curlywurly

I could be wrong here, but I think it might not be an apples-to-apples comparison here. I think

• USA high school is much more general than UK A levels --> USA unis can assume less base knowledge (wildly different by subject, I’m sure)
• USA universities have more general education requirements than UK ones, who are very happy to let you just study your chosen subject

So it does make sense that university in the USA might last longer

‘speak to’ is the norm in Standard Southern British English, at least. ‘speak with’ is definitely marked at best, and at worst sounds American/foreign.

Ach Mensch, was für ein klassischer Denkfehler!

re: the missed duplicate sentence: the Guardian has a reputation for editorial oversights like this, especially typographical errors (hence the nickname ‘Grauniad’)