● IMPERIALISM IS A TREE with many thorns, as Nigel Biggar has found out. At the BBC they take what headmasters used to call “a dim view” of an historical phenomenon considered to be uniquely British. Except when it comes to cultural imperialism, when programme-makers become mustard keen. Then they can’t get enough.
Turn on the wireless at any hour, and you may think this country has been infected by a linguistic virus. Words and phrases that were once regarded as intrusive Americanisms have become
