7 JUL 2021 · Welcome to another instalment of our series “Keep The Brits”! This is a series of short messages about traits and quirks of British people and the importance and impact of British culture. So, here we are! After 16 months (and counting!) in the COVID era, we must not overlook the positives aspects of lockdown. Sounds weird saying that, right? But being locked indoors has made us look around our homes and say: do I really need that coffee table or will I ever read that book again? A good number of us have even decided to change the look of our homes and have been busy redecorating and refurbishing. And with COVID restrictions easing and the good weather coming, a British cultural institution has made its appearance again: the car boot sale. Car boot sales are informal gatherings, usually in farm fields, where Brits show up, open the boots of their cars and sell whatever stuff they have been storing in their homes for years. They usually occur on Sundays in the spring and in the summer, sprawling around the country side and town markets all across the UK. Each of them attracts hundreds of improvised sellers and thousands of buyers. And because most of the sellers are more driven by getting rid of their stuff rather than maximizing profits…car boot sales are definitely a buyer’s dream! And that’s why armies of eager buyers flock to car boot sales, but that makes prices go up, right? So without realizing it, in a way, car boot sales are as close to efficient markets as you can get. All spontaneous and unregulated! Adam Smith’s true invisible hand at work! I have been at many car boot sales as a seller. They are really quintessential British and a lot of fun…and they are the epithomy of the old saying that a man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure! Thanks for listening. We’ll be back soon. In the meantime, keep the brits in your heart and mind.

5 FEB 2021

23 DEC 2020 · Welcome to the second instalment of our series “Keep The Brits”! This is our opportunity to depict different traits and quirks of British people and the importance and impact of British culture. Today’s topic is rock and pop music. Rock and pop music have influenced all generations across the whole world since the early fifties. And rock and pop music in the English language have played and still play by far the lion’s share of all music produced and consumed in every corner of the world. Without a doubt, the relatively small population of Britain has contributed to the English language music the most. So, let’s try this. Without thinking about it too much and without looking at google or Wikipedia: do a quick list in your head of all the most famous British music acts in rock and pop music that you can think of. Are you doing that? If you are, I bet that these names would certainly have come up in your head: Beatles, the Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Cream, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Genesis, the Who, Queen, The Clash, Sex Pistol, the Cure, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, the Smiths, Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Coldplay…and we could go on for a long time… That’s a lot of acts spanning through many decades and they are just the ones that reached mega stardom. Now, try to do the same with a much bigger country that has also contributed a lot to English music: the United States of America… are you doing that? Well in this case I bet these are the names that popped into your head: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Jonny Cash, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Cher…and many others… Now, have you noticed the stark difference? The British names I mentioned are all bands, while the American ones are all solo artists. Is that a coincidence? Of course I am not suggesting that no British solo artists ever reached stardom. Think of Elton John and David Bowie. And I am also not suggesting that there are no mega bands in the US: think of the Beach Boys, the Eagles, the Ramones, Nirvana and so on. What I am suggesting is that even in music the British tend to show the strong sense of community and team work that defines their approach to many aspects of their life which is very different from the more individualistic mentality of their cousins across the pond. You don’t believe me? Ask your friends to make the same lists and you will see. Thanks for listening and we’ll be back. In the meantime, keep the brits in your heart and mind.

9 NOV 2020 · This is the first in hopefully a series of short podcasts. The reason of these podcasts is, I suppose, very obvious. Britain is set to leave the EU at the end of 2020. But in these podcasts I will not touch on politics. I will instead try to depict different traits and quirks of British people, the way I see them, and what it means to be British. As I am sure you guessed from my accent, I am Italian, I will always be and I am proud of it but I have lived in Britain for more than 20 yrs. Britain is my home. So I am also a proud British. What I want to talk to you about today is what is often referred to as British stubbornness which has been talked about a lot specifically in relation to the decision of the UK to leave the EU. Why are British people so stubborn? Why do they always see themselves as different and separate from the rest? There is famous quote that goes: “When the sea in the Channel is rough, Europe is cut off”. That’s quite a quote isn’t it? Well, I think the main reason is down to the most obvious characteristic of the British land. It is an island. Full stop. Britain has been politically connected and married to that land for centuries with almost no changes or interferences. While European countries have constantly and ferociously fought, drawn and redrawn their connected borders for centuries with bloody wars and treaties, Britain was spared. Travelling from Britain to any other country has been made easier with planes but it is still an island. You still have to leave the British soil. You have to travel and get to another soil. Italians, French, Spaniards, Germans can just walk. One step and you are somewhere else. Also, ask Italians what they think of their fellow countrymen who live in Sardinia or Sicily. Ask French how they see their fellow countrymen who live in Corsica or ask Spaniards to talk about the Spanish who live in the Balearic islands. Well, they will all tell you pretty much the same thing: well, they are islanders, right? They are different. Yes they are Italian, French, Spanish, and German…but they are different. Well that applies to the British people too. Thanks for listening. Next time I will talk about something that we all have in common: music. In the meantime, keep the brits in your heart and mind.

3 MAR 2020 · Keep the Brits! Keep them close and hug them tight! As they leave and waive goodbye, Drink their beers and feel their vibe. Brits will always be our friends, Both in Europe and everywhere. Keep them close and hug them tight! Shakespeare, Chaplin, Dickens, Darwin, Always be the world’s darlings. Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, and Kinks, make our hearts always sing. Don’t forget us, Irish and Welsh, Our message is not a farewell. Don’t you worry, English and Scots, We will miss you but bear no cross.

3 FEB 2020 · Now that Brexit has been formally approved by the relevant authorities, we cannot avoid thinking that such a step carries a symbolic contents which can go beyond its immediate meaning. Great Britain exits EU, not Europe: but many interpret Brexit like this. That European Union probably could have exalted common features of the adhering countries, more than try to smooth differences – those differences that enrich everybody in terms of economic and cultural progress; in any case, we mustn’t forget that it has assured the longest period of peace in history. That’s why we continue to think about that long thread starting from the Greek and Greek-Roman civilization, passing through the melting pots of different cultures which the Middle Age and Renaissance have been, with philosophers, artists and geniuses moving from one court of Europe to another until the new unifying language was created, English, the Latin of the modern era; a thread that has never been interrupted; we are all children of a common culture going from the Greek philosophers to the enlightened minds that each European country can count and that echoed beyond those imaginary lines we call borders. Realizing that we really all have a lot in common, the idea was born to create a new column “Keep the Brits”, with podcasts on trends of and opinions on London. The aim is to keep the beat with the big cosmopolitan metropolis and keep the Brits with us, because we are all part of that marvellous continent, and marvellous dream, we call Europe. ------ Ormai che Brexit è approvata dalle autorità britanniche, non possiamo non pensare che tale passo ha un contenuto simbolico che può andare oltre il suo reale significato. Il Regno unito esce dall'UE e non dall'Europa ma molti lo interpretano così. Quella UE che forse poteva più esaltare i tratti comuni dei paesi aderenti invece di cercare di smussare le differenze, le differenze che rendono tutti ricchi sotto il profilo del progresso economico e culturale, ci ha comunque assicurato la più lunga pace della storia. Noi perciò continuiamo a pensare a quel lungo filo conduttore che va dalla civiltà greca prima, greco-romana poi a quel grande crogiolo di culture differenti che sono stati il medio evo prima e il rinascimento poi con filosofi, artisti e geni che passavano da una corte all'altra d'Europa sino a giungere alla nuova lingua unificante, il latino dell'era moderna, l'inglese; filo che non si è mai interrotto: siamo tutti figli di una comune cultura che va dai filosofi greci alle menti illuminate che ogni paese d'Europa può vantare e che hanno avuto eco oltre quelle linee immaginarie che chiamiamo confini. Consci che davvero tanto ci accomuna, nasce da qui l'idea di creare una nuova rubrica Keep the Brits, con podcast su trends di ed opinioni su Londra. Per tenere noi il passo (Keep up with) con la grande città cosmopolita e tenere i Brits con noi, perché tutti parte di quel meraviglioso continente, ed anche di quel sogno, che tutti noi chiamiamo Europa.