Richard Madeley: Britain’s Export-Grade Embarrassment and the Global Art of Cringe Diplomacy by our Special Correspondent in Existential Freefall There is a moment—usually about 3 a.m. local time—when hotel televisions in foreign capitals surrender to the BBC World feed and something extraordinary happens. Statesmen pause mid-sentence, warlords lower their satellite phones, and even the hotel…
**The BBC: Britain’s 100-Year-Old Gift to Global Insomnia** As the BBC marks its centenary of informing, educating, and entertaining—though arguably excelling primarily at the first two—we find ourselves reflecting on how a British institution somehow convinced the world that Received Pronunciation equals credibility. From its humble beginnings as a radio service that probably featured more…
**Property Empress Sarah Beeny and the Global Cult of Domestic Aspiration** In the grand theater of late capitalism, where we collectively pretend that watching strangers renovate their homes constitutes entertainment, Sarah Beeny emerges as something of a minor deity. The British property guru has spent two decades transforming the mundane act of buying and selling…
ITVX: How Britain’s Late-Entry Streamer Plans to Win a War Already Lost to Netflix, TikTok, and Your Own Short Attention Span By Our Correspondent Who Once Watched an Entire Season of “Love Island” on a Ukrainian Night Bus LONDON—In the grand tradition of showing up to a gunfight with a butter knife, Britain’s ITV has…
