The UK's political and economic decline
Oct. 27th, 2022 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcA few years ago, I wrote here that the Brexit vote may have partly been a fearful escape from absorption into an incipient European superstate, a memory of how people voted for the EEC yet ended up with the Maastricht Treaty. In recent days, it has been interesting to read analysis of how the question of Europe has fractured the Conservatives for much of my adult lifetime. It feels related that andrewducker draws our attention to an article that opines how, over recent decades, the UK failed to invest in industry, green or not, then blamed the economic consequences on outsiders.
Boris Johnson, like Donald Trump, feels very much a symptom of divisive populism. The more level-headed Conservatives are largely now gone, certainly from the front benches, mostly rather further still and some time ago. It is difficult not to draw a parallel with the evolution of the Republicans in the US over a similar period as the GOP now alienates all but the psychopaths and sycophants. In neither country does a better-founded successor, a conservative party with intellectual credibility and a foot in reality, seem to be waiting in the wings.
The hollowing out of our governance reminds me of watching a car crash in slow motion. Past administrations long ago also made serious mistakes but they had the excuse of having rather less information than we now wield. There is no excuse for the harm to so many people yet it is so difficult to change course.
At least there is some light relief: Sky News' person-on-the-street coverage pops up a "New Prime Minister" banner together with their interviewee's occupation and name, e.g., singer, single mother, whatever. It appears to be announcing a surprising variety of new prime ministers.
andrewducker draws our attention to an article that opines how, over recent decades, the UK failed to invest in industry, green or not, then blamed the economic consequences on outsiders.Boris Johnson, like Donald Trump, feels very much a symptom of divisive populism. The more level-headed Conservatives are largely now gone, certainly from the front benches, mostly rather further still and some time ago. It is difficult not to draw a parallel with the evolution of the Republicans in the US over a similar period as the GOP now alienates all but the psychopaths and sycophants. In neither country does a better-founded successor, a conservative party with intellectual credibility and a foot in reality, seem to be waiting in the wings.
The hollowing out of our governance reminds me of watching a car crash in slow motion. Past administrations long ago also made serious mistakes but they had the excuse of having rather less information than we now wield. There is no excuse for the harm to so many people yet it is so difficult to change course.
At least there is some light relief: Sky News' person-on-the-street coverage pops up a "New Prime Minister" banner together with their interviewee's occupation and name, e.g., singer, single mother, whatever. It appears to be announcing a surprising variety of new prime ministers.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-28 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-28 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-04 03:04 pm (UTC)Austerity led directly to people feeling that the system had abandoned them, and UKIP then grabbed those voters.