In Britain, the economic crisis may be worse than in the United States. Brits are just about keeping their upper lip stiff with the help of a revived World War Two slogan. Also in the UK, an association of local officials wants to ban government jargon; under threat, some of these phrases seem lyrical and worth keeping, not unlike brutalist architecture. Finally, Yiyun Li, a Chinese-born novelist who writes, beautifully, in English. Her first novel, “The Vagrants” has just been published.