Yeah but where have you been? The pound has always been worth more than the US dollar. In fact it only fell below the $1.50 mark for about 1 month in the past 8 years. Also it is down from its highs against the dollar at the beginning of the year. Nothing new, the average over the last decade has been around $1.60 to $1.70.

http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/GBP/hist2005.html

I know all this becuae I use to work on the FX trade desk for Fleet Bank.