The Americanisation of English

I notice that more and more I am seeing things like "favorite" and "likable" and "judgment" which to my eye and mind seem so wrong. I put it down to American spellcheckers, anyone have any other ideas?

There are also Americanisms creeping into other areas; I am currently reading "Broken Light" by Joanne Harris, where the main character (a menopausal woman) keeps having "hot flashes". Not in this country we don't! It's a "hot flush", and there's an end to it, but I wonder about the editor of said book allowing (or maybe insisting?) on something so wrong for a book set in Britain with a British cast of characters and written by a British author.

Rant over, thank you.