Words: Grace Hussey (she/her)
Britain manages to mercilessly mock American culture, yet craves what they have.
The battle for superiority between British and American culture is a tale as old as time. As the festival season rolls around each year, Brits shun the flashiness of Coachella and mock the influencers dressed head to toe in designer. Across TikTok we laugh at Americans expressing fear at the camping conditions at Coachella, sharing videos of Brits sliding through knee deep mud at Leeds and Reading. We view ourselves as more genuine, less phony than the big, white American grins. But how much of this perceived difference is true or just wishful thinking?
The Brits seem to consciously desire becoming more and more Americanised. For one, Brits yearn for American fast-food, with countless chains popping up all over the country. While perhaps superficial, this is just one example of the cultural cohesions that are growing between America and the UK. When Taco Bell finally came to Scotland in 2017 the public rejoiced. No longer would we be subjected to authentic Mexican restaurants; we now had American quesadillas. When I came across Popeyes while scrolling through Deliveroo last week I was shocked – yet another American fast-food chain pops up in Glasgow. Americanisation of British taste buds is not just a matter of cultural erasure, but an economic issue as well; the popularity of these fast-food chains threaten Scottish businesses. What will happen once the vast majority of Glasgow’s population begins to opt for a Taco Bell on a Friday night instead of a chippy or the local Chinese? Britain manages to mercilessly mock American culture, yet craves what they have.
In the UK, it is widely accepted that we have a knack for sarcasm. Perhaps the most polarising difference between American and Brits is that Brits know how to take the piss. We don’t take ourselves too seriously while, in comparison, Americans appear almost painfully sincere. As a child, my family visited Disney World in Orlando. I remember my mother exclaiming in shock at the ability of Americans to really believe that anything is possible. I credit this to their unfaltering seriousness. This unwarranted optimism is a different kind of genuinity than is felt throughout the UK. There is something more real about admitting how miserable life can be – unerring optimism comes off as false, as plastic as everything else in America. But I question the hypocrisy in the British putting down American culture when we are more similar than anyone would like to admit; and this similarity is only growing.
The UK has long regarded America’s expensive healthcare as an embarrassment, yet, the NHS is rapidly disintegrating. Fuel poverty shakes the country as essential workers, like nurses and teachers, aren’t paid enough to cover the bills. Attitudes towards immigration in the US and UK are starkly similar. As Trump promised to build a wall, the UK government issued a visa crackdown. So where are the stark differences between American and British society? They are appearing more and more similar each passing day, as citizens experience much of the same exploitation under governmental control.
Since the beginning of Trump’s second term in state, the US has underseen a war on the lives and rights of transgender citizens. In January, the Trump administration declared that individuals will be defined by their biological sex, curtailing the freedoms of gender identity. I watched from across the pond in horror. Earlier this month, the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled that sex would be defined as biological under the Equality Act. It is a ruling that has been dubbed ‘scientifically illiterate’ by the British Medical Association, yet unequivocally backed by our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.
Attitudes towards reproductive healthcare have also taken a detrimental shift in the UK. 40 Days for Life, a Texan anti-abortion organisation, entered major British cities over the period of Lent when ‘protestors’ stood outside Glasgow Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. But it didn’t end there. Over the past week, students have reported seeing men in purple vests on Argyll Street asking passersby if ‘unborn children deserve protection’. For now it is a minority campaigning to crackdown on abortion, but the ‘special relationship’ between the UK and US is undeniably manifesting culturally. Is our fate to uncontestedly fall under the same Conservatism of Trump’s fifty states?
If the Brits are down to earth with a reputation for social tolerance, then why is our lenience and care for poor and vulnerable members of society diminishing?
No longer is the UK more left-wing or ‘liberal’ than America. Rights are being stripped from the most vulnerable members of society, while we focus on ranch and Crumbl Cookies. Perhaps this is a wakeup call to the British – America is an example of the reality we are briskly inching towards. Or perhaps it is already too late and British culture and politics has slipped too far under the influence of the US.
