-Caveat Lector-
>From New Statesman
The NS Profile - The British-American project
Right-wing conspiracy or right-on broker of the special relationship?
By Duncan Parrish
To some it is just a conference to promote warmer ties between two
great nations. To others it is proof of the continuing stranglehold
of American interests over the British establishment. The British-
American Project, like the United States itself, plays to British
desire and prejudice.
That's if you have heard of it at all, so rarely is its name
whispered in the press, other than in recent comment by John Pilger
in the New Statesman. Cloistered American groups with influential
memberships fascinate and scare the left - always troubled that the
most powerful nation on earth, sworn to defend the right to freedom
of speech, exercises it against them.
The British-American Project for the Successor Generation (as it used
to be known before it quietly contracted its title) was founded in
1985. Each year the project invites 24 American and 24 British
delegates to take par
t in four days of dinners, parties and discussions (ranging from the nature of the
"special relationship" to security and economic issues). Delegates enjoy comparative
luxury (the class of '98 stayed at the $285-a-night O
mni Royal Crescent in New Orleans). The aim, to quote the report of the 1985
conference, is "to create, at a time of growing international strains and stresses, a
closer rapport between Britain and the United States among
people likely to become influential decision-makers during the next two decades".
Delegates are nominated by existing fellows; once they have come through the process
of selection (in the UK, this is based on competitive
debating sessions with other nominees), they have their travel and other expenses
paid to the more or less exotic locations of the conference. Last year New Orleans,
this year . . . Harrogate.
The plenary session introduces the weighty topic of the conference - "The politics of
identity", or "Present alliance, future challenges" - and then the group splits up for
discussion. In many ways this is a conventional
if high-powered conference, but the newsletters impress upon delegates the networking
possibilities.
It is the directory of alumni that both opponents and supporters of the project point
to as proof of its clout. "Big swing to BAP" trumpeted an article in the project's
newsletter following the 1997 general election: thre
e members of Tony Blair's cabinet - George Robertson, Chris Smith and Mo Mowlam -
appear next to Peter Mandelson and Liz Symons. Powerful figures from the world of
policy - Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff, Matthew
Taylor of the Institute for Public Policy Research and Geoff Mulgan of the No 10
Policy Unit - are listed with big names in the media: Jeremy Paxman and James Naughtie
of the BBC, Trevor Phillips, and the Daily Telegraph
editor Charles Moore. With graduates like these, it is no surprise that the project
is viewed with alarm by some as central to the Americanisation of British foreign
policy.
The project was first suggested in 1982 by Nick Butler, a Labour Party insider of the
old right and a research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs
(Chatham House). Along with many others in the US and B
ritain who viewed the special relationship favourably, he had become concerned about
the growing tide of anti-American sentiment, particularly within his own party. This
was the time of Greenham Common, CND and the battle
s over US deployment of cruise missiles in Europe. Vietnam and Watergate were fresh in
everyone's memory.
Butler's response was to propose a series of conferences, similar in format to the
annual get-together of the Anglo-German elite at Konigswinter, developing personal
relationships between the participants and broadening u
nderstanding. This rapidly gained backing from Chatham House, then from other
establishment bodies, such as the Royal United Services Institute and the US embassy
in London. But at this stage there seemed little prospect
of funding.
It was Sir Charles Villiers, the former chairman of British Steel,
who overcame this obstacle by roping in two American anglophile
friends of his, Lew van Dusen and Isadore Scott, who were able to
secure $460,000 through the Pew Charitable Trusts, the second biggest
grant-making body in the US.
Opponents of the project would protest that its origins were
political, not philanthropic. For John Pilger, the project is a very
low-profile "casual freemasonry" with a right-wing background and
funding. Many from the so-called left who are now in government, he
notes, have attended. His conclusion is that this government is as
much a part of the right-wing security and foreign affairs
establishment as every previous British government and just as likely
to commit crimes of diplomacy - and its friends in the media are just
as willing to excuse and overlook these crimes. James Naughtie
retorts: "Not everyone who talks to more than one intelligent
American at a time is automatically involved in a conspiracy." He
says he finds it hard to see how attending a conference for one week,
ten years ago, puts him under any obligation to anything.
Pilger mentions a White House meeting in 1983 at which Ronald Reagan
discussed his anxiety about increasing anti-Americanism with
supporters such as Rupert Murdoch and James Goldsmith. Reagan spoke
of the urgent need to "build the infrastructure of democracy . . . A
special concern will be the successor generations, as these younger
people are the ones who will have to work together in the future on
defence and security issues."
The outcome of this meeting actually received considerable publicity
at the time. A front-page article in the New York Times, entitled "US
is planning bid to win over Europe's young", quoted government
officials as detailing Reagan's "broad strategy" to target "a new
generation of European leaders . . . known here as the 'successor
generation' ".
The project, however, categorically denies that it was established
under any such Reaganite influence, claiming that the phrase
"successor generation" was in common use at the time. Judging by the
report of its first conference, which often refers to criticism of
American abuse of power, it seems unlikely that it was consciously
pursuing a political agenda. Many different interests had coincided
in the promotion of the special relationship: an aggressively anti-
communist US foreign policy, the Labour right wing's frustration with
the anti-Americanism prevalent in their party and an almost nostalgic
desire to see old ties restored.
The first concern about the project was expressed in a Tribune
article in 1989 suggesting that the earlier conferences were
specifically designed to co-ordinate or subvert Labour policy away
from unilateralism - these were the meetings attended by Mandelson,
Smith and Mowlam. But the 1985 report suggests otherwise: "The
British were surprised that there were no Reaganites on the American
side . . . The Americans explained that there was a reaction in their
country to the hard-line position many people associate with
President Reagan."
This is not to say the American right wing has been under-
represented. The predominant tenor of the debates of the eighties was
conservative - more recently, many participants were shocked by a
homophobic speech at the 1996 Dallas conference. But in the nineties
the whole event has become, in the words of a recent delegate,
"something of a politically correct orgy". Evan Davis of Newsnight
also found this: "The person who sponsored me to go said, 'make sure
they know you're gay, because you're much more likely to get in if
they know that'."
Unfortunately for the BAP's image, its sponsors are a roll-call of
media bogeymen: Monsanto, Philip Morris and Camelot have all
contributed, as have the arms manufacturer GEC Marconi and the Texan
giant Raytheon - purveyor of Tomahawks and Patriots to Uncle Sam. The
extent to which these corporations influence proceedings at the BAP
remains unclear - they contribute to newsletters but are not invited
to attend conferences.
BAP supporters would argue that there is nothing very wrong in
developing good ties with another country. The Americans inspire the
British with their "can-do" optimism. The British broaden the world-
view of the Americans. But the project is only one of many schemes
through which the British elite learns to love and live with America:
the Kennedy scholarships, the Fulbrights and Harknesses, the
International Visitor Program, together with more overtly agenda-
driven institutions such as the Atlantic Council and the Trades Union
Committee for European and Transatlantic Understanding. Taking all
these into consideration accounts for almost every minister and
adviser in the Labour Party.
The concern some might have is that the US is the only country in the
world able to fund this kind of communion of the elites. For those
convinced of an insidious American grip on public life, the BAP has
become the focal point of their suspicions. Yet BAP alumni like
Mandelson or Mowlam will have paused only briefly to bask in their
week of recognition by the transatlantic aristocracy before shooting
on. Ultimately, the success of the BAP says more about the
willingness of the British to embrace and elect American values than
the power of institutional propaganda.
>From wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : Britain
Teenage sexual ill-health in Britain linked to broader social malaise
By Julie Hyland
17 May 1999
A study by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) shows that
�there is substantial sexual ill health among teenagers in England
and Wales� and that �recent data are consistent with a worsening
trend�.
The report, published in the May 15 edition of the British Medical
Journal, shows that British teenagers now have the worst sexual
health in Western Europe. Figures for England and Wales indicate
that, after a slight improvement in the early 1990s, sexual ill-
health has got progressively worse. Long-term effects include
cervical cancer, infertility and increased susceptibility to HIV.
The PHLS study analysed national data from 1996 relating to sexual
disease among teenagers in England and Wales; birth and termination
statistics from the Office for National Statistics; and reports from
sexually transmitted disease clinics; these were compared to figures
for 1995.
The study revealed that recorded instances of gonorrhoea diagnosis
amongst 16-19 year olds�which fell consistently between 1991-
1994�rose by 34 .5 percent amongst girls and 31.2 percent amongst
boys. The increases�which occurred in virtually every region�followed
a smaller rise between 1994 and 1995. Instances of genital warts
(first attack) and chlamydia were up by approximately 12 percent and
17 percent respectively for both sexes. Genital herpes (first attack)
also rose for girls by 1.5 percent.
The study also revealed that abortions amongst 16-19 year old girls
rose by 12.5 percent (14.5 percent for under 16s) and pregnancies by
4.6 percent (6.7 percent for under 16s) during 1995-96. The increases
reversed previously declining trends in the early 1990s. Teenage
birth rates in England and Wales were the highest in Western Europe.
Girls aged 16-19 account for the highest rates of gonorrhoea,
chlamydial infection and genital warts. Figures for 1997 are not yet
available.
An editorial in the same journal by Martin McKee, Professor of
European Public Health, points out, �Even before this deterioration
there were considerable grounds for concern as the United Kingdom had
the highest teenage pregnancy rate in western Europe, with birth
rates among 15-19 year olds seven times those in the Netherlands,
where, although rates of adolescent sexual activity are comparable,
contraceptive use is much more common.�
McKee pointed out that British teenagers also compared unfavourably
with their European counter-parts in several additional areas�most
notably drug and alcohol abuse. A report by the European Drugs
Monitoring Centre at the end of 1998 showed that British teenagers
were more likely to have used all categories of illicit drugs than
their counterparts in any other European Union country. Fifteen-year-
old boys in Wales and Northern Ireland were amongst the highest in
Europe in terms of weekly consumption of alcohol.
The editorial questioned whether, taken together, the statistics
indicate �a more fundamental malaise��citing the increase in poverty
and poor educational attainment that has also occurred in Britain
over the last years. �A good general education is a major factor in
delaying pregnancy�, it continued, but the UK has "a long tail of
underachievement", vying with the United States for bottom place
amongst the major industrialised nations of literacy, numeracy and
basic skills.
McKee also noted that �many more families live in poverty in the
United Kingdom than in the rest of the European Union and rates have
increased markedly in the past 20 years. Although the exact nature of
the relation between poverty and risk taking behaviour is complex, it
undoubtedly exists. To take just one example, being below the poverty
threshold has an independent effect on both smoking and ability to
quit.� In addition family time has become increasingly limited as
British parents now work the longest hours in Europe, a factor
�exacerbated by increasing shift working with the growth in 24 hour
service industries�. This limits the amount of time parents have to
provide the necessary support for their children.
Such statistics should be treated as a whole, McKee argues, rather
than the individual approach taken by the government up to
now�appointing a drugs �tsar� for co-ordinating policy on illegal
drugs and the health unit drafting proposals to tackle teenage
smoking. �The first report from the government's social exclusion
unit paints a graphic picture of what is wrong with Britain today,
illustrating clearly the complex interaction between poverty, low
educational achievement, and health�, McKee concludes.
Health and social service departments have called on the government
to provide better standards of sex education in schools�pointing out
that the growth of teenage pregnancies and sexual ill-health was not
because British youngsters were more sexually active than their
European counter-parts, but were less well informed of the
consequences.
Such measures are unlikely to be enacted, however. The British
Pregnancy Advisory Service had already complained that Prime
Ministers Blair's insistence on �consensus politics� meant the
government was very reluctant �to get off the fence� on controversial
issues. Almost immediately the Tory Party has made clear its
opposition to a further �openness� in sex education. Shadow Health
Secretary Ann Widdecombe said that teenage pregnancies and sexual ill-
health resulted from the �lack of self-respect� amongst young girls
and their inability �to say no�.
Even if such measures were implemented, they would fall far short of
tackling the social malaise identified by McKee. Labour is committed
to drastic cuts in public spending and welfare. They present low
educational attainment, poverty and ill health as the result of
individual �lifestyle� choices rather than the product of a social
set-up that systematically discriminates against working people and
has the most devastating impact on the young. Under these conditions,
how is a generation that sees no possibility of social advancement�a
decent education, good job and stable future�to be convinced of the
need to protect its own well-being?
See Also:
Forty percent of children in Britain born into poverty and
deprivation
[7 April 1999]
Report finds UK health inequalities have widened significantly
[8 December 1998]
Top of page
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The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
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Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
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