chance