"He was friends with everybody"

Here in Britain we've slowly been getting more and more Americanized over the passing decades, adopting American customs and eating habits, first McDonald's, then Budweiser, watching all the American shows on TV.

I remember when high schools were called comprehensives and  secondary schools. We never had 'Prom' - we do now. All we had when I was there was the school disco on a Friday night that cost a quid to get into. 

Commercial TV stations now go to commercial with nary a flicker, just like in the States. Gone are the days of "End Of Part One" and "Part Two" with the station ID. Even our General Election of last month had a live televised debate for the first time ever. 

'The kids' have adopted all the American slang terms and all sound like a cross between Jay-Z and Del Boy Trotter. Pretty much all the Top 40 songs are by American artists or English ones that sound American. Even Madonna lives over here, and you guys got Beckham. I say that's a fair trade.

And today, a mild-mannered taxi driver from Cumbria who has thus far been variously described as a "quiet fellow" who was "everybody's friend" went off his chump and drove around shooting people, killing 12. The coverage on the TV today has been off the charts. All the TV schedules were messed up because of it. I personally have never heard the phrases 'shooting rampage' and 'killing spree' used so many times since Columbine.

Here's the link to the BBC story: Gunman kills 12 people in Cumbria rampage

Whatever next? Brits celebrating Thanksgiving and 4th of July? This needs to stop.

Nooooo!