The UK still has a heavily embedded caste or caste-like social circumstance. Pharma and finance have somewhat eschewed this tradition, but even those industries still have its embedded lords and ladies. Many of their smartest head to the US (or elsewhere), and Brexit has set them back decades from achieving the "richest country" status. A software engineer can double their earnings by moving to the US (if they can manage to). The owners of capital are generally not creators, and until that changes nor will their economic station.
If you think about the times when England was on top, what do you remember about it? They made things, they made really good things. Precision tools, weapons, navy ships, fighter jets, amazing cars, trains, computers.
The best tools I've ever used as a woodworker have all been English. I really miss that time hanging out in my grandfathers shed using all his British, American and German hand tools. I sort of lost track of them after his death because I thought that period would just go on forever...shame :(
I don't mind Chinese stuff, I have "some" of it, but to this day, nothing can compare with the stuff I own from the UK.
The UK stills makes good cars, but the management at British car plants is now Japanese. When the management was British there was a lot of industrial action. No longer.
What does that say about what they teach at places like Eton?
or move into Europe where the weather is great and life is happier (from someone who did). It's miserable in the UK and everyone agrees, though not everyone has the situation or balls to make the leap...
What makes you think we are generally happier? Europe is experiencing a right wing shift due to people being unhappy. The coming years won't be good for any of us to be honest.
The UK experienced that same right wing shift 14 years ago and is now dealing with the fallout. Europe is still in its honeymoon phase with the latest batch of right wing demagogues.
Not quite. France has been "centre" for a while. Recently the far-right gained some ground. A left alliance appeared but now Macron's centre doesn't want to bring the largest party of the left alliance into the government.
That's at most a 25 degree turn IMO, but in reality it's probably going to be crazy steering and hoping not to hit the guardrails or run off the cliff.
> UK experienced that same right wing shift 14 years ago
Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites. Taken to their logical ends, the Britain after its threatened political revolutions will still look recognisable. France post RN or Germany AfD would be completely remade.
> Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites.
What does that mean? How is a political party funded by a bunch of generational rich right wingers dumping elites? None of these right wing parties would exist without rich people funding them. They're not grassroots movements, regardless of how they try to portray themselves.
The owners of capital - the "Leisure class" that dont need to create yet exist in every society - have another purpose beyond creating things and that is to keep an extremely diverse set of chimps (with different needs, personalities,values,skill,knowlege etc) together. This not something the creative classes can do.
As the gaps and differences between people grow in all kinds of dimension, keeping the chimp troupe together is a non trivial issue.
Thats why over the top luxury, leisure, compensation levels etc emerge. People of all kinds lap that shit up when they get a taste. But since its a superficial quick fix solution to the root problem of social cohesion lots of new issues get created.
The creative classes are not spending enough time on root cause (especially once they get a taste of luxury and leisure).
