Editor's note

When we talk about the Americanisation of English, we often worry about certain spellings creeping into British lexicon. But the reality these days is that Americanisation is having a greater effect on sentence length and style than on the actual vocabulary we use. That said, people should also be quite beside themselves with concern for the plight of gradable adverbs. These terribly charming words are in frightfully grave danger.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday – a moment to reflect on the lives lost in the two world wars. This year, it might be worth trying to engage with some of the more complex elements of that legacy too – such as the plight of the 2.5m men from India who made up the largest volunteer army in the world. Acknowledging their contribution means confronting some uncomfortable colonial truths, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying.

And do catch up on the latest revelations about tax evasion by reading our coverage of the Paradise Papers story – including a fascinating insight into how the Isle of Man came to be a tax haven.

Laura Hood

Politics Editor, Assistant Editor

Top story

The terribly good Brief Encounter (1945). The BFI/Eagle Lion Distributors

The Americanisation of the English language: a frightfully subtle affair

Paul Baker, Lancaster University

Is British English being swallowed up by American English – or are both versions simply following the same path to a more informal language?

Paradise Papers

Four things the Paradise Papers tell us about global business and political elites

Ronen Palan, City, University of London

Unlike the Panama Papers, the latest leak shines a light on the elites of the offshore world.

The Isle of Man is a tax haven – but its prosperity has precarious roots

Pete Hodson, Queen's University Belfast

From ‘holiday isle’ to ‘tax haven’: the Isle of Man is no paradise for locals.

How the Paradise Papers reveal the tension between rock stars and the tax man

Adam Behr, Newcastle University

Rock has long railed against The Man, but problems with the taxman highlight its internal contradictions.

Tax avoidance might be legal but it's time we seriously questioned its ethics

Nicholas Lord, University of Manchester

The morality of tax avoidance becomes problematic when it is aggressively pursued through creative schemes.

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