Land of no hope... and glory (for the wealthy)

As the pound tanks against the dollar, Holly Baxter weighs up if she will ever return to her homeland for good

Britons still bemoan the fact that Americans can’t get fish and chips right but our country has a lot more to feel embarrassed about (Getty/iStock)

Watching the pound tank from across the Atlantic is a strange feeling. All around you, your American friends are celebrating and talking about planning trips “to Europe”. Amid the cacophony, you sit silently, unsure what to think. You get paid in dollars, it’s true; you have a visit planned to the motherland during which everything will surely be more affordable. Yet something about the news hits you right in the national pride. What happened to the persistence and the strength of pound sterling, the currency we clung to even as everyone else reached for the euro? It’s always been worth more than the dollar. It’s always been a respected currency, a steady currency, one that you could rely on. All of a sudden, American commentators on Bloomberg are talking about how the UK is an economy that has “submerged itself”. Even though your wallet is heavier, things feel like they’re looking grim.

As an expat (especially one who, like me, is on a tenuous, non-green card track visa that can be revoked at a whim), you always live with one foot in your adopted country and one in your homeland. You might get used to driving on the right side of the road instead of the left and you might integrate eye-wateringly high medical charges into your everyday life, but you’re still a Brit. You still bemoan the fact that Americans can’t get fish and chips right, or the fact that none of them seem aware of the existence of the rest of Britain outside of central London. You still cheer for Team GB at the Olympics and England during the World Cup.