By Lindsay Ash
WELL, here we are then… Hello 2025 and in the words of Tony Blair’s election song, “things can only get better” because, with the various conflicts taking place across the globe, one would struggle to disagree with those sentiments.
Much of whether it does or not will depend on the new President of the USA, one Donald Trump. It appears remarkable to many this side of the pond that The Donald was elected for a second time, what with all that has gone on around him. It is important in working out how this occurred to realise that Americans are very different to us in what they look for in a leader and indeed what they look for in their country politically.
Firstly, being hugely wealthy is a big tick in the box. While an increasing number in the UK despise wealth, in the US it is revered. For Sunak it was a millstone, for Trump it’s a distinct advantage.
Money talks in America, whereas we have always been more aware of social standing rather than money, which was brilliantly parodied by John Cleese in Fawlty Towers when he dealt with Lord Melbury. However, this is changing to where we despise anyone who isn’t glued to the M25 or throwing soup on artistic works. An example of the old difference was when I worked alongside a fair few Americans at Discount Corp of New York, one of whom asked me how you got tickets for the Stewards’ Enclosure at Henley.
“How much are they? Where do I buy them?”
“Well basically you don’t, you have to be a member.”
“So you’re saying they ain’t for sale.”
Not wishing to educate him in the ways of “Fat Stan Flashman” who could get you a ticket for the Coronation at a price, I replied: “Yes, that’s about it.”
“What kind of half-assed country is this?”
In fairness, he must have warmed to us as he married an English girl and his son went on to prop for England and the Lions.
But it’s not just money that separates us at election time. Let’s look at a few other things. If you stated in the UK that it was vital that everyone should carry a gun where possible and you’d change the law to bring this in as soon as possible, I would wager your chances of triumph would immediately vanish. On the other hand in America, where it appears every other day someone suffering with mental problems (aren’t all criminals these days) runs amok in a school shooting all and sundry, the very mention of gun control loses you votes by the millions.
Okay, money, guns, what else Lash? Well, probably the biggest difference of all is healthcare. We have every Tom, Dick and Harriet queueing up to praise the NHS and say how they will look after it way better than the other side and pump much more money into it. Labour may even throw in a shock horror “they aim to privatise parts of it” in a desperate bid to discredit the Conservatives and cast doubt on the safety of the NHS in their hands.
This is in stark contrast to America where, bizarrely, offering universal healthcare is a surefire vote loser and a devil to get passed, as Barack Obama found during his time as President.
There are many other things. In America being a church-going Christian is no bad thing whereas in the UK it appears to be rather embarrassing to the candidate and they try to avoid being drawn on the subject.
Then there’s the Jewish vote being much sought-after in the US, which influences their policy re the Middle East but I guess (whoops a bit of an Americanism there) that is not the large difference it once was as we now have people actively seeking the Muslim vote.
It was Churchill who said that “the Americans and the British are one people separated by a common language”. I hope that I have shown it’s slightly more than that but he was right about the language. I discovered it on a number of occasions but my favourite was this one: If you’ve played squash you may be familiar with the custom of looking down from the gallery while waiting for the court. A lady I worked with looked up at this gallery and seeing someone she thought she knew asked: “Hi, are you Randy?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. You’re Mike’s friend from JP Morgan aren’t you?”
“No, I’m just waiting for the court.”
Upon returning to the office she was slightly bemused, so we brought her a book about Brit speak versus American speak. In among all the gems about fags and pants was “Names you can’t be called in England: Randy – this is like introducing yourself to someone saying, ‘Hi, I’m over-sexed’.”
Have a good 2025 everyone. One thing’s for certain with Trump, Farage and Labour around it won’t boring!
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Lindsay Ash was Deputy for St Clement between 2018 and 2022, serving as Assistant Treasury and Home Affairs Minister under Chief Minister John Le Fondré. He worked in the City of London for 15 years as a futures broker before moving to Jersey and working in the Island’s finance industry from 2000. Feedback welcome on Twitter @Getonthelash2
