Paul Holmes started it with his reflections on industry events in Europe. Then Stuart Bruce added his thoughts.
Let me stir in An American Tale – Simon English writing a first-hand account of US and UK media relations in Corp Comms magazine.
And here’s the key question. Is Britain closer to US practice or to that in continental Europe? And if we’re drifting westward (as I suspect we are for historic, economic, cultural and linguistic reasons), where does that leave Ireland, recipients of much inward investment from the US, but also good Europeans within the Eurozone?
PR Studies 
Thanks for this Richard. I’d read the article but didn’t think CorpComms was online or I’d have referenced it in my post.
A difficult question that one, Richard. I have spent a good amount of time with an award winning independent US agency on both sides of the pond. I’d agree with a lot of what Simon’s said. Yes, PR’s in the US are defensive and have no problem calling to reprimand a journalist. Yes, UK practitioners are more deferential. Many international PR campaigns are funded from the US. Are we heading westwards, economically. Now that’s tough! It depends on many things; the hub of social media innovation / web 2.0; whether the US can successfully transform into a service based economy…the list is endless. Where does Ireland sit with all this? Well, I don’t see the deluge of (US sourced) marketing ££ coming from those shores that we saw in 2000. In fact, things have been distinctly quiet…