Most people in the South East of England never seem to understand. Blinded by the headlights and headlines of post imperial UK nationalism, the idea that “Britain is Great” pervades. We (I live in the South East at the moment) cling with white fisted knuckles to the notion that Britannia rules, unwilling to let go of our imperial past for fear that we might find we are just another European country. Its a myth which works much more in England, and which helps explain differences in the tendancy to believe immigrant scapegoating North and South of the border if Britain is uniquely great people infer it cant be the system thats to blame, it must be outsiders. But the truth is that this is a very sick country indeed. The British government is investing a net figure of nothing in our future economy, and instead just about keep our head above water by flogging off our assets at a rate which would astonish almost any other country and re-inflating speculative bubbles which suck any wealth we do create into an unproductive black hole London housing market which eats wealth out of the rest of the country, hoovering any investment away from anything productive and then complaining when its asked to redistribute crumbs from its table. A metropolis once at the centre of the biggest empire in human history and now at the centre of a global revolution of money-men over making things, of the wealthy over the rest is disguised by a blanket of post-imperial false confidence. Post-imperial Britain is a very strange, very damaged place. And before the people of these islands, the English in particular, can move on, and find a new place in the world, they need someone to finally point out that not only is this former emperor naked, not only does he no longer rule the waves, but his failure to grapple sensibly with either of these facts has led to some pretty unhealthy habits. Telling a difficult truth is what friends are for. In part, thats what Scotlands referendum will be about.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 04:38:11 +0000
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