THOUGHTS ON BRITAIN’S CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC STAGNATION:

There have been many pieces written on UK’s economic stagnation and people have identified a bunch of material reasons for it: from an ageing population, to limited housing supply. But if you believe at all in the power of the zeitgeist, I’m here to offer another (complementary) diagnosis for what is happening now. The spirit of stagnation is in the air.

When I first arrived in Oxford, I was surprised by how many of my (well off) colleagues’ parents were retired in their 50s. There is much less of the hunger for success seen in young Americans: it seems the dream here is in many ways to retreat to a cozy life in your middle age, living off some property investments.

The stiff upper lip is a British characteristic that served the nation well in WWII. But in peacetime the stiff upper lip is more like a bridle or halter. In fact, the genius of the British ruling class in the postwar era was to take various instruments of social control — the NHS, the BBC, uncomplaining suffering, etc. — and turn them into emblems of national pride.