British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: Enlarging the Anglosphere

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

When Winston Churchill met President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the deck of the H.M.S. Prince of Wales in 1941, he spoke of the common bonds between Britain and America: "The same language . . . the same hymns . . . more or less, the same ideals." As he implied, the special relationship should be forged not merely by formal ties between governments, but by widening and deepening understanding and contact between people.

So, I want to suggest how our Atlantic relationship – which has always been rooted in something far more fundamental and lasting than our common interests or even our common history and common language – can be renewed and extended into new areas for a new generation.

First, I am proposing moving cooperation between our universities at a far higher level.

Members of my cabinet benefited from time at U.S. universities, Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and the Marshall and Fulbright scholarships have been bringing U.S. and U.K. students into each other's countries for decades. But I want many more British and American university students to have the chance to study across the Atlantic.

Already some universities are planning to require all of their students to spend some time abroad as part of their degree. The principal of King's College in London and the president of New York University will convene a group to examine how cooperation between U.K. and U.S. institutions can be intensified, starting with the potential for expanding faculty and research exchanges. And I can give a commitment that British students who need financial support to pay the travel costs of taking up a term of study in the U.S. will receive that support.

Second, I am proposing cooperation on enterprise, so that young business leaders in each country regularly conduct exchanges and learn from each other. "Make Your Mark" – which champions entrepreneurship among young people in Britain – is linking up with the Kauffman Foundation in the U.S. to organize this November the first Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Third, I am proposing that – in the spirit of Andrew Carnegie – British and U.S. charities come together to discuss projects where working in common we can make a difference. The Hunter Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York have agreed to host a convention of U.S. and U.K. philanthropic charitable organizations, with participants including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And regulators on both sides of the Atlantic will discuss how rules governing donations to charities can help U.K. and U.S. charities work more closely together – in particular to make it clear how to register a charity here in Britain and qualify for tax benefits.

Fourth, building on well-established traditions of U.K.-U.S. collaboration – from Crick and Watson to the Human Genome Project – I am proposing that we strengthen even further our cooperation in health research. The Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research U.K. are working with the U.S. and other international partners to compile a comprehensive catalog of cancer mutations, in order to give us an even better chance of fighting this often-deadly disease. And as part of the planning for Europe's largest medical research center at St. Pancras, London, Prof. Sir Paul Nurse will bring together experts from America and Britain to increase our understanding of cancer, and improve treatment and rates of cure.

Fifth, by working together our two countries could make a huge difference in dealing with the impact of climate change. Britain's new Energy Technologies Institute – set up to do path-breaking, low-carbon research and development – is ready to link up with U.S. environmental research efforts.

Sixth, in an Internet age young people can, of course, talk to each other across continents. I want them to be able to meet each other, too.

Last month, the British Council launched the Transatlantic 2020 initiative to bring together young leaders from America, the U.K. and Europe. And Britain's "V" organization – which harnesses the energies of young people in community service – will build on their links with similar programs in America to explore ways in which our young people can volunteer in each other's countries.

Each of these initiatives offers a modern means of expressing our special relationship in the 21st century – bringing people together, increasing understanding, and realizing the potential for the greater good when our two nations work together. And they reflect today's more connected society, in which thousands of people who communicate across multimedia channels will now be able to visit, meet face to face, and gain knowledge and understanding that will benefit them, and both our countries.

In the last half-century the English language has become not only the language of Shakespeare and Twain, of J.K. Rowling and Cormac McCarthy, but of science, commerce, diplomacy, the Internet and travel.

So, finally, I propose that together Britain and America strive to make the international language that happens to be our own far more freely available across the world. I am today asking the British Council to develop a new initiative with private-sector and NGO partners in America, to offer anyone in any part of the world help to learn English.

America and Britain are separated by the thousands of miles of the Atlantic, and by our differing and always evolving national cultures. Yet there is still far more that unites us than can ever divide us. I believe that the future of our relationship can, if we choose, deliver far more even than it has achieved in its past. Not just for both our nations, but for the world.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120830718371518015.html

[Peikko 1,575]

..."So, finally, I propose that together Britain and America strive to make the international language that happens to be our own far more freely available across the world. I am today asking the British Council to develop a new initiative with private-sector and NGO partners in America, to offer anyone in any part of the world help to learn English..."

I guess Mr Brown feels he needs to make his mark somehow - anglicizing the world could be his method.

[pedroh 21]

we welcome him to Los Estados Unidos de NorteAmerica!! si!!!! Bienvenido!! he can come to learn SSL

LOL

Edited April 16, 2008 by pedroh

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

we welcome him to Los Estados Unidos de NorteAmerica!! si!!!! Bienvenido!! he can come to learn SSL

LOL

admit it, you're an undercover agent for aztlan arent you

[mawilson 2,133]

we welcome him to Los Estados Unidos de NorteAmerica!! si!!!! Bienvenido!! he can come to learn SSL

Gordon Brown will take care of all you furriners, just wait and see.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

i think our next president, whoever he or she is, should invite the british to join the americasphere!

[pedroh 21]

OH NOES!!

[mawilson 2,133]

OH NOES!!

Oh yes - soon there will be no more fajitas and enchiladas, only branches of the British Council.

[pedroh 21]

OH NOES!!

Oh yes - soon there will be no more fajitas and enchiladas, only branches of the British Council.

dem brits don't like tacos? we can just put the fish from fish & chips and put it in a tortilla with chipotle sauce.. pwns

Edited April 16, 2008 by pedroh

[mawilson 2,133]

OH NOES!!

Oh yes - soon there will be no more fajitas and enchiladas, only branches of the British Council.

dem brits don't like tacos?

Only the Anglicised versions: steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

you can't get a good taco in the UK for love or for money!

the people this will piss off the most is the French, who still delusionally cling to the notion that learning their language is still important

[Peikko 1,575]