Mr Sopel looks at the various key cultural and social norms that define America and sets it against the rest of the West – especially western Europe – and tries to explain what drives American society, and what its flashpoints are. From his experience as the BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel gives facts and insider's anecdotes which illuminate American politics, history and culture. There are other mildly interesting sections on access to medical help (little new here), pharmaceutical advertising (something I witnessed myself and was staggered by on a recent visit) and the American view on what the state should do for individuals versus what they should take responsibility for themselves. and paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter, all those Americanisms which I struggled to fathom suddenly started to make sense - the mistrust of government; the idea that you yourself are responsible for your own wellbeing and safety; the absolute belief in the American Dream and hey presto - you begin to understand the obsession with guns, the resistance to an NHS style health care, and even the popularity of religion when you realise it's sold in the oh-so-flambouyantly-unique capitalist manner. Despite many thousands of people dying from gun violence each year, and the incidence of mass shootings happening with alarming frequency, Mr Sopel predicts that the US will never give up its guns.

Easy to read, extremely interesting and helps to explain some of the craziness going on in US politics at the moment. Interesting analysis of the American political landscape by one of the BBC's most eminent journalists, who has himself been at the end of 'fake news' jibes by the current POTUS. In this chapter, Sopel looks at the ebola panic, the effect of an attack by a foreign enemy on the USA (Pearl Harbor and 9/11), the fear of Americans related to foreign travel (though he does mention the “intrepid” behaviour of a group of older Americans stranded at an airport), the Islamophobia promoted by various groups in the USA, and the relentless advertising for prescription drugs.The book is divided up into chapters that discuss the most important themes that define contemporary American culture, such as race relations, gun ownership, patriotism and attitudes to government. Although this would be a good read, I have to say that Sopel was good company, reading his own work, during my weekly commute. There were some really interesting facts in here, and I particularly enjoyed Sopel’s personal insights into his first hand experiences of presidents and US political coverage (although it needed more of these).

Jon Sopel, the BBC's North America Editor has released the paperback version of his book, If Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes from Trump's America, to explain how this happened, and offer a more general cultural description of the state of modern America. Sopel shares some of his own (weirdly liberal) racist views, implying that ethnic minorities are too dumb to apply for photo ID.Jon Sopel compares and contrasts Trump and Obama, evenly and fairly and also goes back in the short history of the States to illuminate points he is making. An awful lot of words have been published as a result of the disastrous 2016 election and having read a decent chunk of them, I can say with confidence that these are some of the best. There are some fascinating comparisons between America, the UK and Europe and Sopel has weaved in entertaining and authentic anecdotes about his time living and working in Washington. How can you be happy when the people around you are short of food, can't afford to be ill, when every numpty has a gun, when police are allowed to kill unarmed teenagers, especially if they're black.