Buying British

The buyout of Arsenal by an American (who beat a Russian to it) last week shows that more and more foreigners are gunning for British icons with a vengeance. After all, the takeover of the Blackburn Rovers by India’s Venkateshwara Hatcheries was proof enough that the British are turning chicken when it comes to safeguarding their national assets. The British royal family has been German for generations anyway, and the famous English ‘corner shop’ , selling groceries, newspapers and other daily odds and ends, has long become the preserve of Indians , Sri Lankans and Pakistanis.

Now with half the teams in the English Premier League already in foreign hands — a phenomenon presciently preceded by chicken tikka masala supplanting fish and chips as the national dish — the time is nigh for a redefinition of Britishness. Harrods to Heathrow, Jaguar to Tetley Tea, Corus to Cadbury, Asprey to Abbey National Bank, Glenmorangie to Grosvenor House, Hamleys to P&O , more and more brands and institutions identified with the former Empire have passed into foreign hands. In fact, according to a report last year by a London law firm, 44% of mergers and acquisitions targeting UKlisted companies since 2008 feature overseas bidders.

At the end of the day, the only thing that the British may have left to hawk is, well, Britishness. India would be the obvious market for curiosities such as English butlers — as esoteric a concept as their prime tourist attraction, English tea — and the English accent , a strong contender for inclusion in Unesco’s list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage, given its imminent endangered status. But given the current popular disenchantment with the English parliamentary system sold to us, India may be wary of buying anything just yet.