Andy Pryce

A feeling of resolve and optimism

And so they came. From farms, villages, towns and cities across the United States to their capital.  I met pilgrims from the coast of California, the plains of the mid-west and the shores of New England.  They came to Washington to say that they were there.  We were there too.  On the mall. On this great day.  Two people amongst the 2 million listening intently to the new President's words for the world.   The day was cold but hearts were warmed.

There has been a celebratory atmosphere in Washington over the past week. Yet there was a solemn dignity around Tuesday's happy crowds. As President Obama said wherever we look there is work to be done. The atmosphere on the Mall seemed to reflect the measured tone of the President's speech.  I know that the UK Government will work tirelessly and ever more closely with President Obama's Administration and Congress to ensure that we meet the challenges of our time. The challenges are great but the sense of purpose and possibility evoked today is greater still. I feel confident that increased public and private diplomacy, political will and the will of our peoples will, in time, solve our economic challenges, the threat from climate change and conflict whether in the Middle East or the hills and plains of Afghanistan.

My 14 year old nephew from Chicago asked my wife and I where he could volunteer on Martin Luther King Day (the then President-Elect had called for people to volunteer). There is a sense of an ever growing challenge, resolve and, perhaps as result, optimism amongst the American people. 

We left the cold Mall after the speech and walked back to Virginia over a eerily car free highway bridge.

Posted at 10:53 22 January 2009 by Andy Pryce  |  Comments[1]

Footie, 15 years and cultural convergence

I arrived back in Washington with my family last October after a 15 year gap. The US and the DC region have changed in immeasurable ways since the early nineties. Many of our previous cultural references are now invalid. Seinfeld was THE comedy when we left, everyone knew what you were referring to when you mentioned "The Soup Nazi". Downtown DC was still recovering from the riots in the late 60s - there is now a vibrant, thriving downtown area around the Verizon center. Northern Virginia was pretty homogenous - it is now a lot more diverse and interesting. Perhaps more importantly to me though - you can now get footie (soccer) on cable TV.
 
I am an avant Liverpool fan. If I was living at home I would have a season pass like my brother. I read fansites and forums such as The Rattle every day.  

This weekend we play that lot from Manchester in England's biggest domestic soccer game. Fox Soccer Channel tells me their audience for British Football is continually growing - so much so that they are soon to be listed on the Nielsen ratings. This brings up the question of cultural convergence. Is the UK becoming more like the US (as many academic, I suppose pundits, say) and the US a little bit more like the UK? It's a difficult question for me to answer. My family is trans-atlantic in nature. I am equally at home at a baseball game over here as I am at a footie (soccer) game in the UK. Has our partially shared culture, sporting or otherwise impacted US and UK values? I grew up watching the A Team and Charlie's Angels in the UK - my predecessors' were do doubt partially moulded by Hemingway and Arthur Miller, their US counterparts by Olivier's Henry V. Can we measure the relationship between the degree of convergence in values and maybe policy against cultural penetration? Will our unique relationship with the US deepen if Liverpool put four past that lot tomorrow?

Posted at 07:30 15 September 2008 by Andy Pryce  |  Comments[1]