Wrong Side of History

Perhaps one of the few positive benefits of British teenagers being hooked on TikTok is that, by viewing the lives of their contemporaries in the United States, they might come to appreciate just how poor their own country is. And, who knows, some of them might even want to do something about it.

When my parents were born, Britain had been the richest country in Europe for a century, and still the second wealthiest on earth after the United States. Today many British regions are near outliers in western Europe on poverty, and the few foreign visitors who go outside the historic heritage cities are shocked by how run down our towns are. Yet the fundamental reasons for why Britain has fallen behind are strangely absent in the national debate; indeed, most politicians aren’t even that interested in the subject.

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