Best Of

The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

But the demographics issue is the killer.

Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.

Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

Demographic problem solved.

You're going to ban the morning after pill ?

Beyond my ability to do. However I can just marvel at the liberal Left moaning at he consequences of their actions.

If you wany mass abortion then dont complain youve run out of children. The two are linked.

The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

But the demographics issue is the killer.

Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.

Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

Demographic problem solved.

Welcome to Gilead.

No welcome to the USSR circa 1970, where abortion was the main form of birth control.

How we shook our heads back then at just how primitive they were.

The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

But the demographics issue is the killer.

Yet as soon as you suggest immigration as part of the way around the demographics you get pilloried.

Zero net immigration gives us the demographics of South Korea without the industrial base.

Maybe we should just stop doing 300000 abortions each year.

Demographic problem solved.

The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

But the demographics issue is the killer.

And well it may, but not fast or widely enough to solve our massive carbon problem worldwide.

...

The period from c.1750 to c.2000 was driven by great demographics and cheap energy.

Both have gone now. We have declining populations (unless ameliorated by immigration, which causes major social tensions) and climate change instead. And all the entitlements and legal webs are the same.

That's the root cause of our problems. And it will need truly exceptional leadership to navigate it.

Unfortunately, I see no sign of that but at this stage I'd be willing to support it from almost any party.

The good news it that energy is getting cheaper again, because technological progress.

But the demographics issue is the killer.

And well it may, but not fast or widely enough to solve our massive carbon problem worldwide.

The process of creating energy may be getting cheaper. Energy at the point of use is not getting cheaper (in the UK) it is getting more expensive. It just means companies (mostly overseas ones) are gorging themselves on 'the transition' at the expense of British consumers.

A grim prognosis from Professor Azeem Ibrahim:

https://x.com/AzeemIbrahim/status/2035361179879547244

Britain is now in accelerated decline - gradual for decades, now at risk of sudden collapse.

My stark verdict: unchecked, UK heading for relative poverty - a deindustrialised, sectarian, indebted island with first-rate pretensions & third-rate power.

Wow! And it was all going so well until the Conservatives left office 20 months ago.

The Tories are more to blame for our current state than Labour. They've had more time in office, these last three decades, and they are meant to be the smart capitalists who make amends for mad socialism. I hope the Conservatives DIE

Osborne was pure politics. He simply viewed elections as a game to maximise votes to get in. The only thing I think he genuinely seemed to believe in was lowering Corporation Tax, and avoiding urban social embarrassment for being a Conservative.

Cameron should have challenged him on it. But I think he was more interested in being chairman of the board, rather than CEO.

This really is just fantasy. The reality is that the UK economy appeared to be built on the profits of financial services for more than a decade after big bang. These profits proved to be illusory after 2008 resulting in a structural deficit similar to that of a major war. Our entire system was bankrupt and the largesse of the state completely unaffordable.

This is what Osborne had to deal with and it was extremely difficult involving many short term decisions with negative long term consequences simply because there was no choice. By 2019 the worst was over and the finances were back in some sort of order, albeit with much higher debt than before. And then came Covid. And then Ukraine. And now Iran.
Without the turbo boost of financial services and with the rebalancing required our economy has struggled to generate growth since 2008. As the economy with the largest proportion of GDP being generated from FS we were hit harder than almost anyone else. We still have not recovered. We have still not found an alternative way to pay our bills. There are no simple solutions for this government, the last government or the next government. The best we can do is what Osborne did and tiptoe back from the brink but one crisis after another is testing our resilience to destruction.