Beyond Politics: A Transatlantic Bond

Letter from London is Larry Miller's weekly look at news from across the pond.

Last week's letter considered the "special relationship" between the U.S. and British governments, but what of the special relationship between the people of two countries, which George Bernard Shaw famously described are separated by a common language.

With modern communication, TV, movies, the Internet, cheap travel and phone calls, that is not so much the case anymore. However, Americans coming to Britain find that to communicate effectively with their indigenous neighbors they need to mellow out a bit and realize this is NOT the 51st state, and to understand we are still strangers in a strange land.

Soon after coming to London more than 30 years ago, I hit the deli counter at the end of the day, ordering the last of the coleslaw and potato salad. This provoked the shopper behind me to comment, "Bloody Americans, they come to our country and eat all our food."

Very occasionally when a debate goes up a notch with my British friends, they remind me that I am American, as if to give me special dispensation, or to help to justify their position. Sometimes we ARE seen as an extension of American foreign policy.

There is a distinct advantage to having a strong American accent. It makes it harder to be pigeonholed in what is still a class culture. When a Brit speaks, they give away geography, education, socioeconomic status and class.

A website for Americans coming to live in Britain advises "bring wash cloths, U.S. measuring cups and your pots and pans."

Don't bother, this isn't a third world country. And you can drink the water, though my visiting brother in law once refused.

Britain is a seriously expensive place to live, and driving in London can be a nightmare, that's if you can afford the gas at around $8 a gallon, the $16 toll to get into London and $8 dollar an hour parking meters. The rule of thumb is to take what you earn in the U.S., cut it in half and that's your buying power.

There are 250,000 thousand Americans living in Britain, some are posted here by the government or their companies, but most chose to come. Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow could live anywhere, but they live in Britain. Some Americans who return to the States come back. They prefer it here. But why?

One U.S. ex-patriot says it's a good place to bring up kids, that there isn't the same level of materialism that you find back home, though she concedes that's changing. She also says Britain seems safer. Although there has been a marked increase in crime, guns are rare, unless you're a drug dealer. Police still walk the beat unarmed.

Another says that with people from all over the world drawn to Britain, the cultural diversity is the attraction.

For all its faults, and there are many, there is free healthcare, all prescriptions cost around $13 and the hospitals charge nothing. Higher education is fixed at $7,000 a year, and it's not up to the parents to pay, but the kids, once they are out of university and earning a living.

I've played softball on a mixed Anglo-American team with a guy from New York who has lived on a commune for years. He says he likes it here because people are less quick to judge. There is a level of acceptance, or at least tolerance for people's differences, and that's attractive, especially if you are a bit different yourself.

There are exceptions of course, but by and large Americans are welcomed because they are Americans. It's rare to hear a Brit who has been to America bad-mouthing the country, far more common extolling it's virtues, especially the warmth of its people.

The British make about 4 million trips a year to America. They wouldn't go if they didn't like it. And they love it when the British win an American Oscar.

There is another important reality of the special relationship; the economic bridge linking the two countries. Each is the other's biggest foreign investor, and that shouldn't be underestimated.

While there may be strong disapproval of U.S. foreign policy and the closeness of the British government to it, there is a special relationship between these two peoples that the politicians have not yet been able to break.