Teamed up with Emily Maitlis, John Sopel was for several years host of by far the best of the BBC political podcasts, Americast  - most tend to be painfully worthy, including Americast post Sopel and Maitlis.  The pair left to set up their own Newsagents podcast, but this has been uninspiring - it has only been since they've done a US spinoff that the pair have once again recaptured their magic. One of there reasons I read this book from 2018 was my enjoyment of the engaging approach taken in the podcast - the other was the comment by Bill Bryson on the front, which made me think this would be like of one of Bryson's books - wry humour, underlining the differences between the US and the UK. In reality, If Only They Didn't Speak English is very different. I'm glad I read it, but it was significantly harder going than I expected. Sopel's writing style has none of the verve of his podcasting persona - this is a serious book, examining a range of ways that American c...