These are tough times for Britain. Friends from childhood are telling me they’re worried about their electricity bills. Inflation is forecast for 18 percent by January and a recession is due by November. There’s a drought. The country feels uncertain. It also has a new Prime Minister and as your native South Londoner now living in New York, I’m fielding questions.
Is England still relevant? Or is it a dying empire?
Yes, and yes. That’s my answer.
I was sad to see Salman Rushdie got stabbed in August. His best work explores the dual identity of the immigrant and emigrant. In particular, he’s interested in the idea of being an immigrant to Britain from India. But his work stays with me as I navigate life in America with two passports. There are echoes.
Echoes. The term “immigrant” reminds me of the time a supervisor in America tried to claim me as a diversity hire. It was because I’m “an immigrant.” They may have been right but it was jarring. The term isn’t loaded with privilege, is it? And yet there have been five million new citizens in America since 2000 who have registered to vote. Immigrants, me included, are a force at the ballot box. It’s important to reclaim a sense of power from the narrative of immigration. But what about reclaiming a sense of power from emigration? Especially when it is from a country like Britain to a country like America?
I’m interested in this idea of dual identity. As someone who grew up in England, it feels strange to go back there. I treasure many of the friendships I built over the years. We often now only get to see each other for a couple of hours once a year or two. They’re nourishing conversations but there’s also grief for the abrupt cut-off. One feels a sense that I left England in an emotional time capsule back in 2006. It’s like when you go to New Zealand and people wear old-fashioned sweaters and it feels like 1950. At least, that’s how I imagine it feels to go to New Zealand. I’ve only ever taken a shower there en route to Australia at Christchurch airport. The soap was full of kiwi seeds. It was amazing after 24 hours on a plane. But I digress. Part of me wishes I had stayed in England and enjoyed the growth and change of the place into what it is, now. Part of me is glad I jumped ship. More of me than half, I’d say. Ashamed as I am to admit it.
Britain is still relevant, but often in ways where it feels we’re trying too hard. Tony Blair took the country to war with America in Iraq for strategic reasons. He didn’t believe in Weapons of Mass Destruction. Meanwhile, Liz Truss has said she doesn’t like the “special relationship”. It’s a hawkish position. One wonders where else she’s planning to find friends, post-Brexit. I hope she doesn’t feel we don’t need any.
Britain has pioneered sports betting online. We’ve done some rather interesting things with wind power. There was, I’ll concede, a COVID vaccine, which helped. By far the most important region of our expertise is still music, acting, and comedy. But John Oliver, like all the best Brits, now lives in New York. Even Anthony Hopkins has a house in Malibu. A Welshman in Malibu. I like to think his life would make for a more interesting lyrical version of Sting’s Englishman in New York.
All “Englishmen in New York” put that phrase on their dating profiles, I’m told. It makes me cringe. But I love the idea of being exotic. In Croydon, where I grew up, I am not exotic. It’s confusing.
The longer I live in America the more I reflect on the fact that much of British power came from colonialism. American power, too, comes from a different brand of the same. Nobody is perfect. I guess we’re all doing our best. Although sometimes I feel we might do better, particularly when it comes to acknowledging the role of luck in our circumstances. Meanwhile, I do wish my English friends and family the very best of luck as autumn approaches.
Back to our regular programming next week. Do watch last week’s LinkedIn Live on the value of film in storytelling for mission-driven organizations if you get 30 minutes. Liz Bloomfield had some amazing anecdotes about her time serving in the military and what it taught her about the power of paying attention, for example. Meanwhile save the date for September 21 when I’ll be talking to recruitment consultant Beth Kitzinger about working with a recruiter to hire comms talent.
