There is a word missing in Ian Bell's fine survey of Britain's social scene (Divided we fall, Review of the year, December 29).
That word is "America". There is hardly a sentence which couldn't have been taken from America's debate on social developments in their country, nor a phrase on the fate of the poor which couldn't be found from right-wing characterisations of the 47 million on food stamps in their homeland.
Has the US actively worked to Americanise Britain in this way? Not at all. The Americans couldn't care less what happens here, and it is pitiful to watch Westminster politicians pretend otherwise. No, the relentless effort to make this country resemble America in its methods of government, and in its attitudes to business, wealth creation, work, welfare, and the role of the individual in society has been a top-down project initiated by Margaret Thatcher, and pursued endlessly ever since. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were particularly enthralled by American ways of doing things, and it was they who started the potentially devastating marketisation of the NHS using American private-sector health firms. But not even they copied word-for-word US legislation on labour market reform, as Thatcher did. Wherever significant change has occurred in this country over the last 35 years, the chances are the inspiration came from America: schools, policing, justice, media, politics, government itself.
Whether the politicians are happy with the outcomes is not clear. Blair hated Freedom of Information, and David Cameron can't have been happy with the results of his project for elected police commissioners, both based on US precedents. But perhaps we should all be as grateful as Cait Reilly, the lady who challenged her slave-labour status in the new Supreme Court, an import adapted for us by Blair and Brown. Cameron, in contrast, has brought in the National Security Council. Let's hope it makes all the difference in the next crisis.
All this could happen because British political argument, with very few exceptions, has refused to look this reality in the face. "Just how like America do we want to be?" is the dog that doesn't bark in the British - and Scottish - identity debate. Ian Bell's article is a sharp reminder of just what is at stake.
David Ellwood
(Author, The Shock Of America)
Edinburgh
Thank you for Ian Bell's column on divided Britain. It should be compulsory reading for anyone contemplating voting No in the independence referendum.
Leslie Potter
Portpatrick
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article