Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world, even to interfere in our domestic affairs and to bring about what they call regime change.
‘Phantom of the Opera’ started in my little 100-seater converted church in Britain with a stage where we did what we did. But it was the score itself was what made it.
Well, I’ve had my fair share in Britain of battling the tabloids.
The backwoodsmen are muttering about making Britain’s draconian union laws – already among the toughest in Europe – harsher still. And parts of the media will continue to attack public service pensions, as if school meals staff, refuse collectors and healthcare workers have no right to a decent retirement.
People ask why God allows suffering. You could just as well ask the Minister of Transport why he allows accidents on Britain’s roads.
I was very much surprised by the Johnson/Gove proposals to make it harder for Europeans to work in the U.K. if Britain were to vote to leave the E.U.
Mountaineering is over. Alpinism is dead. Maybe its spirit is still alive a little in Britain and America, but it will soon die out.
The choice is not normally between the north and south. It might be between Britain and Europe.
We in Britain do not have the same capabilities as the United States, but we are members of the United Nations Security Council. And we take our obligations and duties deriving from that very seriously.
It’s funny going to America because you’re starting again. You’ve just won a Brit Award, but nobody will care. You have to prove yourself, but it’s good to do that stuff. You might be big in Britain, but you still have to work at it everywhere else.
Britain must lead in Europe to intensify the fight against global terrorism and make our country safer.
I was brought up and raised in Britain as a Labour man, and that quickly changed. And I find there are more working-class people in the Conservative Party than the Labour party.
For America, 1812 became the war in which it had finally gained its independence. For Britain, 1812 became the skirmish it had contained, while winning the real war against its greatest nemesis, Napoleon.
What worries me is that, because of the amount of media coverage of food, Britain seems to have become a foodie nation – but I’m not sure it actually has. I’m not sure there’s been a huge change in the pantry at home or what we cook for supper.
It is crystal clear to me that if Arabs put down a draft resolution blaming Israel for the recent earthquake in Iran it would probably have a majority, the U.S. would veto it and Britain and France would abstain.
I did projects on Champlain coming up the St. Lawrence River and on Henry Hudson cast adrift in the bay that now bears his name. And I read dozens of historical novels: Rosemary Sutcliff on Roman Britain and G. A. Henty on British heroes, though my all-time favourite was Ronald Welch’s ‘Knight Crusader.’
The patriotism in Britain comes from us being a leader. On jobs, on tax havens, on workers’ rights, on the environment. We can be leading Europe… and it will be to the benefit of every British citizen.
I grew up in a Britain where ‘Paki-bashing’ was around in my late teens from the National Front. We also had ‘Pakis Go Home,’ and even ‘Jewel In The Crown’ attracted this sort of comment.
Crossrail is a prime example of infrastructure. It is a rather deadly word, but I think it is exciting stuff, the civil engineering which makes Britain tick – the bridges, tunnels, power and water networks, which bind us together.
What I saw in my first year as secretary of state was a danger that if Britain didn’t lead the way on climate change nothing would happen. I thought: If I don’t lead, no one else is going to.
Many businesses in Yorkshire want the security and stability of Britain’s continued membership of the European Union, a cause I look forward to championing passionately in this place and elsewhere.
In Britain you’re more used to challenging drama. In America, TV is just boring, and numbing, and bloody terrible.
Germany has always stood for an E.U. of the 27 countries. But in light of Britain’s continued resistance to further integration steps, as we saw with the fiscal pact, there are limits to my optimism in this regard. It’s quite possible that we will have to create the new institutions for the euro zone first.
American strategic doctrine suggests that Mexico is of second-level importance to the United States. It ranks below Japan and Indonesia, Brazil and India, Egypt and Israel, and European powers including Britain, France, and Germany. This is a grave geopolitical miscalculation.
I’ve had four fantastic years on ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ but for us it’s about moving forward and the end goal is to present a shiny-floored Saturday night TV show that we all love, for example, ‘Strictly,’ ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ – those sort of shows.
Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past.
Indeed, China may never acquire the geo-political influence and reach that Great Britain enjoyed in the 19th century and the United States of America did in the 20th, even though it may have already surpassed the geo-economic clout the two major powers enjoyed in the heyday of their empires.
The west has a great deal to answer for in the Middle East, from Britain’s belated empire-building after the First World War to the US and British policy that condemns modern Iraq to the material and social squalor of a half-century ago.
The Spanish Civil War, Britain was not involved in it. Going back a bit, there was the naval blockade to stop the slave trade in the 19th century; that was morally just. Shame they didn’t bother to abolish slavery at the same time.
I suppose I’ve always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I’ve always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.
We, Britain and Germany, can neither of us be happy about our handling of the Iraq war.
Did I want Britain to remain in the E.U.? Yes. Did I fear the consequences if we quit? Yes. Did I argue passionately for that during the referendum? Absolutely I did.
You have students in America, in Britain, who do not want to be engineers. Perhaps it is the workload, I studied engineering, and I know what a grind it is.
I believe very strongly that staying in is the right answer for Britain. And I haven’t pulled my punches, I’ve fought this campaign the only way I know how, which is to lead from the front, to be clear about what I believe, to be clear about what the consequences are.
In Britain, they have a lot of laws to protect you, and we enforce them very strongly so that our children can stay private figures, and the British press leave us alone, which is great. It means we can go on the Tube into the centre of London because it’s quicker and more fun for the kids. We can do normal things.
In Britain, when someone says they do not believe in God, they stop going to church. In the U.S., many who may have doubts about Christian orthodoxy may continue to go to church. They do so because they assume that a vague god vaguely prayed to is the god that is needed to support family and nation.
France wants Britain to remain in the E.U.; indeed, how can we imagine that friendly nation that is our ally and played a role on the international stage could be outside the E.U.?
The United States was founded on a revolution that abolished the monarchy, aristocracy, titles and primogeniture. Britain may be able in the future to become a more equal and open society while retaining all of these things. But this has yet to be proved.
We’ve got to get back on track to working with them. Because if I and my colleagues are going to continue to attract inward investment from overseas – you know particularly from the big Asian countries – they see Britain as a gateway to Europe. They don’t want any doubts cast upon that.
I feel that Britain is a rather self-deprecating nation: you’re almost considered egotistical to say you’re good at anything.
There is but one nation on the globe from which we have anything serious to apprehend, but that is the most powerful that now exists or ever did exist. I refer to Great Britain.
It was very hard breaking into the film industry in Britain. I had been to art school, and I was painting and doing commercials. And I did some of the very first rock videos.
What’s similar between Britain and America is the lack of good-quality civic buildings.
Biscuits are sweet things in Britain, and apparently in America a biscuit is something like a scone, something savory that you’d have with soup.
France and Britain have large culinary differences, but one thing they do share is a relatively low tolerance for modernist cooking.
We need to show that we know and understand and can reflect today’s Britain. Today we don’t.
I had always been told by my parents, not implicitly told, but every inference was that Britain was the hub of the universe.
Almost everyone who’s been to primary school in Britain has had towels put on their heads to play the shepherds in the nativity play.
You always want to test yourself at a high level, and I would be proud to represent Great Britain.
In Britain, libel damages are small and people build them into the cost of doing business. In America, libel is very rare and much harder to prove, but the damages are enormous.
