Black Friday, Europe? Really?

Black Friday sales take place because it's the day after Thanksgiving and most Americans have the day off. Why are we observing it in Europe?

OK, I looked the other way when Europeans increasingly became gripped with Halloween fever over the past several years. I watched in silent bemusement as I saw Europeans hosting Thanksgiving dinners with no Americans present. But today I have to draw the line.

Black Friday, Europe? For the love of god, why?

I suppose I get where this is coming from. Europeans watch a huge amount of American television and film and they want to emulate the American holidays they've seen celebrated on screen their entire lives. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, American-style St Patrick's Day, even the Fourth of July - I've seen them all celebrated here by non-Americans. Stores have started setting up special sections for these holidays. 

From Portugal to Brazil (and back again)

It's a bit of a shock to the system to be back in cold, rainy London after two glorious weeks in sunny Brazil. And unfortunately I mean that literally. Foolishly I thought I could get away with not bringing a jacket, and was forced to shiver my way home from the airport Tuesday in just a jumper. Now, of course, I have a cold.

It was an amazing trip, and really interesting - especially in the way we bookended it with some time in Portugal. We got a really cheap flight to Brazil with TAP, Portugal's national airline, but it required a 24 hour stopover in Porto on the way there and another stopover in Lisbon on the way back. So it was a little colonial recreation, if you will. This theme for the trip was heightened by the fact that the first port of call was Salvador, the capital of Brazil during the colonial period. The city is billed as having the largest collection of colonial architecture in Latin America, and it didn't disappoint.

'Racist' KFC ad: The perils of globalisation

An internet uproar has exploded over the past few days over a purportedly racist KFC ad airing in Australia. The controversy grew so loud that KFC today decided to pull the ad - not because it was causing any offense in Australia, but because Americans watching it on YouTube were offended.

You couldn't pick a more perfect illustration of this crazy globalized internet age we live in. The ad was aired by KFC Australia as part of its "cricket survival guide" series in the run-up to a big match between the Australian and West Indian cricket teams. The ad features a white Australian sitting in a crowd of unruly black Carribean cricket fans. "Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" he asks the camera. He then shares a bucket of fried chicken with the unruly crowd. They devour it, bringing them under control. "Too easy," he says.