Americans kept asking me ‘What the hell is going on in Britain?’ – we need to be very worried by the answer

I FOUND myself unexpectedly in the United States last week, but nothing was as surprising as the question I kept being asked there.

From the moment I touched down, from cab-drivers, bellboys, waitresses and strangers to security guards, the same eight words.

The second they heard my accent, it was: “What the hell is going on in Britain?”;

Complaints ranged from locking people up for things they , the near-endless stream of protest hate and bile in our cities every Saturday afternoon to the scarring legacy of a generation of kids mutilated by the NHS at the

While the US southern ­border makes our look like a picnic, our apparent total inability to do anything to stop the flow of boats is baffling to outsiders.

Demographic changes, in particularly, are met by genuine curiosity through to bewilderment. got a nod, as did our “Scandinavian”; for “Third World”; public services.

But most chillingly, there was a repeated fear of ever visiting over concerns they would be mugged or stabbed.

Economic self-harm

While of course overblown in part and stemming I suspect from the slightly warped prism of social media and endless knocking pieces from left-wing US broadsheets, the damage has been done.

The message is clear: ­Britain looks totally bonkers at the moment and is serving as a chilling warning for America of what might be.

And don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t some rip through the MAGA heartlands — these were everyday working folk in sunny, liberal .

The reputation of our country — and our capital in particular — appears to be in the pan, most worryingly with the very people we need to welcome with open arms to spend big at our globally loved landmarks.

Just when we need to drastically increase foreign investment, we should not be surprised if the sentiment of those worried Californians is echoed ten-fold in US boardrooms and banks.

I was most surprised by the level of detail that has cut through across the Pond.

This was especially clear over the conviction of a perhaps slightly dotty old dear for holding up a sign saying “I’m here if you want to talk”; near an abortion clinic.

A remarkable overreach by the state, cracking a nut with a B52 bomber.

The case of 64-year-old Livia Tossici-Bolt has become something of a cause célèbre since Vice President ­singled it out as an example of the decline of free speech ­values in the West.

But what is clear is those concerns are shared far beyond this and its supporters.

We are being held up as an example of what can happen to a once-great country, and people are paying attention.

As Ronald Reagan said: “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.

As Brits we tend to love exceptionalism — the idea that we are slightly above the fray. But do we really have a leg to stand on these days?

Harry Cole

“We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.

“It must be fought for, ­protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”;

While we may be starting to forget that here in Britain, the fine folk of Reagan’s home state of California clearly have not.

Each day at home seems to bring some new madness that, despite my best efforts to ­convince our US friends it’s not so bad, even the most patriotic Brit would struggle to defend.

As I landed back in Blighty, I was greeted with the row over the BBC — our state broadcaster — using the term “reverts”; to describe people who have converted to .

In the Beeb’s own words: “Some Muslims refer to ‘revert’ when talking about people who have converted to the Muslim faith.

This is based on the belief that everyone is born as a Muslim and those who embrace Islam are returning to their ‘natural state’.”;

Some? I will leave it to your imagination who that might be, but I note even the leading for religious switchers is called the Convert Muslim Foundation.

Doomsday warnings

Quite why the BBC feels the need to use such a nakedly controversial phrase beggars belief, but I suspect we can chalk that up as another blow for bonkers Britain.

While it may be easy to sneer at what is going on in America, especially this week as the US President commits an apparent act of economic self-harm, I suggest we park the superiority complex for the time being.

As Brits we tend to love exceptionalism — the idea that we are slightly above the fray.

But do we really have a leg to stand on these days?

Commentators and politicians have been quick to mock 2.0, but they should remember that from over there it looks a lot like mocking the millions of Americans who gave the his historic popular mandate.

He warned he would do this, and America voted for him anyway.

As with in 2016, voters either didn’t believe the doomsday warnings or they don’t care: Their desire to sock it to the elites eclipsed any discussion of the wallet.

And while we point the ­finger, shake our heads and roll our eyes with every twist and turn of what goes on abroad, it is worth pausing to consider how we look to the world right now.

IF you don’t know the meaning of FAFO, the case of the two on Saturday could go in the dictionary as its definition. They f***ed around and found out pretty quick.

From spouting the Hamas “health ­ministry”; as gospel, or calling for Israel’s democratically elected leaders to be arrested and placing the country under the sort of boycott sanctions we have hit with, between them these two have ticked every student talking point on the supposed evil of our ally.

Abtisam Mohamed even compared Israel’s actions in to Putin’s illegal invasion of .

Yet apparently she was “astounded”; that she was turned away at Israel’s border alongside Labour colleague Yuan Yang.

Israel is a nation constantly at war, ­surrounded by enemies that have vowed to wipe it from the map and battling fair friends around the world.

There is no God-given right for anyone to enter a sovereign nation, let alone one in an endless battle for its own survival – so Israel was perfectly entitled to tell these two haters to turn around and go home.

And isn’t it remarkable we’ve heard more noise from Labour about this than about their other MP who was arrested the same ­weekend on child abuse allegations.

JUST how broke is City ­Council? The clowns in charge are in their battle against who are refusing to ­collect rubbish piled sky high.

But they have found the cash to advertise for a £375 per day “Communications and engagement officer”;.

That’s more than £130,000 a year for the full-time job.

With the city infested by “rats the size of cats”;, they’re going to need more than spin- doctors at this rate.