Last year I made the mistake of going to Asda on Black Friday.

I arrived to see two people squabbling in the entrance over what appeared to be a TV the size of a swimming pool. They were tussling over it, as it balanced precariously on a trolley.

It was no better inside and I thought at first that I had missed news of an imminent nuclear attack, sparking a major panic buying spree.

Pensioners who looked as though they wouldn’t say boo to a goose were aggressively grabbing electronic items, mothers with toddlers were barging past other mothers with toddlers and men were shouting and gesticulating.

I had no idea it was Black Friday, the day on which retailers offer huge discounts in an attempt to persuade people to spend in the run-up to Christmas.

It came as no surprise to find that it was originally an American tradition. I hate to say it, but just about every American tradition that finds its way over here is equally dreadful.

We have just recovered from the now annual onslaught of Halloween, with adults as much in on the act of terrorising neighbourhoods as the kids. And the ghastly habit of trick or treating is 100 per cent American.

York Press:

Black Friday: I'll be staying well clear, says columnist Helen Mead

Then we have school proms. Not just one, when teens leave high school, but three, starting at primary school in year six, again aged 16 when they move to sixth form and then again when they leave.

The cost of it is astronomical, as youngsters (and parents) strive every year for bigger and better - limousines, helicopters, private jets and specially sourced dresses made by tailors-to-the-stars in Beverly Hills.

I am so glad we had nothing like this when I was at school. We knew about proms from American films like Grease, but it was unheard of here.

I can’t understand why we copy the worst stuff to come out of America. Why can’t we emulate the best of the USA - their fantastically well-written, funny sit-coms (ours are not a patch on any of them) and their outstanding (so I’ve heard) customer service.

Next we’ll be having razzamataz-fuelled elections with politicians beaming amid explosions of ticker tape, music and the whoops of cheerleaders. Jeremy Corbyn will love all that.

We’ve already started to copy the US TV newsreading style with Tom Bradby’s all-American anchorman looks and chatty style on ITV’s News at Ten. It’s not to my taste, After years of preferring ITV, I’ve defected to the BBC.

Black Friday is once again upon us this week and, very sensibly, Asda has decided not to take part. So everyone will be rushing to Tesco, which is opening extra early to cope.

I will be staying well clear. Even if we needed a new TV (we do, actually) and it was selling for less than a tenner, wild horses wouldn’t get me to enter into it.