Inevitable postponed

Years ago I wrote on my blog that racism ( jingoism, xenophobia; whatever euphemism you want), would be the downfall of the UK.

I did not envisage a Brexit that would prove that.

I also wrote on my blog that a country cannot survive on an economic diet of coffee bars, out of whack consumerism and easy debt.

I did not foresee a pandemic would come along to prove that.

I went on to write about how easy it would be to “do Greece” (the country not the movie) but in a much shorter time span.

But no one needed this or any other granny to tell them that it would, in fact, be a car crash of privilege and, what I consider to be incompetence, bringing the house down; every empire in history has demonstrated that one.

For decades the

inevitable was postponed by, ironically, our beneficial connection to the EU and the often buffed rose-tinted and distorted memories of a prewar Britain where racism was ok, the poor dutifully died of preventable diseases, bad diets and rich folk’s wars - and knew their place.

For a few decades it seemed the Britain of English nationalism might be the first faded empire in history to stave off the inevitable and roll along comfortably in the creaking bath chair of delusion.

Then came a woefully mishandled pandemic and Brexit; euthanasia for the senile, drooling British establishment.

Amanda Baker. Sent via email.