BrE: Past Simple instead of Present Perfect

[Mary Bright]

One of my coleagues told me the other day that there's a growing tendency in colloquial BrE to use Past Simple instead of Present Perfect, as well as to pronounce 'the[i]' whatever the word it is followed by. Cannot really fancy this. Will you tell me, please, how far that is true?

[5jj]

I have seen no recent research into this, but my feeling is that at least some users of Br E use the past simple in some situations in which the present perfect would once have been preferred.

I don't think the pronunciation of 'the' is changing.

[Mary Bright]

For me the Present Perfect Tense is a characteristic feature of British English. I like it very much, even though it's pretty difficult for learning. So I'm glad to hear that and thank you for your response.