The US is swallowing the UK, and we no longer even notice it (Image: Getty)
Die-hard Bond fans were outraged to discover US retail giant Amazon can now do what it likes with 007. But most Brits just shrugged.
Bond’s surrender was inevitable. PM is getting ready to wave the white flag. So has Foreign Secretary David Lammy. He’s stopped calling US President a fascist and is pretending to be his friend instead.
Trump , but he hasn’t mentioned the UK. He doesn’t need to.
Our submission to the US started with lend-lease at the start of World War II and became clear after the Suez Crisis in 1956.
That’s when Britain learned it couldn’t wage war without Washington’s say-so.
When President Eisenhower disapproved of British, French and Israeli forces seizing the Suez Canal from Egypt’s Nasser, he simply threatened to crash the pound. We caved in.
The British establishment learned its lesson. We’ve been Washington’s poodle ever since. Tony Blair’s decision to trot after George W. Bush into Iraq only confirmed it.
Politically, the US owns us. And financially, too.
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British firms are easy prey for cash-rich US corporate raiders.
Morrisons, G4S, Sky, Hotel Chocolat and cybersecurity firm Darktrace are just some of those snapped up in recent years.
Our defence industry is vanishing, . While other nations protect key industries, we hand them over.
Our one technology Arm Holdings was flogged off to the Japanese in 2016. It ended up on Wall Street too.
Gambling giant Flutter, which owns Paddy Power, equipment hire firm Ashtead and building materials group CRH have all shifted their primary listings to New York. Mining giant Glencore is keen to follow. Advertising and public relations firm WPP is considering it too.
Ed Miliband’s disastrous energy policies may drive out BP and Shell. If our oil giants go, it’s game over. We might as well shut down the London Stock Exchange.
With a total value of £2.35trillion – or should I say $3 trillion – it’s worth less than just one US company, chipmaker Nvidia.
There’s a brain drain too, with top British talent in law, finance and technology lured away by higher US wages. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s inept economic strategy will only accelerate the shift.
It’s game over culturally, too.
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Friends are far more likely to discuss the latest series than anything on the or ITV. Jilly Cooper’s Riders was a smash hit for Disney. Harry Potter belongs to Warner Bros, although JK Rowling has maintained some creative control. At least so far.
Amazon hasn’t just bought Bond, it’s swallowed our high streets. We shop on its site using Visa and MasterCard. Apple and Microsoft control our tech. Facebook, and WhatsApp dominate our social lives. The average British family spends £20,000 a year on goods sold by US multinationals.
As the Express editor-in-chief Tom King explains today, greedy US tech giants now .
Americanisms creep into our language by the day. Gruesome US cancel culture soon took root over here. It’s proving hard to eradicate.
Last year, writer Angus Hanton called the UK a . We might as well seal the deal and become an actual state.
meets President Trump on Thursday, but it’s no meeting of equals. Trump will relish putting Britain in its place.
No need. The “special relationship” is long dead. Under Trump, it’s America first, Britain 51st. Or maybe 52nd, after Canada.
Like it or not, we’re all Americans now.