CrossTalk: English vs Globish

The English language is globally dominant today, but will this remain the case? Could, for example, Mandarin Chinese make a bid for global dominance? Is it desirable to have a single global language? Can any major language be devoid of cultural meaning? Asked differently, could English become a value-free language for all to use as they wish?

Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language (Audiobook)

It seems impossible: a small island in the North Atlantic, colonized by Rome, then pillaged for hundreds of years by marauding neighbors, becomes the dominant world power in the nineteenth century. Equally unlikely, a colony of that island nation across the Atlantic grows into the military and cultural colossus of the twentieth century. How? By the sword, of course; by trade and industrial ingenuity; but principally, and most surprisingly, by the power of their common language.