The Great Decline

The British Empire was long in decline before WW2, many saw the end coming before WW1.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/modern/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-british-empire/

All empires rise and fall though, always have and always will. The question is how badly they burn on the way down, something we may witness with the USA in our lifetime as power shifts to China.
The yellow peril eh? They are too repressive at home. Plenty of manpower not enough Drakes and Raleigh.
 
We will keep falling as well, The left made sure of that. Ever looked at your average University kid there days? The average poster on here? The BBC? When they are finnished with us we will be in total farcial ruin. Our population will resemble the third world mixed with iraq.
 
The UK doesn't care about conquering the world anymore. Right now military power still decides a country's place in the hierarchy. But we should start becoming a strong science and tech nation because that is what the future is going to be.

But the current generation are pretty soft and lack willpower compared to even the 80s/90s when I was a kid. It seems to be like that all over Europe.

Russia aren't in that bad a shape. Lots of natural resources, especially in respect to their population and one of the least vulnerable countries of climate change. Their issues in the short term are political and what comes after Putin. There's no obvious succession and the struggle for power could be very damaging.

Natural resources which no one is going to want by 2050 and they can't exactly switch to solar like the Saudis are lol. Russia has grimmer weather than we do and doesn't really have any other industry to prop them up.
 
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The rest of the world caught up with us and it was an inevitable economic reduction in power, we transferred to financial services post industrial in the 80s and that has kept us relevant as an economic power so far.

We pioneered world trade and much of the Empire was a byproduct of this such as India, Hong Kong, South Africa and the Caribbean Islands to sell goods we made like tea, sugar, opium and finished cloth.
Then after the industrial revolution ships, trains, cutlery etc. First other Western countries caught up but with similar standards of living it was an fairly even contest cost wise but when lower wage far east countries caught up with us and overtook us in the 70s and 80s we couldn't complete apart from with some higher quality products.

I'd like to see us go full blooded into renewable tech like battery technology etc and use our science and university sectors to be at the top of the next technology shift.
 
Would you rather be born an American or Chinese so you can be a 'world power'? Who really cares in the modern world about power?

Give me a life born in a 'weak' powerless country like New Zealand or Scandinavia any day of the week. Do you think they care about power. In the grand scheme of things it's a pretty peaceful world out there for most countries.

Not sure what this 'power' you want is going to do to improve your life in this day and age. Surely the focus should be on prosperity for a country and its citizens.

It is a fallacy however that these countries exist this way solely or largely because of their own merits - without the likes of Western countries and their influence globally and stance on things like human rights things would look very different.
 
It is a fallacy however that these countries exist this way solely or largely because of their own merits - without the likes of Western countries and their influence globally and stance on things like human rights things would look very different.

Yea, they would have it far worse. Like it was in ancient China.
 
We should have stayed in the EU. Hopefully we still have a place in the world as an inbetween between the USA and the EU. Perhaps with other english speaking countries like Canada and Aus.


Either way I think a centralist government does best for most people so hopefully Labour get in next time. China sucks. The USA sucks politically, economically the EU is the best place to live.

Hopefully Scotland dont leave the UK also. I think if those Scott's boted labour instead of the SNP which cant win because we dont have them in England etc.
 
How did we do this to ourselves?

Basically, we were hugely successful villains, who decided to clean up our act, and found out we weren't as good at being good guys.

It's very easy to dictate to other countries when you're either standing on their neck or pointing more guns at them than they have.
 
We should have stayed in the EU. Hopefully we still have a place in the world as an inbetween between the USA and the EU. Perhaps with other english speaking countries like Canada and Aus.


Either way I think a centralist government does best for most people so hopefully Labour get in next time. China sucks. The USA sucks politically, economically the EU is the best place to live.

Hopefully Scotland dont leave the UK also. I think if those Scott's boted labour instead of the SNP which cant win because we dont have them in England etc.

Scotland is 100% leaving, the question is just when. And I voted to remain part of the union.
 
The main problem a lot of western countries have is large portions of their populations would happily tear them down, the Scottish Nationalist Party wanting to leave the UK under the guise of independence when all they'll do is surrender Scotland's sovereignty to the EU is a great example. I don't think it's a coincidence, if the EU wants more and more integration then eventually nation states will need to be abolished in all but name.

All that is really needed is trading blocks among allies like the European Economic Community was before morphing into the Soviet Union, more and more centralisation is not a good thing.
 
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Basically, we were hugely successful villains, who decided to clean up our act, and found out we weren't as good at being good guys.

It's very easy to dictate to other countries when you're either standing on their neck or pointing more guns at them than they have.

White people believed they were chosen by god to rule over the savages, however ideas have changed with time.

It's funny how a little island can build an empire, but maybe it makes sense, because we are much more constrained. We need to go and conquer in order to get more "stuff".
 
Scotland is 100% leaving, the question is just when. And I voted to remain part of the union.

No chance and Jimmy Krankie will be gone some day and she never got voted for by us (got job by default), a useless single tracked minded b1tch and even in this current crisis all she can think about when she gets out of bed every day is independence.
 
The main problem a lot of western countries have is large portions of their populations would happily tear them down, the Scottish Nationalist Party wanting to leave the UK under the guise of independence when all they'll do is surrender their sovereignty to the EU is a great example. I don't think it's a coincidence, if the EU wants more and more integration then eventually nation states will need to be abolished in all but name.

All that is really needed is trading blocks among allies like the European Economic Area was before morphing into the Soviet Union.

Maybe it's because we are "war" like in nature. I mean in a genetic sense and maybe cultural too.
 
If Scotland decides to leave then fair play to them, I have yet to meet anyone English who really cares.

We'll see how long the free uni, care, prescriptions etc last when they are fully in charge of their own money and share of the deficit.
 
UK's problem is for every £100 spent how much of it actually remains in the UK?

Our money is being slowly funneled abroad when that happens you don't really notice the effects until many years after or decades.

We like Swedish furniture made in china. We like Korean electronics made in china. We like German cars made in Germany.

What does the UK actually have?

Dyson has moved to Singapore.

We have maybe rolls Royce, Aston Martin, whisky distilleries and that's about it that is a global leader or brand name.

Ask anyone in Canada, America , Germany or anywhere what British products or services they would buy and I'm betting those three are about it.

So if for every £100 spent by UK citizens only £25 is retained within the UK and it's likely lower. Then it's only a matter of time this country is on its knees.

I give it 15 years max and there will either be riots or a nanny state ruled by the elite.

I didn't realise Spotify was Scandinavian until yesterday. How is the UK so lacking even in the digital age? They can't even get a world class service of some sort that people want to use?

Scotland will be fine. We have oil, wind power, golf courses, whisky, shortbread, tartan, porridge, irn bru. We don't need much as our population is only 5 million.

Problem with England is growing population and money flooding out of it.
 
I think the UK has rested on its laurels and taken the easy route ... such as moving away from hard graft jobs to services, banking etc etc, buying in resource rather than doing it ourselves to an extent, always the cheapest option cause its easiest in the short term, not necessarily for the long term.

Things like the comments about Dyson etc are what I mean.

I see it in buildings ... companies don't want to own anything, so they sell the building to someone else (likely a foreign company), and then rent ... short term costing less per month, but long term costing far more overall .... with the money going outwith the UK eventually.

Its that lazy short sightedness that annoys me, and contributes to the 'decline'.

I actually think Scotland could maybe do OK if they had a bit of drive to themselves and had a 'something' to aim for and get behind ( such as renewables etc )... its not there yet and independence is not that 'something'. ( I just cant reconcile the idea of separating from the union, then wanting to join a larger one instead. ).

Maybe even the UK as a whole could revert the 'decline' if we had a 'something' to get behind.
 
Oil is so 20th century. A golf course is just a field (or a good walk spoiled). Wind is not unique to Scotland although you may think so, high winds are not necessary or desirable to power a turbine. Whisky, I will commend Scotland for that. Tartan is just so that the warring tribes can tell each other apart after imbibing the aforesaid water of life. Biscuits and alpen without the nuts and raisins yeuch.
 
Isn't it flooding out to Scotland to keep your heads above water?

I think northern Ireland is the biggest gainer. Then Wales and then Scotland.

If we actually gave Ireland back the rest would be a lot better off and so would the Irish.

It would also help Brexit negotiations. But that would be too smart a thing to do.
 
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