They got us first with the Beatles. Then the Mini Cooper, Hugh Laurie, and BBC America brought Brit fever back to America. Now it seems that the British are trying to reclaim their hold on America, with British television programs, websites, and newspapers now being targeted toward the American audience.

The two latest to make the move are The Guardian and BBC World News America. In October, British newspaper The Guardian began orienting its website towards Americans, including information on elections and the natural disasters happening in the United States; sadly though, the British spelling remains. BBC America has brought seasoned reporter Matt Frei to its network to host BBC world news America. While this British invasion is moving along smoothly, there have been some problems; mainly with accents. The average American gets lost in the slurry of British slang on most BBC television, not to mention the ramblings of Gordon Ramsay. To compensate for this, the BBC now broadcasts a message before each show, beseeching Americans to turn on their closed captioning so they have a chance of understanding.

Is this a good thing? Well, Americans have historically tried to push our culture and way of life on other countries (hence why there is a McDonalds from Austria to Yugoslavia) so maybe it is time the British got back into the influence others game. We will see if the sun never sets on the British Empire’s influence again.