Helen Thompson & Aaron Bastani

Is Britain a vassal state of USA

18 November 2025

From Farage’s flirtations with Trump to Palantir’s takeover of the NHS, has Britain already become the 51st state of America? As industry, services and politics all cede control to forces across the pond, the question of British cultural independence is more vexed than ever. Historian Helen Thompson and Novara Media’s Aaron Bastani come together to chart the US-ification of our everyday lives, and what happens next.