In the Expat Insider survey by InterNations for 2021, 37 percent of expats in the UK said they find it difficult to make new friends there. The figure across all countries in the survey was 32 percent.
The After-Work Drink
An online poll of more than 1,600 workers by the job site Monster, reported in Britain in October 2007, found that only 17 percent socialize with colleagues at least once a week.
Good Neighbors
In September 2015, YouGov found that only one in four British people would call their neighbors good friends. Sixty-five percent said that none of their neighbors are good friends. Among people over 60, the share who would call a neighbor a good friend rose to 44 percent.
There to Do a Job
In January 2019, a survey commissioned by the telecoms company 4Com found that three quarters of UK workers have turned a professional relationship into a lifelong friendship.
The survey also asked why some people do not form friendships at work. The most common answer, given by 39 percent, was that they are there to do a job, not to make friends.
Banter in the Police
In 2024, Ian Durrant of Canterbury Christ Church University published a study of banter in The Police Journal. He spoke with three groups of police officers and staff. When a colleague complained about being the target of jokes and tricks, each group described the jokes as banter. In Durrant’s words: “For them, banter was a signifier of in-group acceptance.”
Durrant also argues that banter is often used to maintain an exclusionary culture and can amount to bullying.
Captain Slow
James May was given the nickname “Captain Slow” in 2003, when he joined Jeremy Clarkson on the revived BBC show Top Gear. Clarkson thought that bickering between the two would work on the program.
In January 2024, May said that the presenters are “creatively fuelled by a mutual loathing.” Clarkson replied that they had spent more time with each other than with their families, and that it would not have lasted “if we’d hated each other as much as James likes to think.”
The Least Cool Person
Taskmaster began on the channel Dave on 28 July 2015 and moved to Channel 4 in 2020. Greg Davies plays the Taskmaster, and Alex Horne plays his assistant. Of the actor Richard Ayoade, a contestant, he said: “But he is also the least cool person we’ve ever had as well.”
Another contestant, Nina Conti, described Davies and Horne: “Greg says the most awful things about him and he rides it so buoyantly.”
Where Banter Stops
Acas, the public body that advises employers and workers on workplace relations, publishes guidance on sexual harassment. It states: “What some people might consider as joking, ‘banter’ or part of their workplace culture can still be sexual harassment.”
The test is the effect on the person. Unwanted behavior counts when it creates “an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment” for someone.
A Kind of Merry War
In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick and Beatrice trade insults whenever they meet. Their wit and banter provide much of the play’s humor. Early on, Beatrice’s uncle Leonato explains: “There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her.”
By the end of the play, the two publicly confess their love for each other.
Team Captains
Would I Lie to You?, a BBC One panel show, was first broadcast on 16 June 2007. Its team captains throughout have been David Mitchell and Lee Mack, and part of the humor is the playful rivalry between them. A 2008 review noted that pitting Mitchell against Mack brought “a certain class and north vs south element” into the show, which Mack was always happy to exploit.