Britain has a great new place in the world
Last year was dominated by Brexit. From January, when the Prime Minister announced her priorities for leaving the European Union at Lancaster House, to December, when she secured an expensively won deal to move on to phase two of withdrawal talks, our political agenda has been fixed (some would say fixated) on a single topic. Though the general election result proved dramatic, its most obvious message was to reconfirm the will of the people: 82 per cent of votes were cast for parties backing our departure from the EU.
But if in 2017 our eyes were fixed to the floor, in 2018 we must begin to lift them to the horizon. We must begin to look around us as a nation, and ask: what place is Britain to occupy in the world now? And to do so, we need to be clear-eyed about the threats – and benefits – that the world has to offer.
Take the current demonstrations in Iran, a country rightly proud of its history and civilisation, and blessed with great wealth and talent. Its people find themselves trammelled and subjugated by a fundamentalist theocracy which, like so many dictatorships of the past, sacrifices them on the altar of ideological inflexibility and expansionist military ambition. What nation on earth better sums up the immense range of outcomes which 2018 might bring: from a peaceful flourishing of democracy that would enrich both Iranians and their neighbours, to domestic repression and violent foreign meddling. Britain, as Charles Moore explains on this page, can help tip the balance.
Elsewhere in the region, Saudi’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, appears to have heeded the message that autocratic nations must address the legitimate complaints of their citizens. It remains to be seen whether his liberalising revolution will bring genuine reform, or is simply tokenism to guarantee continued power for the House of Saud. But he seems to understand that no modern regime, no matter how entrenched, how powerful, can forever withstand the righteous determination of its people to prosper in freedom. The world is too connected, its possibilities too miraculous, for authoritarian state machines to pretend that better alternatives do not exist elsewhere.
That, of course, will not stop them trying. Iran is reported to be shutting down social media sites. And North Korea will do so through the effective incarceration of an entire people. Those many thousands who are locked up or worked to death in labour camps are merely the most benighted representatives of a population that is crushed under the stacked heel of that diminutive dictator whom Donald Trump calls “Little Rocket Man”. There is nothing in Kim Jong-un’s demeanour to suggest he will relinquish his pursuit of nuclear weapons. President Trump, too, has staked his reputation on not backing down. That, hopefully, will stir Beijing to action, for this is China’s problem to solve – a China, let us not forget, which in 2017 held an extraordinary congress cementing the power of President Xi and announcing his plan to lead his country’s “rightful” return to economic and cultural dominance on the global stage. It hardly needs saying that with such power comes great responsibility – and it must start in Pyongyang.
President Xi hopes that a “new era” of Chinese socialism will help reconcile his oneparty state with the modern world. In Moscow, President Putin prefers the old ways, banning his only serious opponent, Alexei Navalny, from challenging him in March’s election. Too often hailed, and feared, as a modern Machiavelli, pulling strings in elections abroad, Mr Putin faces a different reality at home, with an economy in decline. He will win six more years, but like the awarding of the World Cup, which Russia will host in the summer, victory only raises more questions. Presumably Angela Merkel, having finally formed a government, will be there when Germany lifts the cup. But her travails are a reminder that the foundations of the European Union are sandy, and will be further tested by elections in Italy.
For nation states, whatever the aspirations in Brussels, are still the world’s essential political building blocks. So it is good to remind ourselves that that most insidious “fake state”, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), has suffered a catalogue of reverses in 2017. Not that there is room for complacency: like al-qaeda before it, it is increasingly taking refuge and gathering strength in Afghanistan.
No doubt countless lessons have been learnt in the Ministry of Defence since we were forced to intervene there in 2001. Theresa May’s National Security Adviser, Mark Sedwill, is soon to announce the results of his comprehensive defence spending review. He has suggested that there will be no new money for troops, and that cyber-security will take priority. The truth is, we must do both. The reason is clear. As Ruth Davidson points out opposite, with characteristic gusto, humanity is making great strides, there is a huge amount to celebrate, and the possibilities for this nation and its citizens have never been greater. But, as a result, there has never been so much to defend.
We hope that all our readers, both in Britain and abroad, have a very happy 2018.
As we enter 2018, the possibilities for this nation and its citizens have never been greater